Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi

Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdillah al-Ghafiqi (رحمه الله) was the pious and beloved Umayyad governor of Al-Andalus who commanded the northernmost military campaign in Islamic history. Uniting the contentious Arab and Berber factions of Spain through his reputation for strict justice, he crossed the Pyrenees mountains in 114 AH (732 CE). After crushing the Duke of Aquitaine at Bordeaux, his cavalry advanced to the Loire Valley within 150 miles of Paris. At the Battle of Balat al-Shuhada (The Pavement of Martyrs), near Poitiers, he engaged Charles Martel's Frankish infantry. After several days of ferocious combat, Al-Ghafiqi fell a martyr, marking the high-water mark of early Islamic expansion into Western Europe.