"I am a man like one of you, whoever saw me as good, let him praise God, and exhort himself to do the same, and whoever saw me as bad, let him deny it, for I sin as you sin, and you are afflicted as you are afflicted. He has a need, and he may raise it to us, and we have the authority to make it up for what He glorified and comforted, and with sympathy, God willing.
Musa bin Nusair's sermon on his soldiers when he entered Kairouan in the year 85 AH
Until now, the question remains, "How did the early Muslims of the time of the Companions and the followers penetrate into the two greatest empires the world knew at that time, and then they mastered them in total control in a record time that did not exceed ninety years?" It raises the astonishment of the Western mind and its military sciences, while these two empires, Persia and the Romans, clashed repeatedly over centuries, and neither of them managed to control the other’s area for a long period of time, as well as being short.
This is a story that goes beyond the issue of strategy and military capabilities to something deeper than that; to faith in the idea that moves its owners and makes them not fearful of death and the dangers for it, then in preparing these warriors, cultural, mental and physical and their accurate knowledge of the opponent, as well as the possibilities available to them.
And if the first Islamic military had led its brigade, the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - and a wide section of the Companions emerged in it Omar, Ali, Khalid bin Al-Walad, Amr bin Al-Aas, Akrama bin Abi Jahl, Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan, Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah and Yazid bin Abi Sufyan and Sharkhil bin Hassan and dozens But hundreds of others, the third generation who realized these stallions had drank from them those martial arts, and benefited from their field experiences a remarkable and impressive benefit, so Aqabah ibn Nafi` al-Fihri, Muslimah ibn Abd al-Malik al-Umawi, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Thaqafi, Hassan ibn al-Numan and thousands of others appeared.
| Musa bin Naseer (networking sites) |
Among these adults, the star of Musa bin Naseer Al-Lakhmi, who brilliantly completed a remarkable brilliance and a surprising speed, marched the Islamic conquests in North Africa in the countries of the Maghreb, from Cyrenaica to the Far Maghreb, and eliminated all obstacles and obstacles, and opened the way for the completion of these successful military operations in Andalusia; Let him immortalize his name as one of these great heroes in the early history of Islam. Who is Musa bin Naseer? How was it born? How did he achieve this impressive success in the military field on the Maghreb front in just ten years ?!
Khalid bin Walid password!
When the caliph Al-Rashid Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (11-13 AH) sparked the military confrontation of the apostates in the Arabian Peninsula after the death of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - and after eating it, he immediately announced directing these armies to complete the operations of the military conquests on the fronts of Iraq and the Levant. He was delivered to Khalid bin Al-Walid (d. 21 AH), after completing his mission in the land of Yamama, east of the Arabian Peninsula, to head towards Iraq.
Al-Tabari says in his history: “When Khaled finished his order of Yamamah, Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may God have mercy on him, wrote to him, Khalid residing in Yamamah: that he walked to Iraq until you entered it, and began to free India, which is the idiot (near Basra), and the people of Persia consisted, and who was in Theirs is from the nations, "and that is in the month of Muharram of year 12 of the Hijrah [1].
Since then, the Islamic conquests started on the Iraqi front, which was inhabited mostly by the Arab tribes under the Sassanid Persian rule, and Khaled soon won many confrontations in front of the Persians or some of those tribes that influenced the confrontation of Muslims to negotiate and accept peace or Islam, and that year 12 AH, Khalid bin Al-Walid - may God be pleased with him - was able to eliminate the resistance of the Persians in the "Ain al-Tamr" area, a small town on the edge of the desert west of the Euphrates River, and when the Muslims stormed the fort of the region, they found forty young men, all of whom were taken captives, among whom were a supporter of a father Musa bin Naseer, and Sirin, the father of Muhammad b He was converted to Islam, and Naseer moved in his captivity to the Hijaz, and entered the loyalty of the Lakhm tribe of Yemen, and he married her and had his son Musa bin Naseer, in the year 19 AH / 640 AD in the succession of Umar ibn Al-Khattab - may God be pleased with him - [2].
Musa bin Nusair grew up in Medina, the capital of the Islamic state, and found it desirable in the study of Islam and the sciences of Sharia at the hands of the great companions and followers, and soon became famous for the narration of the hadith about some of the companions such as Tamim Al-Dari, so he grew up lover of piety, piety and hadith sciences, and it was narrated by Yazid bin Masroq Al-Hasbi And his son Abdul Aziz bin Musa bin Nusair and others [3], as he realized the biographies of the great conquerors, especially Khalid bin Al-Walid, who seems to be very influenced by him, as the reason was that his father was guided to Islam when he was captured and taken to the Hijaz.
