The History of early Islamic Tunisia opens with the arrival of the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
who brought their language and the religion of
Islam, and its calendar. The Arab conquest followed strategy designed by the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
regarding its long-term conflict with the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. The native
Berbers eventually converted to Islam. They might have seen some similarities between themselves and the Arabs, in similar cognate culture, such as familiarity with a pastoral way of life. The first local Islamic ruling house, the
Aghlabids
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a c ...
, consisted primarily of rule by leading members of this Arab tribe. Fundamental elements of Islamic civilization were established. Although accepting Islam, many Berbers nonetheless resisted rule by the Arabs, establishing the
Rustamid kingdom following the
Kharijite revolt. Next in Ifriqiya (Tunisia) arose the Shia Fatimids, inspired by a few immigrants from the east yet consisting for the most part of Ifriqiya Berbers. The
Fatimids later expanded their rule east, through conquest by Berber armies of Egypt, and established their caliphate there which came to include Syria and the
Hejaz.
Umayyad Caliphate in Ifriqiya
After the initial period of the four
rightly-guided caliphs (632-661) following the death of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
(570-632), the ruling family of the Umayyads took firm control of the new Muslim state. The
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
(661-750) ruled from the city of
Damascus; their first Caliph
Mu'awiya
Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
(602-680, r.661-680) directed Muslim forces in their on-going military contest with the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. Decades earlier the Byzantine provinces of Syria and Egypt had fallen to Islamic arms. Under Mu'awiya the Umayyad Caliphate could see how the foreign
lands west of Egypt figured in the "geo-political" and military strategy of this struggle. Hence there began the decades-long undertaking resulting in the
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( ar, الْفَتْحُ الإسلَامِيُّ لِلْمَغرِب) continued the century of rapid Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of ...
.
Islamic conquest
In 670 an
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Muslim army under
Uqba ibn Nafi
ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Qays al-Fihrī al-Qurashī ( ar, عقبة بن نافع بن عبد القيس الفهري القرشي, ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Qays al-Fihrī), also simply known as Uqba ibn Nafi, was an Arab general ser ...
, who had commanded an earlier incursion in 666, entered the region of
Ifriqiya (a newly coined Arabic word for the prior
Roman Province of Africa
Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...
). Marching overland the Arabs by-passed the fortified Byzantine positions along the Mediterranean coast. In the more arid south of Ifriqiya, the city of
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
(''military outpost'' in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
) was established as their base, and the building of its famous Mosque was begun. Then, from 675 to 682, Dinar ibn Abu al-Muhadjir took over direction of the Muslim invasion. Armed
Berber forces constituted the main resistance to the Arabs. Apparently these Berbers were primarily composed of sedentary Christians from the Awreba tribe and perhaps also the
Sanhadja
The Sanhaja ( ber, Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen; ar, صنهاجة, ''Ṣanhaja'' or زناگة ''Znaga'') were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Many ...
confederation; they were led by
Kusaila
Kusaila (Arabic: Kusaila Ibn Malzam, Latin: Caecilius) was a 7th-century Berber Christian ruler of the kingdom of Altava and leader of the Awraba tribe, a Christianised sedentary tribe of the Aures of the Imazighen and possibly Christian king o ...
. In the late 670s, the Arab armies defeated these Berbers forces and made Kusaila their prisoner.
In 682, Uqba ibn Nafi resumed command. He defeated another alliance of Berber forces near
Tahirt (Algeria), then proceeded westward in a long series of military triumphs, eventually reaching the Atlantic coast, where he is said to have lamented that before him lay no more lands to conquer for Islam. Episodes from Uqba's campaigns became legend throughout the
Maghrib
The Maghrib Prayer ( ar, صلاة المغرب ', "sunset prayer") is one of the five mandatory salah (Islamic prayer). As an Islamic day starts at sunset, the Maghrib prayer is technically the first prayer of the day. If counted from midni ...
. Yet
Kusaila
Kusaila (Arabic: Kusaila Ibn Malzam, Latin: Caecilius) was a 7th-century Berber Christian ruler of the kingdom of Altava and leader of the Awraba tribe, a Christianised sedentary tribe of the Aures of the Imazighen and possibly Christian king o ...
, the Berber leader held prisoner, escaped. Later Kusaila organized and led a fresh Berber uprising, which interrupted the conquest and claimed the life of the famous Arab leader, Uqba. Kusaila then formed an enlarged Berber kingdom. Yet Zuhair b. Qais, the deputy of the fallen leader Uqba ibn Nafi, enlisted
Zanata Berber tribes from
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...
to fight for the cause of Islam, and in 686 managed to overrun, defeat, and terminate the kingdom newly formed by Kusaila.
Under the Caliph
'Abd al-Malik (685-705), ruling from Damascus, the
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( ar, الْفَتْحُ الإسلَامِيُّ لِلْمَغرِب) continued the century of rapid Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of ...
was to advance close to completion. In Egypt a new army of forty thousand was assembled, to be commanded by Hassan ibn al-Nu'man (known to Arabs as "the honest old man"). Meanwhile, the weakened Byzantines managed to reinforce somewhat their positions. The Arab Muslim army crossed the Cyrene and Tripoli without opposition, then quickly attacked and captured
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
.
