Musa ibn Nusair al-Bekir

Musa Ibn Nusair

Musa bin Nusair also Musa ben Nusair or Musa Ibn Nusayr (Arabic: موسى بن نصير‎; 640—716) was a Azdi of Asir in Yemen, current-day south west Saudi Arabia Muslim who served as a governor and general under the Umayad caliph Al-Walid I. He had ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and directed the islamic opening of the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania.

• Governor of Ifriqiya located in al-Qayrawan 703–715
• Governor of Al-Andalus located in Seville (Ar. Ishbīliya) 712–714

Abu Abd ar-Rahman Musa ibn Nusayr ibn Abd ar-Rahman Zayd al-Lajmi (en árabe,أبوعبد الرحمن موسى بن نصير بن عبد الرحمن زيد اللخمي), llamado Muza en la tradición española, fue un caudillo militar musulmán yemení, gobernador y general de los Omeyas (640–716) en el norte de África. A la edad de 71 años participó en la invasión musulmana de la Península, según la historiografía tradicionalmente admitida, basada en crónicas bereberes de los siglos X y XI.

Contenido [ocultar]

1 Biografía

2 Otros enfoques

3 Véase también

4 Bibliografía

[editar] Biografía

En 698 se convirtió en virrey del Norte de África, y fue el encargado de poner fin a una rebelión bereber. Tuvo que combatir los ataques de la armada bizantina y construyó una fuerza naval que conquistaría las islas de Ibiza, Mallorca y Menorca.

En Hispania los visigodos se hallaban inmersos en una lucha interna disputando por el trono que pretendían Agila II (el hijo del anterior rey, Witiza) y Rodrigo. Éste fue electo gracias al apoyo de la mayor parte de la aristocracia visigoda, por lo que los partidarios de Agila solicitaron la ayuda de Musa ibn Nusair, a través de Don Julián, gobernador de Ceuta o quizás (menos probable) de Tánger, para oponerse por las armas a este hecho. Musa envió a Tariq Ibn Ziyad, que desembarcó en Gibraltar el 30 de abril de 711, al frente de 7.000 hombres. Tariq derrotó a Rodrigo en la Batalla de Guadalete y avanzó rápidamente por el territorio peninsular.

En 712 Musa, acompañado por su hijo Abd al-Aziz ibn Mussa y con un ejército de 18.000 hombres, cruzó el Estrecho y procedió a la conquista del resto del territorio visigodo. Ocupó Medina-Sidonia, Carmona y Sevilla y, seguidamente, atacó Mérida poniendo sitio a la ciudad que resistió un año (30 de junio del 713). Desde Mérida, Musa, se dirigió a Toledo.

En 714 Musa y Tariq tomaron Zaragoza y avanzaron hacia Lérida. Llamados a Damasco, ambos invasores se separaron y Musa se dirigió a Asturias para tomar León, Astorga y Zamora y llegar hasta Lugo.

A su regreso a Sevilla, Musa fue llamado a Damasco por el nuevo califa Suleimán I para rendir cuentas. Antes de partir, como si de bienes propios se tratasen en vez de ser de la comunidad islámica, Musa repartió el gobierno de los diferentes territorios que administraba entre sus hijos: Abd al-Aziz como gobernador de al-Ándalus; Abd al-Malik (también llamado Marwan), de Ceuta y Abd Allah, que era el mayor, de Ifriquiya.

Ya en Damasco, Suleiman condenó a muerte a Musa por el delito reincidente de malversación. La pena se le conmutó por el pago de una considerable suma, pero no se le permitió regresar a al-Ándalus. Poco después fue asesinado en una mezquita de Damasco, hacia el año 716, algunas fuentes afirman que hacia el 718.

[editar] Otros enfoques

Ignacio Olagüe Videla, en su obra La Revolución islámica en Occidente (1974), plantea dos hipótesis sobre este personaje: o bien es fabuloso y jamás existió, o se trata de uno de los primeros propagandistas del Islam en la Península.

