so listen to him and obey him; by Allah, if Allah and His Messenger had chosen ʿAlī for this office and ʿAlī then abandoned it, he would have been the very first to abandon the command of Allah and His Messenger.⦗1⦘
He also said to them, “By Allah, if we are ever put in charge of anything, we shall cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides and will never accept your repentance. Woe to you! You have deluded us about ourselves. Woe to you! Were mere kinship of benefit without righteous deeds, it would have benefited his father and mother.⦗2⦘ If what you claim about us were true, our forefathers would have cheated us by not informing us of it—indeed, they would have wronged us and withheld from us the best of matters. By Allah, I fear that the sinner among us will have his punishment doubled, just as I hope that the doer of good among us will receive a double reward. Woe to you! Love us only when we obey Allah in His obedience, and hate us when we disobey Allah in His disobedience.”
Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr⦗3⦘, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Lakhamī, was a client (walāʾ) of that tribe—his clientage was to one of their women, although some said he was a client of the Banū Umayyah. He conquered the lands of the Maghrib, [amassing from them incalculable and indescribable wealth and achieving there awe-inspiring feats for which he is famed]. It is said he walked with a limp, and that he was born in 19 AH. His origin was ʿAyn al-Tamr, though some say he was from Arāshah of the tribe of Baliyy. His father had been taken captive from Jabal al-Khalīl in Syria during the caliphate of al-Ṣiddīq; his father’s name was Nuṣr, later shortened.
He transmitted hadith from Tamīm al-Dārī, while his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and Yazīd ibn Masrūq al-Yaḥṣubī narrated from him.
Muʿāwiyah placed him in charge of the naval expeditions, so he raided Cyprus and built there several fortresses such as al-Māghūṣah, Ḥiṣn Bānas, and others on the island. After Muʿāwiyah conquered Cyprus in 27 AH, Mūsā served as his deputy over it. He fought at Marj Rāhiṭ alongside Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays; when Ḍaḥḥāk was killed, Mūsā sought refuge with ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān. Later, when Marwān entered Egypt, Mūsā accompanied him and Marwān left him with his son ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. When ʿAbd al-Malik secured Iraq, he appointed Mūsā minister to his brother Bishr ibn Marwān.
This Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr possessed keen judgment, strategic skill, resoluteness, and extensive military experience. Al-Fasawī⦗4⦘ said: “Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr assumed the governorship of Ifrīqiyah in 79 AH, and there he conquered a very great number of lands—both cities and provinces.”
We have already noted that he opened up al-Andalus, a land of towns, villages, and rich countryside. From there and elsewhere he seized vast numbers of captives and acquired enormous, weighty spoils—quantities of gold and precious jewels beyond reckoning. As for equipment, furnishings, and livestock, their abundance defies description. He captured multitudes of handsome boys and beautiful women, until it was said