Why did the Muslims conquer Andalusia?
Question

                A Jewish man understood from one verse of the Quraan, that Islam forbids attacking people in their homes. Why then did the Muslims conquer many lands? 

Taariq Ben Ziyad, the Muslim knight, conquered Andalusia, although its people where in their homes. Taariq Ben Ziyad said to his soldiers: “the sea is behind you and the enemy is before you”. Please clarify this.
Praise be to Allah.
    Andalusia was one of the greatest periods of Islamic history, 
    indeed it is a beacon in the history of mankind as a whole, because it was a 
    source of knowledge on earth for many centuries, from which Europe learned 
    all its lessons of civilization and civility. Its conquest, beyond a doubt, 
    was one of the greatest incidents of the first Hijri century (92 AH/711 CE). 
    That period was the greatest and most prosperous in the history of Andalusia 
    from the beginning of history and perhaps until the end of time. 

    Because of the importance of this topic, it is essential to 
    explain a number of important matters that have to do with this great 
    event. 

    Firstly: 

    The most important aim for which jihad has been prescribed is 
    to convey the message of Tawheed by eliminating all suppressive powers which 
    come between the people and Tawheed, and calling people to Islam without 
    compulsion or force, rather they should come to it willingly and by choice. 

    Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

    “And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief 
    and worshipping of others along with Allaah) and (all and every kind of) 
    worship is for Allaah (Alone). But if they cease, let there be no 
    transgression except against Az‑Zaalimoon (the polytheists, and 
    wrong-doers)”

    [al-Baqarah 2:193]

    Qataadah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Until there is 
    no more shirk, “and (all and every kind of) worship is for Allaah (Alone)” 
    means, until it is said Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah (there is no god but Allaah). 
    It is for this that the Prophet of Allaah fought and it is to this that he 
    called. Tafseer al-Tabari (3/567). 

    Secondly: 

    Andalusia, the ancient name for which is Iberia, was under 
    the rule of the Roman Empire. At the dawn of the fifth century CE, in around 
    410 CE, it was overrun by the Gothic tribes (Visigoths) whose religion was 
    Arianism, during which they established a Gothic state, the capital of which 
    was Toledo. 

    Hence we can understand that the original peoples of 
    Andalusia – Catholic Canaanites – were, before the Islamic conquest, subject 
    to Gothic rule. The inhabitants formed four classes which were in conflict 
    with one another: the ruling, colonialist class of Goths; the Roman elite, 
    which also included feudal lords and clergymen; the Jews; and a working 
    class composed of indigenous inhabitants of the land. 

    It was a land under occupation and persecution, which was not 
    under the rule of its indigenous inhabitants. It was not the Muslims who 
    initiated the idea of conquering it, rather they rid the land of an unjust 
    occupation and it turned into a Muslim land whose inhabitants chose to 
    follow Islam and become part of this Islamic state. 

    Thirdly: 

    In addition to the occupation that the Visigoth tribes 
    imposed on Andalusia, domination, oppression and persecution were prominent 
    features of their period of rule which lasted for approximately three 
    centuries. 

    Husayn Mu’nis says in his book Fajr al-Andalus (p. 8, 
    18-19): 

    But their authority was not well established in the land at 
    first, because of the religious conflicts that occurred between them and the 
    original people, and because of the disputes that occurred among their 
    rulers. Hence throughout the sixth century the land was subjected to civil 
    wars and the chaos and problems that resulted from them, until the time of 
    the last Visigoth ruler, whose name was Roderic (in Arabic, Ludhreeq). What 
    is clear and indisputable is that the man felt that he was not fully in 
    control and all his life he feared an attack from his many enemies. These 
    enemies were not only the sons of Wittiza, whose kingdom Roderic had 
    usurped, rather they included most of the Iberian, Roman and Jewish people, 
    i.e., most of the people of the land which the Goths had invaded. End 
    quote. 

    Many Spanish historians have tried to defend the Gothic state 
    – out of resentment and rejection of the Islamic presence in that land – but 
    the history books are filled with evidence of what Professor Husayn Mu’nis 
    mentioned of the local people’s rejection of Gothic rule. On p. 10 he quotes 
    Rafael Balasteros, the Spanish historian, as saying “If the Arabs had not 
    interfered in the Peninsula’s affairs in 711 CE and put an end to this age 
    of turmoil, the Goths would have inflicted unimaginable harm on Spain.” 

    Fourthly: 

    When the Goths’ oppression of that land intensified and its 
    people could not longer put up with it, they sent word to the Muslims, 
    asking them to help them and save them. The Arabic sources are agreed that 
    the ruler of Ceutah, whose name was Julian, sent word to Moosa ibn Nusayr, 
    asking him to enter the land and rid it of the evil of Roderic. Many sources 
    also state that the sons of Wittiza sent word to Moosa ibn Nusayr asking him 
    for help against the one who had usurped their father’s kingdom. Even 
    Western historical sources state that the Jews in Andalusia who were being 
    persecuted by the Goths sought help from those who were across the sea in 
    Africa, or the Muslims, to save them from the oppression of Roderic and his 
    helpers. Although this is denied by some historians, they are all agreed 
    that the Jews, during that period, were subject to persecution that almost 
    destroyed them and would have left no trace of them. See Fajr al-Andalus 
    by Husayn Mu’nis (p. 14). 

    In the surviving texts there is a great deal of evidence to 
    suggest that the Andalusians welcomed the Muslims as saviours. For example: 

    The author of the book Akhbaar Majmoo’ah fi Fath 
    al-Andalus (p. 24) says, describing the services that some of the 
    Spaniards offered to Moosa ibn Nusayr: 

    When he reached the Peninsula, it was said to him: Follow 
    this route. He said: I will not proceed by this route. The non-Muslim guides 
    said to him: We will show you a way that is better than his way, and cities 
    that are of greater importance than his cities, that have not been conquered 
    yet, but Allaah will grant you victory over them if Allaah wills. End 
    quote. 

    He also says:

    Then he travelled to the city of Qarmoonah. He sent ahead to 
    it the non-Muslims who were with him. There was no more strongly fortified 
    city in Andalusia than this, and none that was less likely to be conquered 
    by means of fighting or siege. It was said to him when he drew close to it: 
    It will not be taken except with diplomacy. He sent ahead to it non-Muslims 
    to whom he had granted safety and who he felt could be trusted, such as 
    Julian, and they may have been companions of Julian. They came to them, 
    bearing arms, and they admitted them to their city. When they entered it, he 
    sent the cavalry to them by night, and they opened the gate for them, and 
    attacked the guards, and the Muslims entered Qarmoonah. End quote.  

    Some of the Christian bishops also helped the Muslims in 
    their conquest, such as Awbaas the bishop of Seville, as it says in the book
    al-‘Arab lam yaghzu al-Andalus (p. 187). 

    The author of Tareekh al-Nasaara fi’l-Andalus (p. 45) 
    reports what happened during the life of Saint Theodard, the head bishop of 
    Narbonne, who lived around 266 AH. When the Muslims entered the Languedoc 
    for the first time, the Jews sided with them and opened the gates of the 
    city of Toulouse to them.  

    The Muslims believe that supporting the oppressed and 
    achieving justice and peace are among the greatest aims of jihad in Islamic 
    sharee’ah. The evidence for that is what happened during the life of the 
    Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), namely Hilf 
    al-Fudool (the treaty of al-Fudool), where the tribes agreed to restrain the 
    wrongdoer and support the one who was wronged, even if he was a kaafir. 

    Shaykh Muhammad Abu Zahrah said in his book al-‘Alaaqaat 
    al-Duwaliyyah fi’l-Islam (83): 

    Islam looks at the people who are being ruled unjustly and 
    whose freedoms are being restricted with compassion and kindness, and it 
    supports them if they ask for support, and relieves them of the harshness of 
    the tyrants if they ask them for help. End quote. 

    This is what some of the Jews bore witness to when they 
    realized the great favour that the Muslims did to them by providing them 
    with a life of dignity and freedom, the like of which they had not 
    experienced throughout the history of their presence in Europe. 

    The Jewish writer Chaim al-Za’faraani says in his book Alf 
    Sanah min Hayaat al-Yahood fi’l-Maghreb (A thousand years of Jewish life 
    in the Maghreb) (p. 13): The Jews of Andalusia in general knew a life of the 
    greatest ease and security, such as they had never known anywhere else. End 
    quote. 

