Tarif ibn Malik ( ar, طريف بن مالك) was a commander under

Tariq ibn Ziyad Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...

, the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

, Muslim and

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

general who led the conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711. Historical sources disagree on whether he was of a Berber or an Arab origin. In July 710 CE, Tariq sent Tarif on a raid to test the southern coastline of the

Iberian peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

. According to legend he was aided by

Julian, count of Ceuta Julian, Count of Ceuta ( es, Don Julián, Conde de Ceuta,, ar, يليان, (' , ''Youliān Kont Sabteh''; in Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, بؙلْيان, ''Bulyan'', the latter is treated by the editor of the Arabic text, Torrey, as a copying error. 'A ...

, as a guide and emissary. Of this raid,

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, i ...

writes: "One hundred Arabs and four hundred Africans passed over, in four vessels, from Tangier or Ceuta; the place of their descent on the opposite shore of the strait is marked by the name of Tarif their chief" which today is the city of Tarifa. They proceeded from there to

reconnoiter In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

the terrain along the coast as a possible entry point for a larger attack, traversing "eighteen miles through a hilly country to the castle and town of Julian; on which (it is still called Algezire) they bestowed the name of the Green Island, from a verdant cape that advances into the sea". There they were hospitably received by supportive Christians—perhaps Count Julian's kinsmen, friends, and supporters. The end result was a successful raid into an unguarded portion of

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

, followed by the safe return of the raiders with plunder and captives. This convinced Tariq that Iberia could be successfully conquered. Tarif subsequently accompanied

Tariq ibn-Ziyad Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...

, when the latter launched the

Islamic conquest of Hispania The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline o ...

and defeated King

Roderic Roderic (also spelled Ruderic, Roderik, Roderich, or Roderick; Spanish and pt, Rodrigo, ar, translit=Ludharīq, لذريق; died 711) was the Visigothic king in Hispania between 710 and 711. He is well-known as "the last king of the Goths". H ...

in the

Battle of Guadalete The Battle of Guadalete was the first major battle of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, fought in 711 at an unidentified location in what is now southern Spain between the Christian Visigoths under their king, Roderic, and the invading forces of ...

in 711.

References

Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 9 (1776)
* Ferrer-Gallardo, X., Albet-Mas, A., & Espiñeira, K. (2015). The borderscape of Punta Tarifa: concurrent invisibilisation practices at Europe’s ultimate peninsula. ''Cultural Geographies'', ''22''(3), 539–47. http://cgj.sagepub.com/content/22/3/539.full.pdf+html {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarif Ibn Malluk 8th-century Berber people 8th-century Al-Andalus people Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century African people 8th-century Arabs