He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and directed the Islamic conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom that controlled the Iberian Peninsula and part of what is now southern France (Septimania).
[citation needed] (Note: Most of what follows in this section is to be found first in Ibn Abd al-Hakam, then repeated by others, e.g. the Akhbār majmūʿa, with more detail but little real variation.)
Muslim and Christian sources quote that while Musa bin Nusayr was eager to cross the Straits of Gibraltar to Hispania, he determined to do so only when a Visigoth nobleman, Julian, Count of Ceuta, had encouraged him to invade Iberia, telling him of the people's sufferings and the injustice of their king, Roderic, while giving him cause for conquest by telling him of the riches that would be found, and of the many palaces, gardens and beauties of Hispania.
Legend tells that Julian wished for the fall of the Visigothic kingdom because his daughter, Florinda la Cava, had been raped by Roderic.
After five months of siege and inconclusive fighting, a group of Ceutans pretended to be Christian reinforcements and managed to convince the guards into opening the gates.
The terms imposed on Theodemir declared that the duke would keep the citadel of Orihuela and several other settlements, including Alicante and Lorca on the Mediterranean, that his followers will not be killed, taken prisoner, forced into Islam, and that their churches will not be burned.
It also demanded that Theodemir not encourage or support others to resist the Muslims, and that he and every citizen of his dominion pay an annual tax in money and other goods.
Musa finally met up with Tariq where there was an argument over the latter's booty, which reportedly included a gold table covered with gems and other precious stones that had reputedly once belonged to Solomon.
Musa chose to ignore this order temporarily, knowing that if he did not continue his advance, Visigoth resistance may increase and turn the tables against the Muslims.
The Islamic conquest of Iberia now complete, Musa proceeded to place governors and prefects throughout the newly conquered Al-Andalus, before returning to Damascus with most of the booty captured from the Jihad.
So the caliph's brother, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik became temporarily in charge, and asked Musa, who was arriving with a cavalcade of soldiers and spoils, to delay his grand entry into the city.
[16] Another son, Abd Allah, who had acted as governor of Ifriqiya after Musa, was executed on the orders of the caliph on suspicion of having had killed the man who had replaced him.
Because of his disgrace, and the misfortunes of his sons, there was a tendency among medieval historians of the Maghreb to attribute his deeds (the conquest of Tangiers and the Sous) to Uqba ibn Nafi.
These tales were first recorded in the late 9th or early 10th century by ibn al-Faqih, who wrote that Musa was ordered by the caliph to investigate reports of a strange city called al-Baht.
A more extensive version of the same legend is recorded in "The City of Brass," a tale in One Thousand and One Nights, in which Musa encounters many other marvels, such as a palace filled with jewels, whose only human occupant was the embalmed corpse of a beautiful woman, guarded by two robot warriors.
I only mention the details of Musa's death to give my contemporaries, who are poorly read, a striking example of the vicissitudes of human life.
"[23] Probably the most extensive work to be inspired by the life of Musa is a section of the anonymous Kitāb al-imāma w'as-siyāsa, which contains a lengthy description of his deeds accompanied by many supposed speeches and sayings.