The Berbers, however, continued to offer stiff resistance, then being led by a woman of the Jarawa tribe, whom the Muslims called "the prophetess"
'al-Kahina'' in Arabic her actual name was approximately
Damiya. On the river Nini, an alliance of Berbers under ''the Kahina'' Damiya sharply defeated the Muslim armies under al-Nu'man, who escaped then eastward, returning to Cyrenaica. Thereupon, the Byzantines took advantage of the Berber victory by reoccupying
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
. Unlike the Berber
Kusaila
Kusaila (Arabic: Kusaila Ibn Malzam, Latin: Caecilius) was a 7th-century Berber Christian ruler of the kingdom of Altava and leader of the Awraba tribe, a Christianised sedentary tribe of the Aures of the Imazighen and possibly Christian king o ...
ten years earlier, Damiya did not establish a larger state, evidently being content to rule merely her own Jawara tribe. Some commentators speculate that, to ''the Kahina'' Damiya, the invading Arabs appeared primarily interested in
booty
Booty may refer to:
Music
*Booty music (also known as Miami bass or booty bass), a subgenre of hip hop
* "Booty" (Jennifer Lopez song), 2014
*Booty (Blac Youngsta song), 2017
* Booty (C. Tangana and Becky G song), 2018
*"Booty", a 1993 song by G ...
, because she then commenced to sack and pillage the region, apparently to make it unattractive to raiders looking for the spoils of war; of course, it also made her own forces hotly unpopular to local inhabitants. Yet she did not attack the Muslim base at
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
. From Egypt in 698 the Caliph
'Abdul-Malik sent reinforcements to al-Nu'man, who then reentered Ifriqiya. Although she told her two sons to go over to the Arabs, she herself continued resistance and again gave battle. The fortunes of war deserted her, and al-Nu'man emerged victorious. It is said that at ''Bir al-Kahina''
ell of the prophetessin the Auras mountains, Damiya was slain.
In 705 Hassan b. al-Nu'man stormed
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
, overcame and sacked it, leaving it destroyed. A similar fate befell the proximous city of
Utica. At
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
, a small town dating back to the
Punic era, and situated near the ruins of Carthage, al-Numan founded a naval base. Muslim ships fitted for war began to assert dominance over the adjacent Mediterranean coast; hence the Byzantines then made their final withdrawal from North Africa. The Arabs called the region
al-Maghrib: the "sunset land" or "the west". Then al-Nu'man was replaced as Muslim military leader by
Musa ibn Nusair
Musa ibn Nusayr ( ar, موسى بن نصير ''Mūsá bin Nuṣayr''; 640 – c. 716) served as a Umayyad governor and an Arab general under the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I. He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and direct ...
, who substantially completed the conquest of al-Maghrib. Ibn Nusair took the city of
Tangier
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...
on the Atlantic coast, and appointed as its governor the Berber leader
Tariq Abu Zara. Tariq would lead the
Muslim conquest
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He esta ...
of
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
, begun in 711.
Berber role
The
Berbers, also known as the
''Amazigh'', "converted en mass as tribes and assimilated juridically to the Arabs", writes Prof. Hodgson; he then comments that the Berbers were to play a role in the west parallel to that played by the Arabs elsewhere in Islam. For centuries the Berbers had lived as semi-pastoralists in or near arid lands at the fringe of civilization, sustaining their isolated identity somewhat like the Arabs. "The Maghrib, islanded between
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
and
Sahara, was to the Berbers what
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
... was to the Arabs." Hodgson explains: although the Berbers enjoyed more rainfall than the Arabs, their higher mountains made their settlements likewise difficult to access; and though the imperial Roman cities were more proximous, those cities never incorporated the countryside with a network of market towns, but instead remained aloof from the indigenous rural Berbers.
![Massinissa-Numidie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Massinissa-Numidie.jpg)
A counter argument would be that the Berbers at first merely participated in the martial success of the
Arab Muslims; the better historical choice for the Berbers would be more uniquely ethnic and thus more authentic, i.e., to articulate their own inner character and fate, and follow that. Prof.
Abdallah Laroui
Abdallah Laroui ( ar, عبدالله العروي; born 7 November 1933) is a Moroccan philosopher, historian, and novelist. Besides some works in French, his philosophical project has been written mostly in Arabic. He is among the most read and ...
, however, interprets the North African panorama as indicating that the Berbers did in fact carve out for themselves an independent role. "From the first century B.C. to the eighth century A.D. the will of the Berbers to be themselves is revealed by the continuity of their efforts to reconstitute their
kingdoms
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
of the Carthaginian period, and in this sense the movement was crowned with success." Here Laroui apparently favorably compares the ancient Berber King
Masinissa
Masinissa ( nxm, , ''MSNSN''; ''c.'' 238 BC – 148 BC), also spelled Massinissa, Massena and Massan, was an ancient Numidian king best known for leading a federation of Massylii Berber tribes during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), ult ...
and his regime, e.g., to the
Rustamid kingdom, and later to the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Islamic
Almoravid
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that ...
s and
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
s, and to the
Zirid
The Zirid dynasty ( ar, الزيريون, translit=az-zīriyyūn), Banu Ziri ( ar, بنو زيري, translit=banū zīrī), or the Zirid state ( ar, الدولة الزيرية, translit=ad-dawla az-zīriyya) was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from m ...
and the
Hafsid
The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...
dynasties, all Berber creations. By choosing to ally ''not'' with nearby Europe, familiar in memory by the Roman past, but rather with the newcomers from distant Arabia, the Berbers knowingly decided their future and historical path. "Their hearts opened to the call of Islam because in it they saw a means of national liberation and territorial independence."
Environmental and geographic parallels between Berber and Arab are notable, as Hodgson discusses above. In addition, the languages spoken by the
Semitic Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and by the
Berbers are both included as members in the same world language family, the
Afro-Asiatic, although Berber and Semitic form two
different branches. Perhaps this linguistic kinship shares a further resonance, e.g., in mythic explanations, popular symbols, and religious preference, in some vital fundamentals of psychology, and in the media of culture and the context of tradition.
