After the caliph Umar bin Abdil Aziz cleaned his hands after attending the funeral of his uncle's son, Caliph Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik, he held a large-scale turn of the governors and officials. Among the new officials inaugurated were as-Samah bin Malik al-Khaulani who was responsible for all of Andalusia (now Spain and Portugal ed.) And several cities he had conquered in France.

This new governor immediately occupied his place of service in Spain. Then observe the situation and look for good friends who can help him. The first time he asked was, "Is there still a generation of senior tabi'in here?" The people answered, "Still, here there is still a main tabi'in named Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi." Then they praised tabi knowledge and expertise 'in this about the traditions of the Prophet sallallaahu' alaihi wa sallam, his role in jihad, his longing for syahadah fi sabillah and zuhud for the pleasures of the world. He also studied with his main friend, Abdullah bin Umar bin Khathth whose knowledge and behavior were very similar to his father.

Governor as-Samah bin Malik immediately invited Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi. The arrival of the character Tabi'in was greeted with respect, then the two of them sat side by side finally surrendering after four weeks of defending in a terrible battle that had never been witnessed by Europe.

The next target is Toulouse, the capital of Octania. Without wasting time, Islamic forces immediately installed a kind of mines in various places, then began attacks with unknown weapons in Europe. Almost this city surrendered, except that an unexpected event occurred. Let's follow how a French orientalist named Rhino described the great war:

The glory on the part of the Islamic forces is at the door. At that time, King Octania left for Europe to look for reinforcements. He spread messengers throughout the country. He provoked the kings of Europe by warning of the dangers of Islamic expansion which would spread to their territory as well. So that women and their children are prisoners. The result, not a single country but sent troops in particular complete with weapons that became their mainstay.

The number of troops was so large, the roar of the voices of the soldiers and the complete weapons of war had never been seen by the world before that. Until the flying dust covers the city of Rhone from the sun, because of the many feet that step on it.

When the two camps were facing each other, people imagined that the mountain was facing a mountain. A fierce war is inevitable. as-Samah bin Malik was always at the front line. He was nicknamed Dzaama, moving swiftly to the right and left wing tirelessly. That's when the arrow slid about him. So the mighty supreme commander fell and was martyred.

As soon as he learned that the commander was dead, shake the Islamic forces. Fall down in their mental struggle, then the ranks start to mess. They moved backwards and it was almost certain that European forces had succeeded in destroying them if at that critical moment did not appear the smart and formidable figure that had been respected by Europeans, namely Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi.

Under the command of the new commander, the Islamic forces moved backwards without suffering much loss. They moved to Spain with determination to make up for their defeat.

Thus, the great war of Toulouse gave birth to an agile new commander and managed to save the Islamic army from the emergence of many victims. If the troops are like caravans that almost die of thirst in the middle of the Sahara, then Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi is the one who presents them with drinks. He became the foundation of the Muslim soldiers to restore strength and guide them away from the many fallen victims.

It is no exaggeration if the battle of Toulouse incised the first wound that was very painful for the Islamic forces since setting foot on the European continent. The presence of Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi was the antidote to the wound and with his loving hand he cared for them with all his attention.

The news of the defeat of the Islamic forces finally reached the ears of the Caliph in Damascus and fostered a burning determination to avenge the fall of as-Samah bin Malik al-Khaulani. He ordered that all soldiers carry out bai'at to Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi. Now he is appointed as the leader of all Spain and the regions of France that have been successfully controlled. With this position he gained autonomy to regulate the strategy he wanted.

The decision was not a ridiculous act, because Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi was indeed an agile, assertive, honest, clean, wise and brave.

New leader Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi is not wasting time. He immediately restored the Islamic forces, forged the determination of the soldiers, restored their confidence, honor and strength. All aimed at continuing the obsession of Spanish Muslim figures since the Age of Moses bin Nushair to as-Samah bin Malik, namely ruling France, Italy, Germany to Constantinople, and making the middle white sea as an ocean of Islam and renaming the Roman sea into the sea of ​​Sham.

It is believed that Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi examined and responded to all the complaints. Acting on those who apply persecution and returning the rights of weak people. He examined the churches that were seized and returned them to the rightful ones, destroying new buildings that were erected from bribes. Then examine the officials one by one and dismiss officials who are proven to be treacherous or deviant. Then replace it with people who can be trusted abilities and morals. Every time he entered an area, he called on his people to pray for the congregation, then gave sermons to pump up the spirit of jihad and arouse their longing for recitation and death.

Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi is not only good at talking. Since taking control of his power, he is also busy preparing various important facilities and infrastructure. Guns were produced, exercises were held, damaged fortresses were fixed and bridges were built. One of the historic bridges that can be witnessed until now is that built in Cordova, the capital of Spain. The bridge crosses a large river that can be used for traffic and keeps the country from the danger of flooding. The bridge is one of the wonders of the world. Its length reaches 800 ba (one ba ’as long as two hands), height 60 ba’, wide 20 ba ’with 18 sluice gates and 19 pillars, until now become the pride of Spanyaol nation.

Every time Abdurrahman visited each region, he did not forget to have a meeting with the leaders of the armed forces and community leaders. He noticed and noted their views and proposals. He listened more to the responses in the meetings than to speak. A similar meeting was held for zhimmi leaders who were bound by an agreement with Muslims. Not infrequently he asked to detail the matters concerning the country and their leaders.

Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi once invited a French-born zhimmi who was bound by an agreement. Among the contents of the conversation are as follows. Abdurrahman asked, "Why is your king, Syarl not come down to help other kings who fight with us?" The Zhimmi replied, "O governor, you have kept our promises. You have the right to trust us and we will answer everything you ask honestly. Surely your great commander, Musa bin Nushair has succeeded in taking control of all of Spain. Then he wanted to cross the Pyrenees mountains that separated Spain from our beautiful country. So the little kings and monks came to our king and said: "What shame will come upon us, O king? We heard about the Muslims and thought they would come from the East, but apparently they emerged from the West and immediately controlled Spain. Even though this country has strong weapons and defense. Now they are beginning to crawl in the mountains that limit Spain to our country. Actually their numbers are small, weapons are few and most do not have war clothes that can protect the body from the swords of swords or stout horses to ride on the battlefield. "


Then the supreme king said, "I have thought this problem deeply and I think for now we do not need to face them directly. They're steel-minded people, like big waves that sweep away all barriers and dump them where they like. In addition, they are people who have a strong aqidah so they don't pay attention to numbers and weapons. They have faith and honesty that are far more valuable than weapons, war clothes or horses. Therefore, it is better for us to let them, the Muslims continue to accumulate wealth and ghanimah, then build houses and buildings and multiply the number of male and female slaves and see, they will surely fight for power. At that time we can conquer them easily without many sacrifices ... "

Shocked Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi, sad to hear the news. He sighed deeply then dispersed the assembly as the prayer times entered.

Two full years Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi prepared himself to meet the great war. He formed army units and ceaselessly burned their jihad. In addition, he also requested assistance from Islamic leaders in Africa to send their soldiers who had the courage of jihad and longed for martyrdom.

After that, he sent Utsman bin Abi Nus'ah amir to the border to occupy the enemy with sporadic attacks while waiting for the core forces led by Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi to arrive on the battlefield.

However, it turned out that the choice of Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi was wrong. Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah is an ambitious but weak man. The distance from the leader opened the opportunity for him to take steps that could raise his name regardless of other issues. He even kidnapped Duke Octania's daughter, Minin, a very beautiful princess. In her, she collected beauty, nobility, young age, and wealth as residents of the palace. No wonder if Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah finally became crazy about him and paid more attention than to a wife. The princess proposed that Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah enter into a peace agreement with Duke Octania accompanied by a guarantee that Minin's father was safe from attacks by Islamic warriors.

That is, when the order of Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi arrived to invade the territory of Duke Octania, a sense of hesitation enveloped Ibn Abi Nus'ah's heart. He did not know what to do, but then he persuaded Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi to cancel his order. He really was unable to betray his promise to his father-in-law before his end.

Not playing furiously Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi was so aware of his case. Through the envoy, he advised Utsman bin Abi Nus'ah. "The agreement that you do without the permission of the leader is invalid, so there is no obligation for Islamic soldiers to obey it. Now carry out my orders immediately, attack the enemy right now! "

Ibnu Abi Nus'ah felt hopeless because he failed to soften the attitude of his governor. He immediately sent an envoy to his father's father to tell him what had happened and warned him to be on guard against the Muslim forces.

But unfortunately, the spy Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi who always supervised his movements knew this and reported the relationship between Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah and the enemy to Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi. Immediately afterwards, al-Ghafiqi sent a particularly strong force under the command of Mujahid to bring Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah, alive or dead.

The attack is sudden. The operation was almost successful, but Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah managed to escape from siege. He ran to the mountain accompanied by several people, as well as Minin, his beautiful wife who could no longer be separated from him.

That did not make Islamic soldiers broke. They continued to chase and finally managed to corner the traitor somewhere. Finally, Uthman bin Abi Nus'ah defended himself completely. He died because of the many stabs and spears of the sword that wounded his body. His body was immediately sent to Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi with his wife.

As soon as he saw Minin, Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi immediately turned his face away. The woman is indeed amazing. Then he was sent to Damascus to be handed over to the Caliph. So the history of the French woman was finished in the palace of Umawi in Damascus.