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determined by Allah, who had laid on the Muslims to suppress, slaughter and seduce non-
Muslims until they accept Islam or surrender and pay tribute to acknowledge their
inferiority. Tours attracted this predatory expedition from Spain because it was a
Christian spiritual center, also ebullient with worldly treasures. Obviously, Jehad was the
most suitable action which could guarantee submission of the infidels through plunder
and carnage.

The hitherto victorious Arab onslaught was in for a rude shock. The invaders were
met by Charles, whose valor, tenacity and martial wisdom earned him the famous
surname Martel i.e. hammer; he smashed the Islamic dream in the West. He was not the
King of France but the Mayor of the palace at the Merovingian Court; owing to the
authority he wielded, he was considered as the de facto ruler.

Provinces of Gaul (France) were ruled by the descendants of Clovis, who was
known for his military prowess, but they did not possess their ancestral qualities.
However, all was not lost. Among the French chiefs was one Eudes, the Duke of
Aquitaine. He was bold enough to usurp king's authority in the southern provinces of
Gaul. To acknowledge him as a Christian hero, the Goths, the Saxons and the Franks,
united under his standard to fight the Islamic aggressors from Spain. To start with, he
proved a successful leader: he repelled the first invasion of the Saracens (Arabs) led by
Samah, lieutenant of the Caliph. In this engagement at Toulouse, Samah lost his life and
army.

To the Arabs, the Christian victory was unthinkable because it brought shame on
the faith that had been incredibly victorious so far; it also kindled the revengeful instincts
of the Arabian occupants of Spain, who earnestly longed for an opportunity to put the
Christian infidels in their place.

When a nation is destined to rise and prosper, it experiences an amplitude of
heroes. That was the time when the Arab national star was racing toward its apogee.
Abdur Rahman, who had been restored to his high position by the Caliph Hashim, led his
military campaign, which was both punitive and predatory. His first task was to deal with
Munuza, the rebellious Moorish Chief, who had become an ally of Eudes in return for his
beautiful daughter. This expediency though later turned into a nuptial tie, was looked
down upon by the French, who had a live sense of national honor. The Moorish chief was
subdued and beheaded. His French widow was counted as an article of booty, and
suffered the same fate as other pretty women of the vanquished nobility. She was sent as
a present to the Caliph at Damascus, who like his predecessors, had become a
connoisseur of pretty flesh and delicate manners.

Having dealt with Munuza, Abdur Rahman marched on and surprised the Eude's
camp on the banks of the Garonne and heaped a shattering defeat on him; thereafter, he
stormed Bordeaux, set its churches on fire and demolished people's homes mercilessly.
The fate of the Christians was a picture of flaming hell. Historians have not been able to
estimate the number of the slain, which is 'known only to God'. The inhuman devastation
that the Saracens perpetrated in the countryside far excelled the Mafia-type vulgarity,