The Muslim General and his Jewish army
During the 7th and 8th centuries Iberia (Spain and Portugal) was a divided kingdom ruled by the Catholic Visigoths, the region was home to a Jewish minority who suffered intolerable persecution under their Christian rulers. In the spring of 711, a Muslim army invaded Iberia. They were led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, serving the Arab governor Musa ibn Nusayr. The Muslim army engaged Roderick (Luthariq) the Visigoth King in battle and defeated him. They then marched northward to the Visigoth capital of Toledo. Both Latin and Arabic chroniclers record that the Jews of the city “opened the gates of Toledo” to Tariq, enabling him to conquer the city.
Rather than simply offering the Jews protection for their act of bravery, Tariq elevated the Jews to protectors of the empire and positioned Jewish garrisons to watch over the cities of Toledo, Granada and Seville. Possibly the first instance in history where a Jewish army protected their Muslim cousins.