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Mūsā b. Nuṣayr bin ʿabd al-rāḥmān b. zayd al-lak̲h̲mī (or al-bakrī) abū ʿabd al-raḥmān,

conqueror of the western Mag̲h̲rib and of Spain. He was born in 19/640; his father had been in the immediate entourage of Muʿāwiya [q.v.]. Mūsā was at first appointed by the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik to collect the k̲h̲arād̲j̲ at al-Baṣra, but having been suspected of embezzlement, he fled and took refuge with the caliph’s brother, the governor of Egypt ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Marwān; the latter took Mūsā to Syria to the caliph, who fined him 100,000 dīnārs. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz provided half of this sum for Mūsā and brought him to Egypt, where he gave him the governorship of Ifrīḳiya which had been previously held by Hassan b. al-Nuʿmān. The various chroniclers are not agreed as to the date of his appointment to the office, but it possibly took place in 79/698 or the following year.

Mūsā and his troops thereupon entered on a career of successful conquest which ended in the consolidation of Muslim power in Ifrīḳiya and in the conquest of the rest of North Africa and of Spain. Here we give only the most essential details. Assisted by his sons ʿAbd Allāh and Marwān he sent successful expeditions against Zag̲h̲wān and Sad̲j̲ūma (?) and reduced the Hawwāra, the Zanāta and the Kutāma [q.vv.]. The Berbers taking refuge in the west of the Mag̲h̲rib. Mūsā decided to bring them to subjection; confirmed in his office by ʿAbd al-Malik’s successor al-Walīd, he continued his advance to Tangier and the Sūs [q.v.] and returned to Ifrīḳiya, leaving as his deputy in the Mag̲h̲rib his freedman Ṭāriḳ [q.v.]. The latter in 92/710-11 invaded Spain, and Mūsā, anxious about and at the same time jealous of the progress made by his lieutenant, himself crossed in the following year, leaving his son ʿAbd Allāh as governor of Ifrīḳiya. Landing at Algeciras in Ramaḍān 93/June-July 712 with his other son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, he refused to take the same route as Ṭāriḳ and taking the towns of Sidona (S̲h̲ad̲h̲ūna [q.v.]), Carmona, Seville and Merida, he was on his way to Toledo when Ṭāriḳ came to meet him and was bitterly reproached by his master. Mūsā b. Nuṣayr then continued his march and completely subjugated the north of Spain from Saragossa to Navarre. In 95/713-14 he left Spain with immense booty, leaving his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as governor; he reached Ḳayrawān at the end of the year and continued by land to Syria in a triumphal procession of Arab chiefs and Berber and Spanish prisoners. The caliph al-Walīd, then near his end, urged him to hurry while his brother and heir-presumptive Sulaymān, eager to appropriate the vast wealth brought by Mūsā, tried to delay him. He arrived in Damascus shortly before the death of al-Walīd, and when Sulaymān assumed power in 96/715, he at once displayed his hatred of the conqueror. Regarding Mūsā b. Nuṣayr’s stay in Syria before his death in 98/716-17, the Arab historians give a number of details which are obviously of quite a legendary character.

In 712 Seville was conquered by Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr, and according to the anonymous Arab chronicle Akhbār Majmūʿa (p. 16), he organized a Jewish guard force to defend it, as had his lieutenant, Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād, the year before in Cordova and other captured cities. A year later, the Christians in Seville rebelled, killing some eighty Jews and Muslims in the garrison. Mūsā’s son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz suppressed the revolt, and when his father returned to the East, he became governor and made Seville his seat. At this time a synagogue was founded with his permission. Throughout the Umayyad period, Seville, although no longer the capital, enjoyed peace and prosperity and flourished as a cultural center.