    Naseem Rajwaan – Editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper 
    Israel haYom: 

    The Jews had suffered for many centuries in misery, as the 
    hardhearted tyrant kings of Spain knew nothing of pity and compassion. When 
    the Muslims entered Spain, they did not only liberate the Jews from 
    persecution, but they also encouraged them to establish a civilization that 
    parallels in its richness and depth the most famous civilizations of all 
    ages. End quote from Ahl al-Kitaab fi’l-Mujatama’ al-Islami (p. 49). 

    Sixthly: 

    What has been mentioned above may be crowned with certainty 
    when we bear in mind that the conquest of that land took no more than 
    approximately three years (92-95 AH), during which the Muslims reached 
    France, and no more than a few thousand troops took part in this conquest, 
    which shows you definitively that it was not so much a military conquest as 
    an intellectual and ideological conquest in which the inhabitants of 
    Andalusia came to believe in the ‘aqeedah of the Muslims, and they chose – 
    out of love and voluntarily – to submit to this new religion and rid 
    themselves of the tyranny of the church and the feudal system that had been 
    prevalent before the Muslims came. One of the most famous historians of 
    Spain, Ignacio Olagi, wrote a book which became famous in the 70s, which was 
    called The Islamic Revolution in the West, which was summarized and 
    translated into Arabic by the historian Ismaa’eel Ameen, under the title 
    al-‘Arab lam yaghzu al-Andalus, which was published by Riyaadh al-Rayyis 
    li’l-Kutub wa’l-Nashr. In this book, the author sought to demonstrate that 
    conversion to Islam in Andalusia only took place because of the spread of 
    ideas and a conflict between ideas, then the domination of what the author 
    calls the strongest idea, which formed the basis of the Islamic Arab 
    civilizations in three quarters of the known world at that time. Despite the 
    exaggerated criticism in the book of everything that is well known about the 
    history of Andalusia, what concerns us here are a few texts which show that 
    the introduction of Islam to Andalusia was not done by force, rather it was 
    an opening of hearts and an illumination of minds. I hope the reader will 
    put up with the length of the text that is quoted here, because it is one of 
    the most brilliant texts that have been written by the enemies of Islam 
    concerning a matter that those who bear grudges keep stirring up.  

    It says on pp. 55-66: 

    “Thus the foreign invasion is reduced to a passing incident 
    in a civil war. Is there any connection at all between this military event, 
    on the one hand, and the fact that the Iberians embraced Islam, then 
    developed an Islamic civilization in Iberia, on the other?  

    “With regard to the myth of invasion, we have accurate 
    figures. Taariq, along with seven thousand men, arrived to defeat Roderic, 
    and Moosa ibn Nusayr arrived at the head of eighteen thousand men to 
    subjugate the Iberians to his rule. Twenty-five thousand men introduced this 
    huge change to the Latin language, Christianity and monogamy. In one fell 
    swoop the Iberians changed their customs, traditions and religion. After 
    this great achievement, the Muslims hastened without bringing in any 
    reinforcements or consolidating their gains, to invade France. 

    Despite that, it remains to be explained how this 
    transformation of the people of Iberia, which was fortified geographically 
    and naturally, was completed in such a speedy manner, by small numbers of 
    people to whom many miracles are attributed, especially since the Iberians 
    and the conquerors did not share a common origin. 

    It is obvious that an army of this type could have been 
    absorbed into these multitudes (of indigenous people) when that army took 
    this risk and penetrated deep into that land, let alone the fact that the 
    Iberians, throughout their long history, had never been a peaceful people 
    when confronted with such events. Was it not possible for them to launch a 
    guerrilla campaign, the type of warfare that they introduced to the world?  

