The divine revelation

34 years after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, and inspired by a fervent dedication to the teachings of the Qur’an, Okba left Arabia in AD 666, at the head of an Arab cavalry force. By all accounts, admittedly written by Arab historians centuries after the event, the expedition was a magnificent sight as it rode westwards, the curvetting steeds and their scimitar-wielding warriors sweeping through deserts and mountains to spread the ‘divine revelation’.