105CE
The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus AI-Walid the great patron of architecture, began the construction of the Great Mosque [later to be known as the Umayyad Mosque] of Damascus on the site of the Cathedral of Saint John [which itself previously replaced a pagan temple of Jupiter]. When completed, it became not only a magnificent place of worship befitting the capital, but was also used for more formal audiences, held by the caliph in a glorious chamber especially reserved for the purpose. It is regarded as the greatest of classical mosques of a new tradition.
711CE
The conquest of Spain The year 711 saw the highest point of Islamic power and expansion in both the west and the east. On the western side, a Muslim army of 12,000, consisting mostly of Berbers, under its Berber commander, Tariq ib Ziyad, took the fateful step of crossing the sea from Tangier and landed in April at the foot of the incredibly steep rock of Gibraltar. one of the southerly points of Europe. Tariq was a freedman of Musa ibn Nusair, the celebrated Arab governor of north Africa who had successfully driven out the remaining Byzantines from the coast west of Carthage and firmly established Islamic rule up to the Atlantic. Muslims as Andalus which had been ruled by the Visigoths [West Goths Germanic people] since 531. At the time, King Roderick was absent in the north of the country, which gave the invading army time to establish itself in the adjacent province of Algeciras.
On hearing news of the landing, he marched south to confront the Muslims, but his army of 25,000 men was completely routed on the banks of the River Barbate [modern Salado] and he himself was killed either in the battle itself or not long afterwards. This resulted in the complete collapse of the organised resistance by the Gothic Kingdom which was already in a state of Dynastic dispute, not to mention the discontent and misery among the subject population on a large scale. As had happened previously on two crucial occasions in the expansions of the empire Yarmuk in Syria and Nihavand in Persia the invaders now had only to deal with resistance from the individual cities.
Encouraged by his momentous victory and having thrown the enemy into panic without its leader, Tariq exploited the situation to the full by not giving respite to the imperial army. He matched in haste with only 9.000 men the rest of the tiny force was engaged to capture Cordova, Archidona, and Elvira towards the Gothic capital, Toledo, some two hundred and fifty miles to the north across an unknown mountain terrain. Although his action was extremely daring, it proved justified in the end, for he found the city in total disarray and captured it without difficulty. From then on, town after town became an easy prey; Tariq had shattered an old kingdom in a matter of a few months. A large part of the Iberian Peninsula was overrun in two years. The conquest led to the Muslims domination of a part of Europe for over seven centuries.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited