The Arab Peninsula, for its part was still pagan, with the exception of a few Christian and Jewish enclaves. The inhabitants of this vast expanse of desert clustered in tribal formations and led a life of continuous mobility in search of water and what meagre pasture their poor land could afford their flocks. Among the most important of the settled centres was Mecca, the population of which pursued commerce for their livelihood, and Medina, which survived on the agricultural activities of its population.
There was no central authority to bring those various bedouin tribes together and organise the lives of the people who inhabited that vast territory. There were only tribal chieftains each presiding over his tribe or over his semi-settled group, mainly in the southern and north-eastern extremities of the Peninsula. There was, however, a common social system; the tribal system. There was allegiance, but to the tribe. There was a code of honour, which these bedouin tribes adhered to very strictly.
The Bedouin, however, is unruly and undisciplined by nature. He could very well be his own king as long as he abided by the unwritten law of the tribe. He also always had the assurance of support from his tribe in times of need. As for his livelihood, the Bedouin grazed his flock and often joined other members of his tribe in raiding other tribes and trade caravans for possible booty, an activity which was a way of life for most desert dwellers.
The bedouin was content with this mode of existence and was rather oblivious of what was happening outside his immediate neighbourhood which provided him with the essential requirements for survival; and by and large, was rather unaware of the civilisation which existed at the threshold of his habitat.
Within the Arab Peninsula, Mecca was the main center through which trade caravans passed carrying goods from the southern parts of the peninsula and from the Orient to the lands east of the Mediterranean, and from there back to where they came from, loaded with goods purchased in those lands, but again passing through Mecca, and leaving to the chiefs of Mecca, on both legs of their trip, the necessary fees for the right of passage and for protection, thus contributing towards their affluence, and therefore their influence, and enabling them to pursue a life style of relative luxury.
It was in Mecca, and against this background, where Muhammad started preaching the concept of the oneness of God, the new religion, Islam; and it was the Meccans, his own people, who had opposed him and refused his new ideas. For, understandably, his teachings posed a serious threat to the interests of the privileged few.
Failing to withstand the opposition and threats of the Meccans, Muhammad had to seek refuge elsewhere. He fled with a few followers to Medina where he was readily accepted and so was the new religion he was preaching. With time, a small army of zealous followers was formed with the aim of defending the new faith from the threats of the Meccans and their allies, who had an interest in upholding paganism and the continuation of the annual pilgrimage to the idols of the Ka'aba, which brought in worshipers from all over the Peninsula and hence wealth and prestige to the Meccans.
When Muhammad's army grew beyond the needs of defense, he lead it to Mecca which surrendered without much resistance, paving the way for mass adherence to the new religion, and before Muhammad died, almost all the Arab Peninsula had taken up Islam as a religion.
However the events which followed the death of Muhammad in 632 clearly showed that not all his followers had adopted Islam with true conviction. A mass apostasy, riddah, to paganism threatened the very survival of the new religion. Obviously the belief in the oneness of God had not penetrated deep enough within their hearts. Moreover, to the once influential class, the concept of equality among people meant the eventual abolition of class privileges, and obviously posed a threat to the prestige and influence of the privileged few. Furthermore,the new religion was not restricted to the regulation of the spiritual life of the people. It embodied the regulation of individual and public life, imposed rules and discipline and, consequently meant an end to the chaos in which some thrived. However, the most important motive for apostasy was perhaps the very death of Muhammad. For to many new followers of Islam, Muhammad substituted the idols they had been worshiping and, as such, was supposed to be, like the idols, immortal.
When the gravity of the situation became clear to al-Khalifa Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (632-634), the successor of Muhammad in the leadership of the Muslims, he took up arms and fought the apostates ahl ar-riddah, back into Islam. Had it not been for him and the relentless struggle of the army under the leadership of Khalid ibn al-Walid and their deep and unshaken faith, the future of the new faith would have been in great jeopardy.
The military encounters with those apostates not only brought back the Peninsula under the grip of central authority, but also provided the army of Islam with further experience in combat techniques, so that when final victory was achieved, and the fighters from both sides joined rank, the march for the spread of Islam headed northward in 633 in the direction of Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and thereafter toward north Africa.
The ten years that followed witnessed the decisive victory of the Arab army over the Byzantines in Syria and Palestine and the conquest of Persia and Egypt as well as the beginning of the march through north Africa as far west as Cyrenaica ,Barqa.
And what started as a movement to spread Islam and entrench
it's principles in the world was now developing into conquest, culminating
eventually into an empire.
THE CONQUEST OF NORTH AFRICA (AL-MAGHRIB).
North Africa, referred to by the Arabs as Al-Maghrib (The West) was inhabited by Barbaric tribes known as Vandals. The Vandals, who were of Germanic stock, had previously conquered the Iberian Peninsula, but were later driven away southward by other Barbaric tribes, also of Germanic origin, called the Visigoths when they invaded the Peninsula in 414 AD.
After crossing the straits between the Iberian Peninsula and the African continent, the Vandals spread themselves between Tangier, on the north western tip of the continent and Tripoli in the east, but were soon confronted by the Byzantine army which held important strategic positions along the coastal strip of north Africa, and were then driven south, away from the coastal strip. The indigenous African population was small and were, to a large extent, subdued by the Byzantines.