(C. Lévi-Provençal)

Bibliography

All the Muslim chroniclers who have described the conquest of North Africa and Spain in their works have dealt with Mūsā b. Nusayr at fair length, but with details of a more legendary than historical nature. Moreover, these historians have copied each other, and in this connection one should consult the study made by A. Gateau on the relationships between the various chronicles, in RT, xxix (1937), xxxiii-xxxiv (1938), xxxviii-xl (1939) and Hi (1942). Amongst the principal historians whose works are accessible, one may cite: Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Futūḥ Miṣr, ed. Torrey, New Haven 1922, ed.- partial tr. Gateau, Algiers, 2nd ed. 1948 (cf. R. Brunschvig, ʿIbn ʿAbdalhakam et la conquête de l’Afrique du Nord, in AIEO Alger, vi [1942-7])

Ibn al-Ḳūtiyya, Iftitāḥ al-Andalus, ed. Ribera, Madrid 1926

Ak̲h̲bār mad̲j̲mūʿa, ed.- tr. Lafuente y Alcántara, Madrid 1867

Ibn ʿId̲j̲ārī, al-Bayān al-mug̲h̲rib, i-ii, ed. G.S. Colin and E. Lévi-Provençal, Leiden 1948-51

Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, Kāmil

Lévi-Provençal, Naṣṣ d̲j̲adīd ʿan fatḥ al-ʿArab li ’l-Mag̲h̲rib, in Ṣaḥīfat al-Maʿhad al-Miṣrī, ii (1373/1954), 223-4. There are biographical notices devoted to Mūsā b. Nuṣayr in Ibn K̲h̲allikān. Wafayāt, ed. I. ʿAbbās, v, 318-29, no. 748

Ibn al-Faraḍī, Taʾrīk̲h̲ ʿulamāʾ al-Andalus, no. 1454

Ḍabbī, Bug̲h̲yat al-multamis, no. 1334

Ibn al-Abbār, al-Ḥulla al-siyarāʾ, ed. Muʾnis, Cairo 1964. See also, in addition to the general histories of North Africa and Muslim Spain, Fournel, Les Berbers, Paris 1857-75

¶ Saavedra, Estudio sobre la invasión de los árabes en España, Madrid 1892

H. Muʾnis, Fad̲j̲r al-Andalus, Cairo 1959.

Citation Lévi-Provençal, C.. " Mūsā b. Nuṣayr." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online , 2013. Reference. Jim Harlow. 01 February 2013 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-isla...>

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He was Arabic Governor of North Africa. Todd Farmerie has suggested that he probably a Lakhmid, one of a pre-Islamic Arab Christian community from southern Arabia. For a discussion of his ancestry, see soc.genealogy.medieval.

From Wikipedia:

Musa bin Nusayr (Arabic: موسى بن نصير‎ Mūsá bin Nuṣayr; 640–716) served as a governor and general under the Umayad caliph Al-Walid I. He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and directed the Islamic conquest of the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.

Various suggestions have been made as to his ancestry. Some say his father belonged to the Lakhmid clan of seminomads who lived east of the Euphrates and were allies of the Sassanians, while others claim he belonged to the Banu Bakr confederation. The most detailed account is that of at-Tabari who stated that Musa's father was taken captive after the fall of the Syrian city of Ayn al-Tamr (633). According to this account, he was a Christian, possibly Persian, who was one of a number being held hostage there. However, al-Baladhuri, relating the same events, states he was an Arab of the Bali tribe, from Jabal al-Jalil in Syria.

As a slave, Musa's father entered the service of Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (governor of Egypt and son of the caliph Marwan I) who gave him his freedom. He returned to Syria where Musa was born at a place called Kafarmara or Kafarmathra. The date of his birth has been given as 640.

Musa was made co-governor of Iraq by the caliph Abd al-Malik, together with the caliph's brother Bishr ibn Marwan. There was some quarrel over missing tax money, and Musa was given the choice: pay a huge fine, or pay with his head. His father's patron, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, had a high opinion of Musa, and paid the ransom; he was later responsible for appointing Musa to be governor of Ifriqiya.