Evidently, long before and after the Islamic conquest, there was some popular sense of a strong and long-standing cultural connection between the Berbers and the Semites of the Levant, naturally with regard to Carthage, and in addition with regard to links yet more ancient and genetic. These claims of a remote ancestral relationship perhaps facilitated the Berber demand for equal footing with the Arab invaders within the religion of Islam following the conquest. Later in the medieval Maghrib, elaborate but fictitious
genealogies
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
would be created on the assumed foundation of an ancient
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
i origin of the Berber people. Those fake Yemeni origins and genealogies of the Berbers were mocked by
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
(994-1064) and discounted by
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406).
From
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...
to
al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
, the superficially 'Arabized' Berbers continuously remained in communication with each other throughout the following centuries, sharing a common cultural identity. As a group their distinguishing features are not difficult to discern within Islam; e.g., while the
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
in the rest of Islam adopted for the most part either the
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
or the
Shafi'i
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
school of law, some Berbers in the west chose the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
madhhab
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE a ...
, developing it in the course of time after their own fashion. Other Berbers chose the revolutionary
Kharijite sect of Islam and used it to end Umayyad Arab rule in the Berber world. In the process of the Berbers becoming Muslim, the Arab colonists and migrants who settled among also in turn underwent a form of "Berberization".
Also inducing the Berbers to convert was the early lack of rigor in religious obligations, as well as the prospect of inclusion as warriors in the armies of conquest, with a corresponding share in booty and tribute. A few years later, in 711, the Berber
Tariq ibn Ziyad
Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...
would lead the
Muslim invasion of the
Visigothic Kingdom
The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to ...
in
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
. Additionally, many of the Arabs who came to settle in al-Maghrib were religious and political dissidents, often
Kharijites who opposed the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
rulers in
Damascus and embraced egalitarian doctrines, both popular positions among the Berbers of North Africa who disliked Arab displays of superiority.
To locate its
history of religion
The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BC). The prehistory of religion involves t ...
context, the Arab conquest and the Islamic conversion of the Berbers followed a centuries-long period of religious conflict and polarization of society in the old Roman Empire's
Africa Province
Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...
. Here, the
Donatist
Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and the ...
schism within Christianity proved instrumental; it caused divisions in society, often between the rural Berbers, who were prominent in schismatic dissent, and the more urban orthodoxy of the Roman church. Too, the successor to the Romans, the
Vandal Kingdom (439-534) also religiously polarized the Christian society by their attempt to force on others their own
Arian form of Christianity. Alternatively, or concurrently, the Berbers were initially attracted to the Arabs because of their "proclivity for the desert and the steppes".
After the conquest and following the popular conversion,
Ifriqiya constituted a proximous and natural focus for an Arab-Berber Islamic regime in North Africa, a center for culture and society. Ifriqiya was then the region with the most developed urban, commercial, and agricultural infrastructure, essential for such a comprehensive project as Islam developed.
Aghlabid emirate under Abbasids
Establishment
During the years immediately preceding the fall of the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
of Damascus (661-750), revolts arose among the
Kharijite Berbers in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
which eventually disrupted the stability of the entire
Maghrib
The Maghrib Prayer ( ar, صلاة المغرب ', "sunset prayer") is one of the five mandatory salah (Islamic prayer). As an Islamic day starts at sunset, the Maghrib prayer is technically the first prayer of the day. If counted from midni ...
(739-772). The Kharijites failed to establish strong lasting institutions, yet the small
Rustamid kingdom persisted (which controlled southern Ifriqiyah); also the impact of the Berber Kharijite revolt changed the political landscape. Direct rule from the East by the Caliphs over Ifriqiya became untenable, even following the rapid establishment of the new
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
of Baghdad in 750. Also, after several generations a local Arab-speaking aristocracy emerged in Ifriqiya, which became resentful of the distant caliphate's interference in local matters.
The Arab
Muhallabids
The Muhallabids () or the Muhallabid dynasty were an Arab family who became prominent in the middle Umayyad Caliphate and reached its greatest eminence during the early Abbasids, when members of the family ruled Basra and Ifriqiya.
The founders of ...
(771-793) negotiated with the 'Abbasids a wide discretion in the exercise of their governorship of Ifriqiya. One such governor was al-Aghlab ibn Salim (r. 765-767), a forefather of the Aghlabids. Decades later Muhallabid rule came undone. A minor rebellion in
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
took a more ominous turn when it spread to Kairouan. The Caliph's governor was unable to restore order.
Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab, a provincial leader (son of al-Aghlab ibn Salim), led a disciplined army; he did manage to reestablish stability in 797. Later he proposed to the '
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
caliph
Harun al-Rashid
Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar
, أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
, that he be granted Ifriqiya (as the Arabs called the former Province of Africa) as a hereditary fief, with the title of ''amir''; the caliph acquiesced in 800. Thereafter, although the 'Abbasids caliphs received an annual tribute and their suzerainty was referenced in the ''khubta'' at Friday prayers, their control was largely symbolic, e.g., in 864 the Caliph
al-Mu'tasim
Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ( ar, أبو إسحاق محمد بن هارون الرشيد; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling ...
"required" that a new wing be added to the Zaituna Mosque near Tunis.
[Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (1971) at 77.]
Political culture
Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab (r.800-812) and his descendants, known as the
Aghlabids
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a c ...
(800-909), ruled in Ifriqiya from 800 to 909. The Aghlabids were predominantly of an Arab tribe the
Bani Tamim
Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, ...