Bani Naseer in the Umayyad
And if Musa bin Nusair drew the foundations of his religious and literary studies from the land of Hijaz, then he owes his political and military education to the Levant. Damascus has, since the succession of Uthman Ibn Affan, become the base of the activity of the Umayyad house aspiring to the Sultan, and a center that attracts all the right elements to support it and serve its goals, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan was a man of a high degree of intelligence in the selection of men, so he realized the security skills that Nasir’s father had for Moses, so he was entrusted with the leadership of his guard, so Moses was allowed to move to the house of Muawiyah the first Umayyad caliph, and to train there in the largest and greatest school of politics I witnessed The Islamic Arab State At the forefront of her life, according to historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Adawi [4].
Musa witnessed the coming of the invasions to the Roman lands, which were known as the “Saiwas” that were in the summer months, and the “Al-Shawati” that were coming out in the autumn and winter months. He also participated himself in the early Islamic naval activity that was sponsored by Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan when he started to invade an island. Cyprus and the Battle of "The Masts" in the year 34 AH / 654 AH. The Muslims won an important victory in this battle, which prompted them to develop their maritime capabilities, and to cut the nails of the Roman fleets in the Mediterranean, which was like a closed European lake, so Musa bin Naseer proceeded to participate in these maritime military campaigns. Since he was 15 years old!
However, the rise of Marwan bin Al-Hakam after Muawiyah’s second bin Yazid’s abdication to the seat of the caliphate, and bringing his older son Abdulaziz bin Marwan my brother Abdul-Malik bin Marwan closer to Musa bin Nusair for his jihad, his knowledge, and his great family history in the service of the Umayyad house was a new opening and an important start in his career In the fields of politics and war, as Abdulaziz decided to choose Musa bin Nusair as an advisor and minister close to him during his tenure in Egypt since the year 64 of the Hijra, and when Abd al-Malik bin Marwan rose to the seat of the caliphate the following year, he sent to his brother Abd al-Aziz to send Musa bin Nasir Minister and adviser to their other brother, Bisher bin Marwan, the governor of Al-Aar S at the time, he said in his letter: "I am your brother may wish human beings on Basra, Vachks (sent) with Musa bin Nasir minister and pointing out ... and I know that it is taken with all defects and shortened" [5].
Years of glory and conquests
After the death of Bishr bin Marwan, Musa bin Nusair was forced to return from Iraq to the Levant, where Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan saw a failure in the work of Moses, especially in the file of abscesses and taxes, and imposed a heavy fine on him, which bore her larger crevice to Egypt and his brother Abd al-Aziz bin Marwan Who defended Moses desperately, and decided to take him again to Egypt as a minister and a consultant, in the year 75 AH, and that was the major turning point in the life of Moses, who then reached 54 years old, as he left from this moment working in the field of politics in the east to go himself And his long political and military experiences to the Moroccan field, which was facing difficulties and AD And khat.
Egypt was the base for launching military operations for the Islamic conquest towards the countries of the Maghreb since the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs Omar Bin Al-Khattab and Othman Bin Affan - may God be pleased with them - and those who followed them, and these conquests witnessed before the advent of Musa bin Naseer significant and great progress at the hands of genius leaders such as Uqba bin Nafi The famous conqueror Fehri, who founded the unity of the Islamic conquests in the Libyan region of Burqah, and from there he set out towards Africa (Tunisia) and founded the famous city of Kairouan to be the base of the soldiers and Islam in the center of the Maghreb, and from this base he was able to expel the Byzantine forces from large parts of the whole of the Maghreb, And the spread of Islam between Qub Berbers, as the hooves of his horses reached the city of Tangier on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, was a great founder and pavilion for everyone who came after him, such as Abi Al-Muhajir bin Dinar, Hassan bin Al-Numan and Musa bin Naseer.
But the death of Uqba ibn Nafeh in 62 AH and the martyrdom of the leader of the Moroccan front, Zuhair bin Qais al-Balawi in the year 70 AH / 690 CE, on the land of Barqa had overthrew most of the efforts of these senior leaders in North Africa, and the situation seemed to require continuous action again, and the Hassan bin Numan campaign that I left Egypt in the year AH 766 / AD 696 to create the desired stability in the Moroccan field, and the situation there remained in need of more political and military efforts [6].
Abdel Aziz bin Marwan, the governor of Egypt, decided to release the hand of his class and his close advisor Musa bin Nusair in this important file, and put under his hands all the information in Egypt and its bureaus about information on this anxious front, and Abdel Aziz bin Marwan held Musa bin Nusair high hopes for stabilizing the situation In the countries of Morocco. For his part, Musa bin Nusair studied the experiences of previous men on him, and he realized that the first task is to end the Byzantine Roman presence and its bases that stand in the way of the continuation of the conquest operations, especially in African regions in Tunisia and western Libya today [7].