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From Paul Lunde's "Ishbiliyah: Islamic Seville" article in the Jan/Feb 1993 issue (Vol. 44, No. 1) of Aramco World magazine (http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199301/ishbiliyah-islamic.sev...): "Musa ibn Nusayr ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Zaid al-Lakhmi, Umayyad governor of North Africa, was the grandson of a Christian captured by the great Arab general Khalid ibn al-Walid in the little Mesopotamian oasis town of 'Ain al-Tamr. His father had been a con­fidant of the first Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiyah, and before becoming governor Musa had been a tax-collector in the Umayyad civil service."

supposed eponym of Jebel Musa ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jebel_Musa_(Morocco) )

Source 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_bin_Nusayr

Source 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_conquest_of_Hispania#Invasion

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Musa ben Nuseir al-BEKIR

    aka Musa ibn NUSAIR (ibn NUSAYR); Governor/Emir of North AFRICA & SPAIN; Conquistador de la Peninsula

    Born:  abt. 632    Died:  717 Damascus     d. in prison

HM George I's 30-Great Grandfather. HRE Ferdinand I's 24-Great Grandfather.

Musa bin Nusayr (Arabic: موسى بن نصير‎ Mūsá bin Nuṣayr; 640–716) served as a governor and general under the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I. He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and directed the Islamic conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom inHispania (Spain, Portugal, Andorra and part of France).

Background Various suggestions have been made as to his ancestry. Some say his father belonged to the Lakhmid clan of seminomads who lived east of the Euphrates and were allies of theSassanians,[1] while others claim he belonged to the Banu Bakr confederation.[2] The most detailed account is that of at-Tabari[3] who stated that Musa's father was taken captive after the fall of the Syrian city of Ayn al-Tamr (633). According to this account, he was a Christian, possibly Persian, who was one of a number being held hostage there. However, al-Baladhuri, relating the same events,[4] states he was an Arab of the Balī tribe, from Jabal al-Jalīl in Syria.[5]

As a slave, Musa's father entered the service of Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (governor of Egypt and son of the caliph Marwan I) who gave him his freedom.[6] He returned to Syria where Musa was born at a place called Kafarmara or Kafarmathra.[7] The date of his birth has been given as 640.[8]

Musa was made co-governor of Iraq by the caliph Abd al-Malik, together with the caliph's brother Bishr ibn Marwan. There was some quarrel over missing tax money, and Musa was given the choice: pay a huge fine, or pay with his head. His father's patron, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, had a high opinion of Musa, and paid the ransom;[9] he was later responsible for appointing Musa to be governor of Ifriqiya.

Islamic conquest of Maghrib Hasan ibn al-Nu'man was sent to continue the Islamic conquest in North Africa all the way to Morocco. However, his policies were quite strict and he did not tolerate Berber traditions. He was relieved of his command for allowing continuing Byzantine attacks. Musa bin Nusayr was then sent to renew the attacks against the Berbers. But he did not impose Islam by force, rather, he respected Berber traditions and used diplomacy in subjugating them. This proved highly successful, as many Berbers converted to Islam and even entered his army as soldiers and officers, possibly including Tariq bin Ziyad[10] who would lead the later Islamic expedition in Iberia.

Governor In 698 Musa was made the governor of Ifriqiya and was responsible for completing the conquest of North Africa and of the Balearic Islands and Sardinia. He was the first governor of Ifriqiya not to be subordinate to the governor of Egypt. He was the first Muslim general to take Tangiers and occupy it;[11] his troops also conquered the Sous, effectively taking control of all of modern Morocco. He also had to deal with constant harassment from the Byzantine navy and he built a navy that would go on to conquer the islands of Ibiza, Majorca, and Minorca.