. At that time there were perhaps 100,000 Arabs living in Ifriqiya, but of course the Berbers constituted the great majority. The Aghlabid military forces were drawn from: (a) immigrant Arab warriors (both those recently sent against the Berber
Kharajite revolts, and those descendants of earlier Arab invasions), (b) Islamized and bilingual natives (''Afariq''), the
Roman Africans
The Roman Africans or African Romans ( la, Afri ; ar, Afariqa) were the ancient populations of Roman North Africa that had a Romanized culture, some of whom spoke their own variety of Latin as a result. They existed from the Roman conquest unt ...
, most of whom were Berbers, and (c) black slave soldiers from the south. The black soldiery formed the ruler's last resort.
[Laroui, ''The History of the Maghrib'' (1970, 1977) at 118.]
At origin, Aghlabid rule was based on their opportune use of assertion and negotiation supplemented by effective military force, in order to control the populace and secure civil order, following a period of instability. In theory, the Aghlabids governed on behalf of the 'Abbasid Caliphate in Bagdad, whose prestige the Aghlabids held, enhanced their authority among the locals of Ifriqiya. Yet the Aghlabid regime failed to become popular. Despite the political peace and stability they initiated, followed by economic expansion and prosperity, including admired public construction projects, and despite a blossoming culture, political dissent was rife, and not confined to Berbers. Many in the Arabic-speaking elite developed an increasingly contrary attitude toward the Aghlabids, for several reasons.
First, in the army the Arab officer class became dissatisfied with the legitimacy of the regime, or used this as a pretext for disloyal ambition. This general attitude of insubordination meant that the internal quarreling within the military from time to time spilled over into public and violent struggles. Their latent hostility also surfaced when army factions began making extortionist demands directly on the population. A dangerous revolt from within the Arab army (the ''jund'') broke out near Tunis and lasted from 824 until 826. The Aghlabids retreated to the south pre-Sahara, and were saved only by enlisting the aid of Berbers of the ''Kharajite''
Jarid. Later another revolt of 893 (said to be provoked by the cruelty of
Ibrahim II Ibn Ahmad (r. 875-902), the ninth Aghlabid amir), was put down by the black soldiery.
Second, the Muslim
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
(clerics) looked with reproach on the ruling Aghlabids. Surface aggravation in religious circles arose from the un-Islamic lifestyle of the rulers. Disregarding the strong religious sentiments held by many in the emerging Muslim community, the Aghlabids often led lives of pleasure at variance to Islamic law, e.g., publicly drinking wine. In the context of the bitter charges against the Aghlabids for lax Islamic practice, which came from their rivals the
Rustamid kingdom (predominantly Berber, see below), their well-known failings acquired importance. Another issue was that Aghlabid taxation policies were not sanctioned by the prevailing
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school of law. Opponents further criticized their contemptuous treatment of
mawali
Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874.
Before the Islamic prophet ...
Berbers who had embraced Islam, but were treated as infidels. The Islamic doctrine of equality regardless of race, i.e., as between Arab and Berber, became a cornerstone of the orthodox Sunni movement in the Maghrib, as it was developed in
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
by the ''Maliki'' school of law. These various Islamic principles formed the core of the prevalent hostility of Ifriqiya toward any rule by the
Caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
from the East. They also helped to fuel anti-Aghlabid sentiment.
As recompense, the Aghlabid rulers saw that mosques were constructed or augmented, e.g., at Tunis: the ''
Al-Zaytuna Mosque
Al-Zaytuna Mosque, also known as Ez-Zitouna Mosque, and El-Zituna Mosque ( ar, جامع الزيتونة, literally meaning ''the Mosque of Olive''), is a major mosque at the center of the Medina of Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia. The mosque is the o ...
'' (Mosque of the Olive) (later home to its famous university,
Ez-Zitouna); at Kairouan: Ibn Kayrun Mosque (or Mosque of the Three Doors); and at Sfax. Also a well known
ribat
A ribāṭ ( ar, رِبَـاط; hospice, hostel, base or retreat) is an Arabic term for a small fortification built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb to house military volunteers, called ''murabitun'' ...
or fortified military monastery was built at
Monastir, and another at
Susa (in 821 by Ziyadat Allah I); here Islamic warriors were trained.
In 831
Ziyadat Allah I (r. 817-838), son of the founder Ibrahim, launched an invasion of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. Placed in command was
Asad ibn al-Furat
Asad Ibn Al-Furat ( ar, أسد بن الفرات; c.759 – c.828) was a jurist and theologian in Ifriqiya, who played an important role in the Arab conquest of Sicily.
His family, originally from Harran in Mesopotamia, emigrated with him to ...
, the
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
or religious judge; the military adventure was termed a ''jihad''. This expedition proved successful;
Palermo was made the capitol of the region captured. Later raids were made against the Italian peninsula; in 846 Rome was attacked and the Basilica of St. Peter sacked. In orchestrating the invasion of Sicily, the Aghlabid rulers had managed to unite two rebellious factions (the army and the clergy) in a common effort against outsiders. Later
Islamic rulers in Sicily severed connections with Ifriqiyah, and their own Sicilian
Kalbid
The Kalbids () were a Muslim Arab dynasty in the Emirate of Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053. They were formally appointed by the Fatimids, but gained, progressively, ''de facto'' autonomous rule.
History
In 827, in the midst of internal By ...
dynasty (948-1053) governed the now independent Emirate.
The invasion of Sicily had worked to stabilize the political order in Ifriqiya, which progressed in relative tranquility during its middle period. In its final decline, however, the dynasty self-destructed, in that its eleventh and last amir,
Ziyadat Allah III
Abu Mudhar Ziyadat Allah III ( ar, أبو مضر زيادة الله الثالث) (died 911–916) was the eleventh and last Emir of the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya (903–909).