    What did the Iberians do at this time? After 711 CE, history 
    does not tell us anything about them, even though ten million souls – 
    according to the lowest estimate – did not disappear in one fell swoop 
    during that blessed era when there were no means of mass destruction. It 
    would have taken the conquerors a long time to butcher this number of people 
    by the sword, and the small valleys of Asturias could not have absorbed this 
    number of refugees. It is enough for these valleys that they served as 
    fortresses for the few rebels who later formed the core of the Christian 
    kingdom. Thus ten million Iberians disappeared from the pages of history. If 
    the conquest of Christian land by the “heathens” (i.e., Muslims) started on 
    such a huge scale, then how can we explain that its people converted to 
    Islam, adopting Arabic, Islamic culture? Either all of them were killed or 
    they were enslaved, or they fled to the mountains, or their existence was 
    simply ignored by the historians. How and why did the human communities who 
    were located in the Byzantine regions of Asia, Egypt, North Africa and the 
    Iberian Peninsula embrace a new faith and a new concept of the universe? It 
    may be easy to turn the myth of the Arab conquests, which are impossible in 
    geographical and historical terms, into facts, but we cannot deny that 
    Islamic, Arabic civilization spread in all these regions. 

    Some researchers may be astonished when they realize from the 
    reports that the number of conquerors was only twenty-five thousand and they 
    destroyed ten million! 

    In fact the process of embracing the Islamic religion 
    continued and took between two and three centuries to complete. It was a 
    complete conversion, which left only a few islands whose existence is 
    regarded as dubious. How can we explain this leaving of Christianity and 
    this embrace of Islam as being by means of force? 

    What were its consequences? 

    Some historians accepted the traditional prepared answer to 
    these questions, and some others were utterly confused. 

    They were unable to understand the way in which the peoples 
    of Egypt and the Byzantine region submitted to what they call “Bedouin 
    laws”. Kazafi Plan Hall stated in his book al-‘Aalam al-Islami (the 
    Islamic World) that Islam was always a religion of the city, but let us 
    assume nevertheless that they were subjugated forcefully by Bedouin groups. 
    Why did they give up all their civilized ways for these Bedouins?  

    The Byzantine regions enjoyed an advanced civil life; their 
    cities were prosperous and large. The number of inhabitants in Antioch was 
    300,000, and among the four hundred Byzantine dioceses, 371 were in Asia. 
    Hence we see the importance of the Islamic victory at the intellectual 
    level.  

    Do we have to imagine that the city-dwellers were dazzled by 
    the culture of those who were coming in from that vast wilderness? It seems 
    impossible if all that these Bedouin had was the sword. 

    Religious fanaticism and misunderstanding, resulting from 
    lack of awareness and sometimes deliberate, concealed in the midst of lies 
    and myths an important chapter in the history of thr spread of Islam along 
    the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean. In accordance with a 
    primitive interpretation of history, they interpreted this giant spiritual, 
    social and cultural transformation in the seventh and eighth centuries CE – 
    in the eastern and Mediterranean worlds – as the result of military conquest 
    that imposed language, culture and religion by means of a curved sword.  

    Force does not explain everything. 

    In fact the historians confused the spread of brilliant ideas 
    that a certain civilization carries with military abilities that do not lead 
    to anything but the emergence of temporary empires that diminish with the 
    passage of time. They confused intellectual power with material strength. 

    From the study of similar movements, we may conclude that the 
    spread of Islam was the result of an idea combined with strength; it was not 
    the result of the ability to launch a military attack. Just as Hellenic 
    civilization was dominant in the past, and the West is dominant today, the 
    domination of Islam could only be the result of this interaction between 
    ideas and strength. 

    Continuing to believe that people could be invaded in their 
    own country by a destructive civilization, and that they gave up their 
    beliefs and changed their customs because a group of courageous horsemen 
    defeated them militarily, does not indicate anything but a childish and 
    foolish concept of how societies function and develop. 

    The military aspect of these events should be retracted and 
    regarded merely as a minor issue that is no more than an interesting aspect 
    of some individual lives. We should understand this problem from an 
    intellectual and cultural perspective. 

    There was no military aggression, rather there was a 
    revolutionary crisis, and a call conveyed by the scholars, not by the 
    generals. 

    Scholars alone can understand the movement of peoples and are 
    able to lead them. Military domination could not have lasted for eight 
    centuries in Andalusia or forever in huge areas of the world. End quote. 

    Useful historical references include al-Bayaan 
    al-Mugharrib fi Akhbaar al-Andalus wa’l-Maghrib by Ibn ‘Adhaari 
    al-Maraakishi (2-9) and Nafh al-Teeb by al-Muqari (1/229-263) etc. 

    On our site there are some questions dealing with the topic 
    of jihad. Please see questions no. 
    21961, 26125,
    34647 and
    43087. 

    And Allaah knows best.