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.[18]

The Moroccan peak Jebel Musa is named for Musa bin Nusayr according to the 14th-century Berber Muslim geographer Ibn Battuta.[19]

Musa in Legend Less than 200 years after the death of Musa, he became the subject of fantastic legends. The earliest to appear were recorded by Ibn al-Faqih in the late 9th or earliest 10th century. According to these,[20] Musa was ordered by the caliph to investigate reports of a strange city called al-Baht. Musa marched from Qayrawan to the deserts of Spain and came upon a city surrounded by walls with no entrance. Those who attempted to look over the wall became entranced and jumped, laughing deliriously. Musa then proceeded to a nearby lake which contained copper jars. When opened, a genie emerged from each one.

A more extensive version of the same legend entered the One Thousand and One Nights, wherein Musa encounters many other marvels, such as a palace filled with jewels, whose only human occupant was the embalmed corpse of a beautiful woman guarded by two robot warriors.[21]

The 17th-century historian Ibn Abi Dinar used Musa's decline in fortune as an object lesson in the vagaries of human existence, with some exaggerations: "Musa, who had conquered half the inhabited world, who had acquired so many riches, died in poverty, begging alms from passers-by, after having been abandoned by the last of his servants. Overcome by shame and misery, he wished for death, and God gave it to him. I only mention the details of Musa's death to give my contemporaries, who are poorly read, a striking example of the vicissitudes of human life."[22]

Probably the most extensive work to be inspired by the life of Musa is a section of the anonymous Kitāb al-imāma w'as-siyāsa, which contains a lengthy description of his deeds accompanied by many supposed speeches and sayings. Unlike many other authors, such as Ibn Abd al-Hakam, the work is entirely favourable to Musa.[23]

Notes

Editor's note, p. 41 of the Spanish translation of Al-Bakri.

These conflicting accounts are mentioned by al-Baladhuri (p. 362 of English translation),Al-Bakri (p. 41 of Spanish translation).

Editor's note p. 17-18 of Spanish translation of Akhbār majmūa.

English translation, p. 396-397.

Hitti, on p. 397 of his translation of al-Baladhuri, states this is Mt. Galilee, presumably intending the reader to infer the place of that name near Jerusalem. But according toYaqut, Kitāb mu'jam al-buldān, the name applies to mountains which extend up the coast of Syria to Homs and across to Damascus.

al-Baladhuri, p. 397 of English translation; the same in other sources, although Al-Bakri(p. 41 of Spanish translation) says that some say he was liberated by Uthman.

al-Baladhuri, p. 397 of English translation, and editor's note. Place of Burial:Immediate Family: Musa Nusair al-Bekir, Governor of Ifriqiya & al-Andalus Also Known As:	"موسى بن نصير", "موسى بن نصير‎" Birthdate:	circa 640 Birthplace:	Kafarmara/Kafarmathra, (now Syria)  Death:	Died 715 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia Mecca, Saudi Arabia Son of Nusair bin ʻAbd al-Rahman al-Bekir and No Name Zauja-e-Nusair al-Bekir Husband of Amîna binte Marwân I bin al-Hakam Partner of Ṭāriḳ ibn Ziyād ibn ʿAbd Allāh Father of Uthman bin Musa al-Bekir; 'Abd al-'Aziz bin Musa al-Bekir and 'Abdullah bin Musa bin Nusair al-Bekir

Occupation: Governor of Ifriqiya and al-Andalus, Conquered the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania, Émir du Maroc,

