Today in the Religion of Peace (tm)
On this day, July 19th, in the year 711, North African Muslim troops (the Moors) under the command of Tariq Ibn Ziyad defeated and killed the Visigoth King Roderic of Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) in the
Battle of Guadalete. Most of the Visigoth nobles were also killed in the fighting, which greatly weakened the resistance as the Muslims conquered the entire Iberian peninsula. The military invasion was directed by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I.(*)
Tariq Ibn Ziyad, who was also known as "Tariq the One Eyed", was given recognition in modern times for his successful offensive warfare against the non-believers when the Tariq Ibn Ziyad Academy was named in his honor in Blaine, MN in 2003. The school has been at the center of several controversies, for teaching religion in violation of the Constitution, for refusing to fly the American flag, and for the assault on a local television news crew who were filming at the school.
Posted on 7:20 AM by Artemis Gordon Glidden
