ABSTRACT
There is general agreement in our sources that the conquest of Spain was initiated in the reign of the caliph al-Walīd I (86-96/705-14) under the leadership of Tāriq b. Ziyād and Mūsā b. Nuṣayr. However, al-Ṭabarl, Ibn al-Athīr, al-Himyarī and al-Salāwī relate that the Arabs did invade al-Andalus during the time of the caliph ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affān (24-35/644-55),1 but it is hard to believe that such an invasion took place so early. It is also absurd to believe The Chronicle of Alfonso III which asserts that the Visigothic King Wamba (52-61/672-80) drove off an attempted Arab landing on the coast of the Peninsula, and destroyed their fleet.2
