TURMOIL IN SPAIN (PART 2)
As explained in the previous episode, after the reappointment of Abdurrahman, he wanted to recover the lands the Muslims have lost, so in 732A.D, Abdurrahman bn Ghafiqi gathered a great Muslim army in Cordova to fight again against the enemies who were already taking back the lands the Muslims already conquered. The battle was a great loss to the Muslims as the Cordovan army led by Abdurrahman himself was defeated by the Frankish commander, Charles martel and Duke Odo of Aquitaine who helped some Berbers to rebel the previous year. The Battle of Tours-poitiers was a disaster for the Muslim army, they were totally routed and thousands of them died including Abdurrahman bn Al Ghafiqi. This occurrence was a serious blow to the Muslims and they yearn for the day they would have their revenge.
In 739A.D, the Berbers revolted in North Africa which later spread into Spain. The rebels defeated the Syrian army that was sent by the Caliph to put down the revolt and its commander Kulthum was killed. In this same year, they drove out the Muslims out of Galicia.
In 740A.D, the revolt got intensed against the ethnical Umayyad caliphate of Syria and they also refused to pay the tax revenue. In 741A.D, the 10,000 survivors of Kulthum’s army arrived in Spain under the command of Tha’labah bn salamah. In 742A.D, Balj bn bishr was appointed by the caliph to put down the revolution in Spain but unfortunately, he fell out with the army of Tha’labah and was killed. Tha’labah became the head at Cordova by August 742A.D. At this point, only Narbonne was left in France of the lands the Muslims have previously conquered during their conquest into France.
Internal conflict waged on seriously in Spain for about six more years. The Berbers are in open revolt, the Northern Christians organized movements in order to win back their lands from the Muslims as they were being incited by the Christian states and the Arabs were busy fighting each other. In 751A.D, Pepin,the son of Charles martel seized this opportunity to push back the Muslims from Narbonne thus ending the presence of the Muslims in France.
Several wars were held within the span of six years between the Berbers, Arabs and Syrians as the Arabs monopolized important post and sent the Berbers to many fronts. Also, within the span of six years, the tribal feud which took place between the two dominant Arab tribes in Spain was not something to reckon with. The tribes were the Qaisites (who believed to be descendant of prophet Ismail (A.S)) and the kalbites (descendants of Qahtan i.e yemenis). The feud took the life of many people, hindered political progress and the central Government in Syria was able to do only little to save the situation owing to the fact of the geographical distance of Spain from Syria and some other more problems which threatened their hold of authority over the East.