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Mýsà b. Nuṣayr [nuestro ‘Moro Muza’]. Su ascendencia era humilde como lo prueba lo corto de su genealogía y el que sus biógrafos no se pongan de acuerdo sobre el particular. Algunos lo hacen hijo de extranjero, mientras quienes lo consideran árabe se dividen entre cuatro presuntos orígenes tribales: Bakrī, Lajmī [por clientela], Balī, Layṯī… Según parece, su padre estaba en ‘Ayn al-Tamr cuando fue ocupada por Jālid b. al-Walīd; habría declarado ser un Bakr b. Wā’il y estar allí en calidad de rehén. Según al-Ḥumaydī “se decía que Mýsà era mawlà/liberto de los Lajm”, y algo de verdad habría en aquello cuando éstos pagaron, en 97/716 y deduciéndolo de sus propias soldadas, la mitad de la multa resultante del juicio de Mýsà. Ibn Baškuwāl afirmaba [dato probablemente legendario] que su abuelo habría sido ‘compañero’ del Profeta. En cambio, la estrecha relación de los nuṣayríes con los Omeyas es indiscutible. Y tal vez sea cierto que su padre fuera jefe de la guardia de corps de Mu‛āwiya cuando su enfrentamiento con ‘Alī. El propio Mýsà se consideró siempre mawlà [por manumisión o voluntario] de ‛Abd al-‛Azīz b. Marwān —poderoso virrey de Egipto y hermano del califa ‛Abd al-Malik— que lo apreciaba, empleó y protegió en múltiples ocasiones.

Musa ibn Nusair (Abú Abd al-Rahmán Musa ibn Nusair, también conocido como el moro Muza ) Gobernador musulmán del norte de África que dirigió la ocupación de la península Ibérica (Yemen, h. 640 - Damasco ?, 716/718). Era un liberto del walí de Egipto, hermano del sultán Omeya, que le nombró gobernador de las provincias occidentales de Ifriqiya y el Magreb (704). Completó la islamización de la segunda y la extendió con la conquista de Marruecos.

Fue entonces cuando el conde don Julián, gobernador visigodo de Ceuta y miembro del partido vitizano, contrario al rey Rodrigo, convenció a Musa para que pasara con sus tropas a España y ayudara a derrocarle. Musa envió a Tarif ben Malluk en una primera expedición de reconocimiento, rechazada por las fuerzas de Rodrigo (710), y a su lugarteniente, Tariq ben Ziyad, en una segunda definitiva, ya autorizada por el califa (711).

La rápida penetración de Tariq en el territorio peninsular aconsejó a Musa pasar personalmente a al-Ándalus para consolidar la conquista en el 712. Con ayuda de los vitizanos fue tomando ciudades sobrepasadas en su avance por Tariq, dirigiendo su ejército desde Algeciras hasta Sevilla, Mérida, Toledo, Zaragoza, Asturias y Lugo.

Pero en el 714 hubo de regresar a Damasco ante los insistentes requerimientos del califa Sulaymán, dejando como gobernador de al-Ándalus a su hijo Abd al-Aziz. Al llegar a Damasco halló a un nuevo califa, Sulaymán, que le condenó por la forma en que había repartido el botín de sus conquistas. No pudo regresar nunca a al-Ándalus y murió oscuramente.

Abu Abd ar-Rahman Musa ibn Nusayr ibn Abd ar-Rahman Zayd al-Bakri al-Lajmi o Musa ibn Nusair (en árabe, أبوعبد الرحمن موسى بن نصير بن عبد الرحمن زيد اللخمي‎), llamado Muza o Musa en la tradición española, fue un caudillo militar musulmán yemení (era de los Lájmidas, conocida como tribu del sur o del Yemen1​2​3​), gobernador y general del califato Damasquino Omeya (640–716/718) en el norte de África (Ifriquiya, actual Tunicia). A la edad de 71 años participó en la invasión musulmana de la península ibérica, según la historiografía tradicionalmente admitida, basada en crónicas árabes de los siglos X y XI, y fue el primer valí de al-Ándalus, gobernando entre los años 712 y 714.