Ibn Nusair also met with many of the men of the conquest on the Moroccan front, and he himself contributed to some of these experiences in Burqa and others, and he remained in this state until the year 79 AH and 85 AH was said when he was sent by Abdulaziz bin Marwan to take over the leadership of the conquests and the state of North Africa, whose capital was Kairouan, and when He entered it. Musa bin Nusair stood in the Arab and Berber Muslim soldiers saying:
“I am a man like one of you, whoever saw me as good, let him praise God, and exhort himself to do the same, and whoever saw me as bad, let him deny it, for I sin as you sin, and you are afflicted as you are inflicted, and the prince - may God bless him - has commanded you of your gifts, and weakened them three, so take them with a sick and quiet, and whoever they are He has a need, so he may raise it to us, and we have the authority to make it up for what He has glorified and disgraced, and with sympathy, God willing, and there is no power and no power except with God ”[8].
Musa bin Nusair was able to destroy the Berber revolts and make peace with them and win over their elders to ensure that they would not ignite any revolutions later.
Thus, Ibn Nusayr gained the confidence of his soldiers by getting close to them and doubling the gift to them, and Musa had realized the mistake that the leaders of the conquests had made before him, when they were pushing into the middle and far Maghrebs, that is, "Algeria" and "Morocco", without clearing the military base of Muslims in Africa ( Tunisia and Western Libya) from the Roman presence, which made it easier for the Byzantines and the barbarian tribes allied to them led by a woman who was called "the priestess" to repulse the surprise attack on the Muslims, and even defeat them, as happened with the leader Hassan bin Al-Numan, until their base in Kairouan became such attacks.
Smart strategy
Because of that, and in this context, Moses issued his decision to crush all the Byzantine and barbarian resistance loyal to it in Ifriqiya (Tunisia) first, through a new tactic similar to the tactics of the early Islamic conquests, by multiplying the numbers of armies that emerged at one time and attacked with lethal and influential strikes in the near future. On top of that, he made the leadership working with him one of the elements that he trusted and trusted by the soldiers of the Islamic Army in these areas, so he made his four sons: Abdullah, Marwan, Abdul-Malik, and Abdel-Aziz at the head of these, and then the sons of Uqbah ibn Nafi 'al-Fihri, who were Ayyad and Othman And Abu Ubaidah, this is in addition to a number of the people of the country Yin who are good to Islam, led by the most famous Tariq ibn Ziyad.
Soon Musa bin Nusair was able to repel the Berber revolts and make peace with them and win over their elders to ensure that they would not ignite any revolutions later. He also worked on establishing a maritime industry house near the city of Carthage, and was able to create a strong fleet that made his son Abdul Aziz bin Musa lead and his other son Abd God, where he managed to open the Balearic Islands like Mayorca and Menorca (Spanish today), as well as his influential attacks on the Sardanian and Sicily (Italian today) islands in the year 89 of the migration, and was called "the Battle of the Nobles (where) he had the supervision of the people" [9] .
In the same year (89 AH), the armies of Musa bin Nusair, with the assistance of thousands of Berber “Berber” men, arrived in the Far Maghreb, so that he could overthrow the city of Tangier, which was ruled by the Byzantines and other cities, except for the city of Ceuta and its fortress, which was taking its supplies and supplies from the Spanish kings of the Goths On the opposite side of Morocco, after months of conquest and jihad, Musa decided to return to Kairouan, leaving the brave Muslim and brave leader Tariq bin Ziyad on Tangier with him nineteen thousand knights of the Berbers and Muslims and a few Arab jurists to teach them the obligations of religion and its origins, and he was entrusted with him to work to subdue the Ghamaza tribes And baraguatas residing around a ton Jah, as well as observing Ceuta and seizing the opportunity to open it [10].
Opening Europe, not only Andalusia!
Tariq repeatedly attempted to seize the city of Ceuta, which was ruled by the Roman leader Julian, and the king of Spain was "gettache" to supply and support him, that Tariq's repeated attacks forced Julian to establish friendship and provide reconciliation, so Tariq accepted this, and in the meantime in about the year 90 AH, he died The king of the Goths, and one of his senior military commanders, Rodrigo, or, as Arab sources call him, “Drake” or “Drake”, seized control of Spain and its capital at the time was Toledo, and she dissipated to Drake that included the heirs of the legitimate Githah, but even encroached on the daughter of Julian, the ruler of Ceuta, and was disciplined by the etiquette of kings in Toledo, as was customary at the time, wasting her honor, and he did not come Yulian seemed revenge only in cooperation with the Muslims and incite them to open Christian Spain and help them, and played down their political and military ordered her.
