موسى بن نصير

Musa ibn Nusayr, an Umayyad governor of Ifriqiya and the Maghrib, whose name is linked with the conquest of al-Andalus and the conquest of Tangier. The reports differ on the details of his life, and each report here is attributed to its book.

According to al-Baladhuri he was a client of the Umayyads, of origin from Ayn al-Tamr, and it is said from the Urashah of Bali, and it is said from Lakhm. Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan appointed him over Ifriqiya, and it is said in the days of al-Walid in 89 AH. He conquered Tangier, settled in it, and was the first to lay out its plan for the Muslims. ¹

Al-Salabi says that he took charge of Ifriqiya after the removal of Hassan around 85 or 86 AH. In the conquest he followed a policy of cooperation with the chiefs of the Berbers, making them partners in the army, making them equal with the Arabs in the stipends, and ordering the Arabs to teach them the Qur'an and jurisprudence. ²

According to al-Maqqari, he equipped his client Tariq ibn Ziyad for al-Andalus with seven thousand men, mostly Berbers, and he alighted at the Rock of Gibraltar in Sha'ban 92 AH, and then he sent him five thousand more. ³ According to al-Tabari, Musa raided al-Andalus in 91 AH, and cities and fortresses were conquered at his hands, and he became angry with Tariq and set out against him in 93 AH. ^{4 5}

Al-Salabi says that he left Kairouan in 93 AH, took Carmona, Seville and Merida, met Tariq at Toledo, and that the reports of disagreement between them are weak in his view. ⁶

Al-Walid summoned him to Damascus. Then Sulayman removed him and imprisoned him and fined him money, and then was pleased with him and drew him near. ⁶ He died in 97 AH on his way to the pilgrimage with Sulayman; Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik prayed over him, and he was about seventy-eight years old. ⁷ According to al-Hajjari he died in Wadi al-Qura. ⁸

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy recounts that Musa ibn Nusayr, as an envoy, refused to bow before a king, saying he bows only to God, and that the others present tried to persuade him (needs_source: the king is not named in this account) ⁹.

He recounts that Musa prayed for martyrdom and for death in the city of the Prophet ﷺ, as Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) used to pray (needs_source: the account as the sheikh gives it) ¹⁰. He says Musa was born in 19 AH by the sheikh's dating, and that his father Nusayr learned horsemanship and taught it to his son (needs_source: the dates are the sheikh's) ¹¹.

He recounts that Musa performed the Hajj with Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, visited the grave of the Prophet, and was buried in al-Baqi' while seeking martyrdom (needs_source: the year is as the sheikh gives it) ¹². He dates a campaign he describes to 12 AH, in which a fortress with a church was taken (needs_source: the date has not been checked) ¹³. He recounts that Khalid swore to kill the people of a fortress, and that in a locked room of captives was Nusayr, Musa's father (needs_source) ¹⁴.

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds, as his own opinion, that the community should study its own history, and asks why the history of Musa ibn Nusayr has not been written (speaker's view, opinion) ¹⁵.