En el norte de África, la pacificación que le permitiría posteriormente el avance territorial no estaba exenta de dificultades que provenían fundamentalmente de la resistencia de los bereberes (se consigue la sumisión con la toma de rehenes de los hijos de notables y jefes) y de la zona cristiana magrebí (cuyos dirigentes terminan optando por aceptar acuerdos que le confirman en sus dominios, como don Julián, señor de Ceuta).4​

En 698 se convirtió en gobernador o virrey de Ifriquiya en el norte de África, y fue el encargado de poner fin a una rebelión de los bereberes. Tuvo que combatir los ataques de la armada bizantina y construyó una fuerza naval que saquearía las islas de Ibiza, Mallorca y Menorca en el año 707.5​

En esa altura, la Hispania visigoda se hallaba inmersa en una tremenda confusión, con dos reyes rivales, Agila II y Rodrigo, que controlaban zonas diferentes de la península; y uno de ellos además (Rodrigo, electo gracias al apoyo de la mayor parte de la aristocracia visigoda) enfrentado a la oposición de un grupo minoritario, quizá de partidarios de los descendientes de su antecesor el rey Witiza. Tal vez este grupo fuese el que solicitara la ayuda de Musa ibn Nusair, a través de Don Julián, gobernador de Ceuta o quizás (menos probable) de Tánger, aunque en este período es casi imposible conocer los hechos reales, adornados mucho después con leyendas. Fuese como fuese, el caso es que Musa envió a su lugarteniente Táriq ibn Ziyad, que desembarcó junto a la roca que después por él fue llamada Gibraltar, el 30 de abril de 711, al frente de 7000 bereberes. Táriq derrotó a Rodrigo en la batalla de Guadalete y avanzó rápidamente por el territorio peninsular.6​

En 712 Musa, acompañado por su hijo Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa y con un ejército de 18 000 hombres, cruzó el estrecho de Gibraltar y procedió a la conquista del resto del territorio visigodo.6​ Ocupó Medina Sidonia, Carmona y Sevilla y, seguidamente, atacó Mérida poniendo sitio a la ciudad que resistió un año (30 de junio del 713). Desde Mérida, Musa, se dirigió a Toledo.

En 714 Musa y Táriq tomaron Zaragoza y avanzaron hacia Lérida. Llamados a Damasco, ambos invasores se separaron y Musa se dirigió a Asturias para tomar León, Astorga y Zamora, y llegar hasta Lugo.

A su regreso a Sevilla, Musa fue llamado a Damasco por el nuevo califa Suleimán I para rendir cuentas. Antes de partir, como si de bienes propios se tratasen en vez de ser de la comunidad islámica, Musa repartió el gobierno de los diferentes territorios que administraba entre sus hijos: Abd al-Aziz, su cuarto hijo, como gobernador de Al-Ándalus; Abd al-Málik (también llamado Marwán) ibn Musa, que era el segundo, de Ceuta y Tánger y Abd Al·lah ibn Musa, que era el mayor, de Ifriqiya. Su tercer hijo, Marwán ibn Musa, acompañó a Táriq ibn Ziyad en la primera ofensiva en 711. Eran hijos de su matrimonio ca. 678 con Amina bint Marwán (nacida en 664?), hija de Marwán I y de Ruqayya bint Úmar, hija de Umar ibn al-Jattab y de Umm Kulthum bint Ali, hija de Ali Ibn Abi Talib y de Fátima az-Zahra, hija de Mahoma y Jadiya.

Ya en Damasco, Suleimán condenó a muerte a Musa por el delito reincidente de malversación. La pena se le conmutó por el pago de una considerable suma, pero no se le permitió regresar a Al-Ándalus. Poco después fue asesinado en una mezquita de Damasco, hacia el año 716, algunas fuentes afirman que hacia 718.

Árabes y bereberes Parece ser que Musa ibn Nusayr asentó el poder relativamente fuerte que se había forjado en Occidente, poder que levantaría seriamente la ira del califato, no sólo sobre los árabes y los mawali que debían pertenecer principalmente al grupo árabe lájmida —tribu de los árabes del sur o yemeníes a la que pertenecía el propio Musa—, sino también sobre elementos bereberes.