While the two vast continents of Europe and Africa were divided by the Straits of Hercules, Ceuta and Tangiers were the rocky defences of this narrow passage on the African side; there remained but the opposite stronghold of Gibraltar to secure the key to the Mediterranean; and beyond this, in the haze of distance, Musa shaded his eyes to gaze upon the purple mountains of the fair Andalusia; perhaps the night breeze wafted across that narrow channel the strange fragrance of a thousand orange groves, intermixed with the wild herbs and flowers of the mountains of Spain, and woke the weary Arab from his dream of the dreary reality of his hot African clime to the desired conquest of that unknown country. Brightly were such dreams realised in the siege and subsequent capture of Ceuta, and in the ultimate conquest of Spain.b
Leaving the story of the Arabian invasion of Europe to a later chapter, we may continue with the destinies of the Omayyad dynasty.a
THE EASTERN CALIPHATE
Immediately on his succession Walid had confirmed Hajjaj in the government of Irak, and appointed as governor of Medina his cousin, Omar b. Abdul-Aziz, who was received there with joy, his piety and gentle character being well known. Under his government important works were undertaken at Medina and Mecca by order of Walid, who, having no rivals to struggle against, was able to give his attention to pacific occupations. The mosque of Medina was enlarged, wells were sunk, the streets widened, and hospitals established. At Mecca many improvements were introduced. The reputation of Omar attracted to the two holy cities a great number of the inhabitants of Irak, who were groaning under the iron hand of Hajjaj. The latter, who was not a man to let his prey escape from his grasp, was so urgent with Walid that he obtained the dismissal of Omar b. Abdul-Aziz in the year 93, and the appointment of Othman b. Hayyan at Medina, and of Khalid b. Abdallah at Mecca. These two prefects compelled the refugees at Mecca and Medina to return to Irak, where many of them were cruelly treated and even put to death by Hajjaj. It was probably his cruelty which drove so many men of Irak to enlist in the armies of the East and the South; and this may in some degree account for the unheard-of successes of Kotaiba b. Muslim in Transoxiana, and of Muhammed b. Kasim in India. They may also be explained by the ambition of Hajjaj, who, it is said, cherished the project of creating a vast empire for himself to the east and south of the Moslem realm, and had secretly promised the government of China to the first of his generals who should reach that country. Be this as it may, in the course of a very few years Kotaiba conquered the whole of Bokhara, Khwarizm, and Transoxiana or Mawara-annahr, as far as the frontiers of China. Meanwhile Muhammed b. Kasim invaded Mokram, Sind, and Multan, carried off an immense booty, and reduced the women and children to slavery. In Armenia and Asia Minor, Maslama, brother of the caliph Walid, and his lieutenants, also obtained numerous successes against the Greeks. In Armenia, Maslama even advanced as far as the Caucasus.
SULEIMAN’S AMBITIONS
[715 A.D.]
Costume of an Arabian Woman
Walid, in the very year of his death, which took place in 715, wished to have his son Abdul-Aziz b. Walid chosen as his successor, and had offered his brother Suleiman a great sum of money to induce him to surrender his rights to the caliphate; but Suleiman obstinately refused to do so. Walid went still farther, and sent letters to the governors of all the provinces, calling on them to make the people take the oath of allegiance to his son. None except Hajjaj and Kotaiba b. Muslim consented thus to set at nought the order of succession established by Abdul-Malik; and Suleiman succeeded without difficulty at the death of his brother. We can easily conceive the hatred felt by Suleiman for Hajjaj, and for all that belonged to him, far or near. Hajjaj himself escaped by death; but Suleiman poured out his wrath on his family, and strove to undo all that he had done. First of all, Muhammed b. Kasim, the conqueror of India, who was cousin to Hajjaj, was dismissed from his post and outlawed. Hajjaj had deprived Yazid b. Muhallab of the government of Khorasan; Suleiman conferred on him that of Irak. Kotaiba b. Muslim, on learning the accession of Suleiman, knew that his own ruin was certain, and therefore anticipated the caliph by a revolt. But Suleiman induced Kotaiba’s troops to desert by authorising them to return to their homes; and when the illustrious general sought to carry his army with him, a conspiracy was formed against him which ended in his murder. Yazid b. Muhallab, who preferred Khorasan to Irak, obtained permission to exchange. Immediately on his return to Khorasan he set on foot a series of new expeditions against Jorjan and Tabaristan. But the inhabitants of Khorasan, which he governed oppressively, made complaints against him to the caliph, accusing him of practising extortions in order to obtain such a sum of money as would enable him to rebel against his sovereign. From that day Suleiman determined to get rid of Yazid. As, however, he was then dreaming of the conquest of Constantinople, he thought it prudent to dissemble his dissatisfaction for some time in order to concentrate his attention on the object of his desires.
[715-724 A.D.]
The Byzantine Empire was disturbed by internal troubles during the years 715-717 A.D. Suleiman resolved to take advantage of these in order to rid himself forever of the hereditary enemy of Islam, and prepared a formidable expedition. A fleet of eighteen hundred vessels, equipped at Alexandria, sailed to the coasts of Asia Minor, took on board the Moslem army, commanded by Maslama, and transported it to Europe. This army appeared under the walls of Constantinople the 15th of August, 717, five months after Leo III, the Isaurian, had ascended the throne. Once more the Greek fire prevailed against the Moslems. Their fleet was destroyed by this terrible engine of war; the army could obtain no fresh supply of provisions, and suffered all the horrors of famine. Meanwhile the caliph, who desired to be present in person at the taking of Constantinople, had set out to join the army. He fell ill at Dabik, not far from Aleppo, and died there on the 22nd of September in the same year, after having nominated as his own successor his cousin, Omar b. Abdul-Aziz, and as successor to the latter, Yazid b. Abdul-Malik, his own brother. In vain did the new caliph despatch from Egypt a fleet of four hundred ships to carry arms and provisions to the army before Constantinople; this fleet also was destroyed by the Greeks, and the Moslem army was decimated by famine, and soon by the plague as well. A hundred thousand men perished miserably under the walls of Constantinople, and Maslama brought back to Asia Minor a mere handful of soldiers, and that with great difficulty.c
THE LAST OMAYYADS (717-750 A.D.)
The caliph appointed by Suleiman to be his successor was his cousin, Omar II, the son of Abdul-Aziz, a sovereign in whom according to some authors were united all the virtues of the great Omar without any of the latter’s severity against unbelievers, while others accuse him of levying intolerable imposts on the Christians. Yazid, Suleiman’s one time favourite, the governor of Khorasan, was thrown into prison for defalcation, and all other governors received strict orders not to resort to force and oppression in spreading the doctrines of Islamism, but to proceed with all mildness and humanity. Unfortunately for the realm the rule of the just and pious prince whose soul turned from earthly greatness and pride of conquest to the joys of paradise, was of but short duration. In the third year of his reign he succumbed to a painful malady which caused grave suspicions of poisoning to arise against certain of his ambitious kinsmen. Omar had not yet attained his fortieth year when, deeply mourned by all his people, he was laid in his grave at Deir Saman, in the neighbourhood of Hims (Emesa).