A Berber general who led a Muslim army to Spain

• A. Tariq
• B. Urban II
• C. Joan of Arc
• D. Scholasticism

Answer: (A)

The person described is Tariq ibn Ziyad. He was a Berber general who led the Muslim army that crossed from North Africa into the Iberian Peninsula in 711 under the Umayyad Caliphate. His forces won a crucial victory, the Battle of Guadalete, which opened most of Spain to Muslim rule and began a long period of al-Andalus. The landing site earned Tariq a lasting geographical association—the Rock of Gibraltar is traditionally linked to him through the name Jabal Tariq, meaning “the Mountain of Tariq.”

Urban II was the pope who called for the First Crusade, Joan of Arc was a French military leader in the 15th century, and Scholasticism is a medieval method of philosophy and theology—none of these fit the description of a Berber general who led a Muslim army to Spain.