When 'Amr ibn al-'As, the commander of the Arab armies brought Egypt firmly within his grip in 642 AD, his eyes turned westward, not so much for conquest perhaps, but for defense purposes against possible threats from the west, where the Byzantines held a long line of strategic strong-holds covering the entire coastal strip of north Africa.
The Arab army started it's march along the coast in 642 AD and were able to conquer Cyrenaica and drive off the Byzantines westward. At the same time, another army, under the leadership of one of 'Amr's generals, 'Ugba ibn Nafe' was also moving westward, on a parallel line to the south of the coastal strip, with view of providing protection for the Arab coastal units against possible attacks by the indigenous tribes. This young general Uqba had other talents in addition to his military ones. For his young age he demonstrated vision and diplomatic skill in dealing with the indigenous population who soon became interested in the new faith brought to them by the new comers.
However, in the absence of a clear policy regarding this new territory, the march was halted, and the Arab presence in north Africa was reduced to a few garrisons, thinly spread along the coast between the Egyptian border and Tripoli.
But the events which followed set the stage for further developments in that direction. With the murder of the second Khalifa,'Umar ibn al-Khattab (634-644 AD) in Mecca, his successor, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (644-656 AD) removed 'Amr ibn al-'As from his post as governor of Egypt and supreme commander of the army and appointed one of his relatives to the post. The new commander wasted no time in preparing for further westward expeditions and, with the approval of the Khalifa, started his march and won many a victory enabling him to reach as far west as Subeitla (Tunisia).
But again the march had to stop for lack of clear policy directives. Furthermore, the central authority, represented by the Khalifa was becoming increasingly engulfed in internal strife following the murder of the third Khalifa, 'Uthman ibn ëAffan, in the year 656 AD as well as his successor, 'Ali ibn abi Taleb in 661 AD.
When the Caliphate was finally taken over by the Umayyads in 661 AD, a new policy was drawn up for north Africa regarding settlement in conquered territories.
But the Umayyad administration in Damascus was soon to become increasingly involved in internal as well as external problems which inevitably had a negative effect on the enforcement of the new policy, rendering it impossible to sustain continuity, as governors were replaced too frequently to be able to achieve anything substantial .
In the meanwhile many battles were fought in north Africa against both the Berbers and the Byzantines. Many were won and many were lost, and a great deal of blood flowed from both sides until a new governor by the name of Hassan ibn Na'aman was appointed in 694 AD by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan the strong Umayyad Caliph in Damascus.
Soon after taking office, Hassan launched his first campaign against both the Berbers and the Byzantines in 694 AD and was able to destroy the naval base of the Byzantines in Carthage in 698 AD, but was soon to be driven back by the Berbers to Cyranaica, where he had started his march.
This Berber victory proved indecisive, however. Not only that, but intelligence reports continued insisting that disunity within the ranks of the Berbers was becoming more acute, and signs of eminent insurrection more evident as a result of the increasing involvement of their leaders in the struggle for power.
So when Hassan finally lead his troops in the year 700 AD to what he hoped would be the final confrontation with the Berbers, he was met with a peace offer by a Berber contingent, and a substantial part of the Berbers joined forces with the Arab army and converted into Islam and were soon fighting against the other Berber contingents which refused to lay down their arms. The unified Arab-Berber army continued its march all the way to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
Having accomplished the main military targets, Hassan turned to construction. The concept of settlement had by then become a fact of life, and the establishment of the social and administrative infrastructure was under way, while work commenced on the creation of a naval force, not merely for defense purposes, but also for more aggressive undertakings, as will be seen later.
The Arab presence was thus being regulated on the basis of a clearly defined policy aiming at entrenching the new faith in the new territory and the assimilation of the local elements of the population into the fabric of Arab society. It was with this idea in mind that the army was grafted with Berbers and other local elements, while missionaries were dispatched to remote areas to preach Islam and teach the language of the Qur'an. Tax collectors were also appointed for the collection of the poll tax, 'kharaj'' , and a police force created for the enforcement of law and order.
This same policy was pursued by Musa ibn Nuseir who succeeded Hassan after his removal in 707 AD, and like Hassan, Musa enforced this policy intelligently and wisely and proved that, in addition to being a skillful politician, was an experienced soldier, especially in marine warfare, a quality hitherto not enjoyed by previous commanders and governors. This skill was wisely put to force by Musa, who built a nucleus naval force involving some one hundred vessels based in Tunisia. This force, as will be seen, played a vital role in future events leading to the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
By then, some seventy years had passed since the Arabs launched their first campaign in north Africa, while it took no more than ten years to liquidate the Persian empire and three years to expel the Byzantines from Syria and Palestine as well as to conquer Egypt.
In the meanwhile, Musa ibn Nuseir, the commander of al-
Maghrib had completed the mopping up of the remaining pockets of resistance.
One pocket, however, remained intact, Ceuta. Ceuta, situated on the
north western edge of the African continent, not far from Tangier and facing
the southern shores of the Iberian Peninsula, was not actually beyond the
reach of the Arab forces. At the time, no one knew why it had not
been swept together with the other pockets of resistance. One man
knew, however, and that man was Musa ibn Nuseir. Musa spent long
hours gazing at the coast line beyond the straits.
