Islamic History and Culture

Musa bin Nusayr was the governor of North Africa during the time of Caliph al-Walid I. Tariq ibn Ziyad was a General in his Army. Musa bin Nusayr sent Tariq to conquer Spain. Musa completed the conquest of North Africa. He was the first Muslim general to take Tangiers. Uqba bin Nafi who is credited with being the first conqueror of Africa, had only failed to conquer Tangier. Musa occupied Tangier and with that completed the conquest of North Africa. According to the famous Moroccan geographer and explorer Ibn Batutta, Jabel e Musa in Morocco is named after him. Jabel e Musa is opposite the rock of Gibraltar named for Tariq bin Ziyad.

Al-Idrisi wrote “Nuzhat la Mushtaq fi khtiraq al-afaq”, the book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands. The book is popularly known as Tabula Rogeriana, The Book of Roger.

Ibn Khaldun was an Arab historian and historiographer. His best known book is The Muqaddimah, a book on universal history i.e philosophy of history, sociology, demography, historiography, cultural history, economics, Islamic theology, political theory, biology and chemistery. The book was written in 1377. In the Muqaddimah he describes the Assabiyah.