Musa Bin Nusayr - Return To Damascus

Return To Damascus

Both conquerors of Spain were therefore summoned by the caliph to Damascus. Tariq arrived first, according to some accounts. But then the caliph was taken ill. So the caliph's brother, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik became temporarily in charge, and asked Musa, who was arriving with a cavalcade of soldiers and spoils, to delay his grand entry into the city. He most certainly intended to claim the glories brought from the conquest for himself. But Musa dismissed this request, triumphantly entered Damascus anyway, and brought the booty before the ailing Al-Walid I, which brought Musa and Tariq unprecedented popularity amongst the people of Damascus. Al-Walid I then died a few days later and was succeeded by his brother Sulayman, who demanded that Musa deliver up all his spoils. When Musa complained, Sulayman stripped him of his rank and confiscated all the booty, including the table which had reputedly once belonged to Solomon.

One of Musa's sons, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, married an Iberian woman, who was either the daughter or wife of Roderic. She asked 'Abd al-Aziz why his guests did not bow to him as they used to do in the presence of her father. It was reported that he began to force guests to bow to him. It was rumoured that he had secretly become a Christian, and a group of Arabs assassinated him, cut off his head and sent it to the caliph. Sulayman had Musa in his audience when the head arrived, and seeing whose it was, callously asked Musa if he recognized it. Musa maintained his dignity, saying he recognized it as belonging to someone who had always practiced the faith fervently, and cursed the men who had killed him. Another son, Abd Allah, who had acted as governor of Ifriqiya after Musa, was executed on the orders of the caliph on suspicion of having had killed the man who had replaced him.

Musa died naturally while on the Hajj pilgrimage with Sulayman in about the year 715-716. Because of his disgrace, and the misfortunes of his sons, there was a tendency among medieval historians of the Maghreb to attribute his deeds (the conquest of Tangiers and the Sous) to Uqba ibn Nafi.

The Moroccan peak Jebel Musa is named for Musa bin Nusayr according to the 14th-century Berber Muslim geographer Ibn Battuta.