He came to power after the murder of his father Abdallah II on 27 Ju ...
(r. 902-909) (d. 916), due to insecurity stemming from his father's assassination, ordered his rival brothers and uncles executed. This occurred during the assaults made by the newly emergent
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
s (see below) against the Aghlabid domains
Institutions and society
In the Aghlabid government generally, the high positions were filled by "princes of the blood, whose loyalty could be relied on." The judicial post of
Qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
of Kairouan was said to be given "only to outstanding personalities notable for their conscientiousness even more than their knowledge." On the other hand, the administrative staffs were composed of dependent clients (mostly recent Arab and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
immigrants), and the local bilingual ''
Afariq
The Roman Africans or African Romans ( la, Afri ; ar, Afariqa) were the ancient populations of Roman North Africa that had a Romanization (cultural), Romanized culture, some of whom spoke African Romance, their own variety of Latin as a result. ...
'' (mostly Berber, and which included many Christians). The Islamic state in Ifriqiya paralleled in many respects the government structure formed in Abbasid Baghdad. Aghlabid offices included the ''
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
''
rime minister
Rime may refer to:
*Rime ice, ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees
Rime is also an alternative spelling of "rhyme" as a noun:
*Syllable rime, term used in the study of phonology in ling ...
the ''
hajib
A ''hajib'' or ''hadjib'' ( ar, الحاجب, al-ḥājib, to block, the prevent someone from entering somewhere; It is a word "hajb" meaning to cover, to hide. It means "the person who prevents a person from entering a place, the doorman". The ...
''
hamberlain the ''
sahib al-barid''
aster of posts and intelligence and numerous ''kuttab''
ecretaries(e.g., of taxation, of the mint, of the army, of correspondence). Leading
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
formed a small elite group. As in an earlier periods (e.g., under Byzantine rule), the majority of the population consisted of rural
Berbers, distrusted now because of
Kharajite or similar rebel tendencies.
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
(or Qayrawan) had become the cultural center of not only of Ifriqiya but of the entire Maghrib. A type of volume then current, the ''tabaqat'' (concerned with the handling of documents), indirectly illuminates elite life in Aghlabid Ifriqiya. One such work was the ''Tabaqat 'ulama' Ifriqiya''
'Classes of Scholars of Ifriqiya''written by Abu al-'Arab. Among the
Sunni Muslim
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
, two learned professions then came to the fore: (a) the ''faqih'' (plural ''fuqaha'') or the jurist; and (b) the ābid'' or the ascetics.
The ''
fuqaha'' congregated at Kairouan, then the legal center of the entire al-Maghrib.
[Perkins, ''Tunisia'' (1986) at 30-31.] The more liberal
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
school of Muslim law at first predominated in Ifriqiyah. Soon, however, a strict form of the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school came to prevail, which in fact became the only widespread
madhhab
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE a ...
, not only in Kairouan, but throughout North Africa. The Maliki school of law persisted (despite several major interruptions) in being the legal norm throughout the Maghrib and continues so today.
The Maliki madhhab was introduced to Ifriqiya by the jurist
Asad ibn al-Furat
Asad Ibn Al-Furat ( ar, أسد بن الفرات; c.759 – c.828) was a jurist and theologian in Ifriqiya, who played an important role in the Arab conquest of Sicily.
His family, originally from Harran in Mesopotamia, emigrated with him to ...
(759-829), yet he was known to waver somewhat between the prior Hanafi and the Maliki. The influential law book called ''Mudawanna'', written by his disciple Sahnun ('Abd al-Salam b. Sa'id) (776-854), provided a "vulgate of North-African Malikism" for practical use during the period when Maliki legal doctrines won the field against its rival, the Hanafi.
Abu Hanifa (700-767) (founder of the Hanafi school) drew out
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
that was perhaps better suited to its origin in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
, a sophisticated imperial capital; while
Malik ibn Anas
Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
(716-795) initiated the school bearing his name in the smaller, rural city of
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
. By choosing the then more marginal Maliki school, the jurists of Kairouan probably obtained more discretion in defining Maghriban legal culture.
The Maliki jurists were often at odds with the Aghlabids, over the Arab rulers' disappointing personal moral conduct, and over the fiscal issue of taxation of agriculture (i.e., of a new fixed cash levy replacing the orthodox
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
in kind). The offending tax on crops payable in cash being the act of the second amir, 'Abdullah ibn Ibrahim (812-817).
Further, the Maliki ''fuqaha'' was commonly understood to act more in favor of local autonomy, hence in the interests of the Berbers, by blocking potential intrusions into Ifriqiya affairs and filtering out foreign influence, which might originate from the central Arab power in the East.
Besides jurists there was a second community of Muslim
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
, the scholars and ascetics. Foremost among these ''ābid'' was Buhlul b. Rashid (d. 799), who reputedly despised money and refused the post of grand judge; his fame accordingly spread throughout the Islamic world. By virtue of their piety and independence, the ''ābid'' won social prestige and a voice in politics; some scholars would speak on behalf of the governed cities, criticizing the regime's finance and trade decisions. Although substantially different, the status of the ''ābid'' relates somewhat to the much later, largely Berber figure of the Maghribi saint, the ''
wali
A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
'', who as keeper of ''
baraka
Baraka or Barakah may refer to:
* Berakhah or Baraka, in Judaism, a blessing usually recited during a ceremony
* Barakah or Baraka, in Islam, the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres
* Baraka, full ''ḥ ...
