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Updated: May 27, 2025
To this Tarik, therefore, the Arabian governor of Africa committed the important trust of conquering the kingdom of Andalusia, for which end he gave him the command of an army of seven thousand men, chiefly Berbers and slaves, very few only being genuine Arabs.
"Yes," answered Musa, "it was as you see it now." Tarik answered by taking from under his mantle the foot of emerald which he had removed, and which just matched the others. "You may learn now," he said to the caliph, "which of us is the truth-teller. Here is the lost leg of the table. I found the table and kept this for evidence. It is the same with most of the treasures Musa has shown you.
They were left in Spain until they had completed the conquest of that kingdom, then both were ordered to appear before the caliph’s judgment seat. This they did in different methods. Tarik, who had no thirst for spoil, made haste, with empty hands, to Damascus, where, though he had no rich presents for the commander of the faithful, he delighted him with the story of his brilliant deeds.
Their first interview was cold and formal: a rigid account was exacted of the treasures of Spain: the character of Tarik was exposed to suspicion and obloquy; and the hero was imprisoned, reviled, and ignominiously scourged by the hand, or the command, of Musa.
The old name of the place was Gebel Tarik, which means Tank's Hill; and it is easy to see how Gebel Tarik got gradually changed into Gibraltar." In another two hours the Straits were passed, and the Rock of Gibraltar appeared, rising across a bay to the left. View of Gibraltar from the Mediterranean. "There is your destination, lad," the captain said. "It is a strong-looking place, isn't it?"
Tarik, the Arab, landed here in 711, fortified the rock, and made it his base of operations against Gothic Spain. For seven centuries it remained in Moorish hands, except for a short interval after 1302, when it was taken by Ferdinand II. of Castile.
They say that while he was sailing across that arm of the sea which separates Africa from Andalusia, he saw in a dream the prophet Mahomet, surrounded by Arabs of the Muhajirm and Anssar, who with unsheathed swords and bended bows stood close by him, and that he heard the prophet say: "Take courage, O Tarik! and accomplish what thou art destined to perform"; and that having looked round him he saw the messenger of God, who with his companions was entering Andalusia.
When Tarik received the news of the approach of Roderic's army, which is said to have amounted to nearly one hundred thousand men, provided with all kinds of weapons and military stores, he wrote to Musa for assistance, saying that he had taken Algesiras, a port of Andalusia, thus becoming, by its possession, the master of the passage into that country; that he had subdued its districts as far as the bay; but that Roderic was now advancing against him with a force which it was not in his power to resist, except it was God Almighty's will that it should be so.
His army consisted of ninety or a hundred thousand men; a formidable power, if their fidelity and discipline had been adequate to their numbers. The troops of Tarik had been augmented to twelve thousand Saracens; but the Christian malecontents were attracted by the influence of Julian, and a crowd of Africans most greedily tasted the temporal blessings of the Koran.
The same writers have preserved another anecdote, which sufficiently proves the mediation of the Almighty in permitting that the conquest of Andalusia should be achieved by Tarik. Directly after his landing on the rock Musa's freedman brought his forces upon the plain, and began to overrun and lay waste the neighboring country.
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