And this is what Ibn Abd al-Hakam al-Masri (d. 257 AH) tells us: “Yalyan led obedience to the family of Andalusia, and Dariq lived in Toledo, so Tariq Yalyan and his kindness sent him as a guide, and Yalyan had sent a daughter to him to Zulikat al-Andalus to discipline and teach it, so he loved it.” Yelian said, and he said: I see no punishment or reward for him except that the Arabs enter him. He sent to Tariq: I am your entrance to Andalusia, and Tariq at that time to Tlemcen (Tlemcen), and Musa bin Nusair to Kairouan, Tariq said: I do not reassure you until you send me a hostage, so he sent To him with his two daughters, and he had no son other than him, so Tariq approved them in Tlemcen, and he documented them ”[11].
Musa bin Nusair provided his commander Tariq bin Ziyad with seven thousand fighters, so he set out across the mountain, which is still called by his name to this day, and entered the cities of Andalusia
For his part, Tariq sent to Musa bin Nasir with this tempting offer, and Moses, on his part, was sent to the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik bin Maroun (d. 96 AH) who ordered him to be patient and not to push Muslims into the horrors of the sea, and he advised him to test it with the Saraya and the lightning offensive operations first, so the secret was sent. The first estimated at 300 men, led by Tariq bin Ziyad and Tarif bin Malik al-Nukha’i, and they landed on an island near the land that is still called so far in Tarif Island, and so many sheep were hit and returned, and here Musa bin Naseer realized that the task of conquering Andalusia was possible and affordable [12].
Musa bin Nusair provided his leader Tariq bin Ziyad with seven thousand fighters, so he set out across the mountain that is still named by his name to this day, and entered into the cities of Andalusia until he approached Toledo, so he sent to Musa asking for support, so he supplied him with twelve thousand fighters, and on 28 Ramadan in the year 92 AH / July 17, 711 A.D. near the Shazdouna area, the Muslims defeated Rodrigo's army for a "Zerok" and dispersed it, and no trace was found for him, and the way to open the rest of the cities of Andalusia became open, so Tariq sent a division to Cordoba and another to Ibira, and he headed the rest of the army towards Toledo (13). ].
When Musa bin Nusair learned about this news that he had come from Tariq, he sent him ordering him to stop and wait until he fulfills him, says Ibn Khaldun who depicts to us the aspirations of Musa bin Naseer that was beyond the conquest of Andalusia to open the whole European continent, saying:
"(Musa bin Nusair) got up from Kairouan in the ninety-three years from immigration in a huge Lashkar from the faces of the Arabs, the Lords and the barbarians, and he escaped the bay of the alley (the Strait of Gibraltar) and he passed to Andalusia. Tariq received it, criticized and followed, and Moses completed the conquest. On the east side, and Arbouna in Al-Jawf, the idol of Qadis in the west, dizzling its diameters and gathering its spoils. And the news grew to Al-Waleed (Bin Abdul Malik the Umayyad Caliph) Fa His concern extended to the Muslims’s place of the war house, and he saw that what Moses was concerned about was deceived by Muslims, so he sent him by reprimand and leave, and entrusted his ambassador to return to the Muslims if he did not return, and wrote to him his covenant, so he fulfilled this in the intention of Moses, and closed from Andalusia after he revealed The League and the garrison with its gaps. He used his son Abdul Aziz to invade and jihad its enemies, and put him down in Cordoba and took it to the emirate’s home. ”[14]
Ibn Khallikan reports in his book “The Deaths of Notables” that the motive that pushed Musa bin Naseer to this conquest and its expansion was “pure faith”, as he was sent to the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik saying: “It is not the conquest, but it is Heaven” [15].
An honorable end to a rich history!
In the year 97 of Hijrah, the spirit of the Arab Muslim leader Musa bin Nusair Al-Lakhmi flooded the Valley of Villages in the north of the city, to be prayed for by the great men of the Umayyad state
Musa returned to Kairouan within the limits of the year 95 AH after months spent in Mujahideen in the conquest of Andalusia to the southern borders with France, and he had tremendous spoils with him, and immediately decided to go to Damascus as ordered by Caliph Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik, but he arrived after his death in the year 96 AH, and he was Suleiman bin Abd al-Malik (96-99 AH) had risen to the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, so he ordered the removal of Musa bin Nusair and was said to have rebuked him for deceiving the Islamic forces in a geography they knew nothing about, and if he kept him next to him in Damascus as one of the top military leaders and advisors with a great history in the fields of politics And the war.
In the following year, the year 97 of Hijrah, while Suleiman bin Abdul Malik and with him Musa bin Nusair were on their way to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, and at the age of seventy-eight years of age, the spirit of the Arab Muslim leader Musa bin Nusair Al-Lakhmi in the Wadi Al-Qura area north of the city was poured out, to be prayed by senior men The Umayyad state, like Muslim ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, is buried there [16], in a conclusion worthy of a man who had only a little taste of comfort and calm in his life!