'' (spiritual charisma) became the object of veneration by religious believers, and whose tomb would be the destination of pilgrimage.
Economically,
Ifriqiya flourished under
Aghlabid
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a ...
rule. Extensive improvements were made to the pre-existing water works in order to promote olive groves and other agriculture (oils and cereals were exported), to irrigate the royal gardens, and for livestock. Roman aqueducts to supply the towns with water were rebuilt under Abu Ibrahim Ahmad, the sixth amir. In the
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
region hundreds of basins were constructed to store water for the raising of horses.
Commercial trade resumed under the new Islamic regime, e.g., by sea, particularly to the east with the Egyptian port of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
as a primary destination. Also, improved trade routes linked Ifriqiya with the continental interior, the
Sahara and the
Sudan, regions regularly incorporated into the Mediterranean commerce for the first time during this period. Evidently
camels on a large scale had not been common to these arid regions until the fourth century, and it was not until several centuries later that their use in the
Saharan trade became common. Now this long-distance overland trade began in earnest. The desert city of
Sijilmasa near the Atlas mountains in the far west
aghrib al-aqsaserved as one of the primary trading junctions and entrepôts, e.g., for salt and gold. Regarding Ifriqiya,
Wargla
Ouargla ( Berber: Wargrən, ar, ورقلة) is the capital city of Ouargla Province in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. It has a flourishing petroleum industry and hosts one of Algeria's universities, the University of Ouargla. The commune ...
was the primary desert contact for
Gafsa
Gafsa ( aeb, ڨفصة '; ar, قفصة qafṣah), originally called Capsa in Latin, is the capital of Gafsa Governorate of Tunisia. It lends its Latin name to the Mesolithic Capsian culture. With a population of 111,170, Gafsa is the ninth-la ...
and more distant
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
. In addition,
Ghadames
Ghadames or Ghadamis ( Berber: ''ʕadémis''; ar, غدامس, Libyan vernacular: ''ɣdāməs'', Latin: ''Cidamus, Cydamus'', it, Gadames) is an oasis Berber town in the Nalut District of the Tripolitania region in northwestern Libya.
The ...
,
Ghat
Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of ...
, and
Tuat
Tuat, or Touat, is a natural region of desert in central Algeria that contains a string of small oases. In the past, the oases were important for caravans crossing the Sahara.
Geography
Tuat lies to the south of the Grand Erg Occidental, to ...
served as stops for the Saharan trade to Aghlabid Ifriqiya.
A prosperous economy permitted a refined and luxurious court life and the construction of the new palace cities of al-'Abbasiya (809), and
Raqada (877), where were situated the new residences of the ruling
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
. The architecture of Ifriqiya was later imitated further west in
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
,
Tlemcen
Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...
, and
Bougie. The location of these palace cities for Aghlabid government was purposely was outside of the sway of Kairouan, which city had become dominated by Muslim clerical institutions, which were independent of emir's control. Yet generally Ifriqiyah during the era under the Aghlabid Dynasty (799-909) for the most part continued its leading rôle in the region, in the newly installed Muslim Maghrib, due generally to its peace and stability, recognized cultural achievements, and material prosperity.
Independent Berber Islam
Kharijite revolt
The origins of the
Rustamid state can be traced to the Berber
Kharijite (
Ar: Khawarij) revolt (739-772) against the new Arab Sunni power that was being established across North Africa following the Islamic conquest. Originating in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
, the Kharijite movement had begun in protest against the fourth caliph
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
, who consented to negotiate during a
Muslim civil war (656-661) despite his superior army in the field; as a result some of his armed forces left the camp, hence the movement of the Khawarij
those who go out" Originally puritan in outlook, being of the
ummah
' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.
It is a synonym for ' ...
of Islam for a believer indicated a perfection of the soul, yet sin constituted a
schism, a split from other believers, the sinner becoming an
apostate
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of emb ...
. The leader must be above reproach, yet could be non-Arab. Never attaining lasting success, but persisting in its struggles, the
Kharijite movement remains today only in its
Ibadi
The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis.
Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate sc ...
branch, with small minorities in isolated locales throughout the Muslim world. The Ibadis predominate in
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
.
In the
Maghrib
The Maghrib Prayer ( ar, صلاة المغرب ', "sunset prayer") is one of the five mandatory salah (Islamic prayer). As an Islamic day starts at sunset, the Maghrib prayer is technically the first prayer of the day. If counted from midni ...
the un-Islamic tax policies imposed on the Muslim Berbers by the new Arab Islamic regime (levying the ''
kharaj''
and taxand the ''
jizya''
oll taxmeant only for infidels) provoked a widespread armed resistance, which came to be led by Kharijite Berbers. The widespread struggle of this movement included victories, e.g., the "battle of the nobles" in 740. Later the Kharijites became divided and eventually were defeated after some decades. Arab historians remark that the 772 defeat of the Kharijite Berbers by an Abbasid army in battle near
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
was "the last of 375 battles" the Berbers had fought for their rights against armies from the East. Yet the Kharijites persisted under the Rustamids. Even until today across North Africa they practice still, small island communities of this religious minority within Islam.
Rustamid kingdom
A Kharijite remnant established a state (776–909) under the Rustamids, whose capital was at
Tahert
Tiaret ( ar, تاهرت / تيارت; Berber: Tahert or Tihert, i.e. "Lioness") is a major city in northwestern Algeria that gives its name to the wider farming region of Tiaret Province. Both the town and region lie south-west of the capital of ...
(located in the mountains southwest of modern Algiers). Apart from the lands surrounding Tahert, Rustamid territory consisted of largely the upland steppe or "pre-Sahara" that forms the frontier between the better watered
coastal regions of the Maghrib and the arid
Sahara desert. As such, its territory extended in a narrow
climatic
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...
strip eastward as far as Tripolitania and Jebel Nefusa (in modern Libya). In between lay southern Ifriqiya, where Rustamid lands included the oases of the
Djerid
el-Djerid, also al-Jarīd, ( ar, الجريد; Derja: ''Jerīd''; ) or more precisely the South Western Tunisia Region is a semi-desert natural region comprising three southern Tunisian Governorates, Gafsa, Kebili and Tozeur with adjacent parts ...
, with its
chotts (salt lakes), and the island of
Djerba
Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...
. The functionality of this elongated geography may be explained by the liberal nature of the Rustamid government: "
e imam did not so much rule or govern the surrounding tribes as preside over them, his authority being recognized rather than imposed and his mediation in disputes willingly sought." As such this Rustamids territory ran from
Tlemcen
Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...
in the west to Jebel Nefusa in the east.
The peoples of this climatic zone of the pre-Sahara began to be called the ''Arzuges'' in the 3rd century by the Roman
legio III Augusta
("Third Augustan Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. Its origin may have been the Republican 3rd Legion which served the general Pompey during his civil war against Gaius Julius Caesar (49–45 BC). It supported the general Oct ...
of Africa province. The Roman military authorities insulated ''Arzugitana'' from rule by the coastal cities. The fall of Rome "offered unprecedented opportunities for the communities of the pre-Sahara zone and their political elites, and may be seen as a period of renaissance in the region, at least in the political sphere." The Arzuges managed to recover their autonomy.
"Subsequently neither the Vandal monarchy nor the East Roman exarchate appear to have re-established direct rule over the Tripolitanian hinterland. Instead the communities of the pre-desert wadis and Jebel ranges may have been absorbed in a larger tribal confederation variously labeled the Laguatan, Levathae or, in the Arabic sources, the Lawata.
"The existence of labels such as ''Gaetuli'' and ''Arzuges'' thus reflects a longstanding and distinct sense of identity amongst the inhabitants of the pre-Saharan zone, which probably underwent a revival in late Antiquity. The support for the Ibadi movement shown by the communities of the Jebel Nefusa and the Jerid oases in the heart of the former Arzugitana suggests that this regional sense of identity and consequent desire for autonomy were maintained into the early medieval period and acquired a new emblematic marker in the adoption of the Ibadi faith. Indeed Savage suggests that many of the 'tribal' groups which figure in the sources in this period, notably the Nefusa, may represent alliances of disparate communities which coalesced at this very time in response to the catalyst provided by the egalitarian Ibadi message and were retrospectively legitimized with a genealogical tribal framework."
![Rustamid Persian Dynasty](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Rustamid_Persian_Dynasty.gif)
The Arab
Aghlabid emirate
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a c ...
in Ifriqiya remained the dominant state in the region, and the Rustamid's neighbors. Nonetheless the Aghlabids proved unable to dislodge these remnant Kharijites. Soon they were obliged to recognize Rustamid rule in the pre-Sahara region of the eastern Maghrib. In Hispania now transformed into al-Andalus, the
Emirs of Córdoba
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
welcomed the presence of the Rustamids Berbers as natural allies against the Aghlabids, whom
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
Córdoba considered
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
agents.
Tahert was economically well situated, as it formed an
entrepot for trade between the Mediterranean coastlands and the Sahara. During the summer Tahert became the market place where the pastoralist of the desert and steppe exchanged their animal produce for the local grains harvested by sedentary farmers. As the most prominent Khawarij center, it attracted immigrants from across the Islamic world, including Persia the home of its founder. Christians also found welcome. Yet in another sense behavioral tolerance was slim; "life at Tahert was conducted in a permanent state of religious fevor."
[Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (Cambridge Univ. 1971) at 75.]
The founder
Ibn Rustam (r. 776–784) took the title of
Imam. While in theory elected by elders, in practice the Imam was an hereditary office. The constitution was theocratic. The Imam was both a political and a religious leader. Islamic law was strictly applied. "
ulterers were stoned, the hands of thieves were cut off, and in war pillage and the massacring of non-warriors were not permitted." The Imam managed the state, law and justice, prayers, and charity. He collected
zakah
Zakat ( ar, زكاة; , "that which purifies", also Zakat al-mal , "zakat on wealth", or Zakah) is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is ne ...
alms"at harvest and distributed it to the poor and for public works. He appointed the
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
(judge), the treasurer, and the police chief. The Imam was expected to lead an ascetic life and be an able theologian. He was also expected to be astute, as civic conflicts might develop into religious schism. Yet opposing parties in disputes often submitted the matter to mediation. The Khawarij remained tolerant toward "unbelievers".
The remaining Christians of the region (called ''
Afariqa'' or ''Ajam'' by Muslim Arabs) could find a tolerant home in Rustamid Tahert, where their community was known as the ''Majjana''. This acceptance "might explain the growth of Ibadi communities in area where there is also evidence for the persistence of Christianity." Yet here, given the continuing defense of Rustamid autonomy against "the depredations of the central power" the Aghlabids, the choice to convert to Islam was sometimes "as much a political as a religious act."
The Rustamids endured about as long at the Aghlibid emirate; both states declined, and fell to the Fatimids during 909. Kharijites surviving from the Rustamid era eventually became
Ibadi
The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis.
Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate sc ...
s. For the most part, they now reside in the Djebel Nefousa (western Libya), in the
Mzab and at
Wargla
Ouargla ( Berber: Wargrən, ar, ورقلة) is the capital city of Ouargla Province in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. It has a flourishing petroleum industry and hosts one of Algeria's universities, the University of Ouargla. The commune ...
(eastern Algeria), and on
Djerba
Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...
island in Tunisia.
Fatimids: Shi'a caliphate
In the far west of Ifriqiya, the newly emerging
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
movement grew in strength and numbers. Thereafter the Fatimids began to launch frequent attacks on the Aghlabid regime. Such militant aggression provoked general unrest and increased Aghlabid political instability. The Fatimids eventually managed to capture Kairouan in 909, forcing the last of the Aghlabid line,
Ziyadat Allah III
Abu Mudhar Ziyadat Allah III ( ar, أبو مضر زيادة الله الثالث) (died 911–916) was the eleventh and last Emir of the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya (903–909).
He came to power after the murder of his father Abdallah II on 27 Ju ...
, to evacuate the palace at Raqadda. Concurrently the
Rustamid state was overthrown. On the east coast of Ifriqiaya facing Egypt, the Fatimids built a new capital on top of ancient ruins, calling the seaport
Mahdiya after their ''mahdi''.
Maghribi origin
![Calif al Mahdi Kairouan 912 CE(png)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Calif_al_Mahdi_Kairouan_912_CE%28png%29.png)
The Fatimid movement had originated locally in al-Maghrib, based on the strength of the
Kotama
Kodama (, or ) are spirits in Japanese folklore that inhabit trees. The term is also used to denote a tree in which a kodama supposedly resides. The phenomenon known as yamabiko, when sounds make a delayed echoing effect in mountains and vall ...
Berbers in
Kabylia
Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region
Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which ...
(Setif, south of
Bougie, eastern Algeria). The two founders of the movement were recent immigrants from the Islamic east: Abu 'Abdulla ash-Shi'i, originally from
San'a
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Govern ...
in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
; and, arriving from
Salamiyah in
Syria, 'Ubaidalla Sa'id. These two were religious dissidents who had come west to al-Magrib specifically to propagate their beliefs. The later, 'Ubaidalla Sa'id, claimed descent from
Fatimah
Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, ...
the daughter of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
; he was to proclaim himself the Fatimid
Mahdi
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...
. Their religious affiliation was the
Ismaili branch of the
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
.
By agreement, the first of the two founders to arrive (circa 893) was
Abu 'Abdulla ash-Shi'i, the Ismaili ''
Da'i'' or propagandist. He found welcome in the hostility against the
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
freely expressed by the Kotama Berbers. After his success in recruitment and in building the organization, Abu 'Abdulla was ready in 902 to send for 'Ubaidalla Sa'ed, who (after adventures and Aghlibid imprisonment in
Sijilmasa) arrived in 910. 'Ubaidall Sa'ed then proclaimed himself ''Mahdi'', literally "the guided one", an august Islamic title of supreme command, taking the name
Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh/ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (), 873 – 4 March 934, better known by his regnal name al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and th ...
. He assumed leadership of the movement. Thereafter Abu 'Abdulla was killed in a dispute over control.
From the start the
Shi'a Fatimid movement had been focused on expansion eastward toward the heartland of Islam. Soon the new Mahdi ordered an attack on
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
by a Fatimid army of Kotama Berbers led by his son al-Qa'im, once in 914, and again in 919; the Fatimids quickly took Alexandria, but both times lost it to the
Sunni Abbasids. Probing for weakness, the Mahdi then sent an invasion ''westward'', but his forces met with mixed results. Many Sunnis, including the
Umayyad Caliph of al-Andalus and the
Zenata Berber kingdom in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
, effectively opposed him because of his Ismaili Shi'a affiliation. The Mahdi did not follow
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
law; he taxed harshly, incurring further resentment. His capital
Mahdiya was more a fort than a princely city. The Maghrib was disrupted, being contested between the
Zenata
The Zenata ( Berber language: Iznaten) are a group of Amazigh (Berber) tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
Etymology
''Iznaten ( ...
in the west and the
Sanhaja
The Sanhaja ( ber, Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen; ar, صنهاجة, ''Ṣanhaja'' or زناگة ''Znaga'') were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Ma ...
who favored the Fatimids. Yet eventually Fatimid authority spread to most of
al-Magrib.
After the death of the Mahdi, there came the popular
Kharijite revolt of 935, under
Abu Yazid
Abu Yazid Makhlad ibn Kaydad (; – 19 August 947), known as the Man on the Donkey (), was an Ibadi Berber of the Banu Ifran tribe who led a rebellion against the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia and eastern Algeria) starting ...
(nicknamed ''Abu Himara'', "the man on a donkey"). Abu Yazid was known to ride about clad in common clothes accompanied by his wife and four sons. This Berber revolt, centering on a social justice appeal with respect to Kharijite ideals, gathered a wide following; by 943 it was said to be spreading confusion far and wide. The Mahdi's son, the Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im, became besieged in his capital Mahdiya. The situation appeared desperate when a relief column led by
Ziri ibn Manad Ziri ibn Manad or Ziri son of Mennad (died in 971) was the founder of the Zirid dynasty in the Maghreb.
Ziri ibn Mennad was a chief of the Takalata branch of the Sanhajah confederation, to which the Kutama Berbers belonged located in the Central M ...
broke through the siege with supplies and reinforcements for the Fatimids. Eventually Abu Yazid lost much of his following and in 946 was defeated in battle; this was the work of the son of al-Qa'im, the next Fatimid caliph, Ishmail, who accordingly took the sobriquet ''Mansur'', the "victor". Mansur then moved his residence and his government to
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
. Fatimid rule continued to be under attack by Sunni power to the west, i.e., the Umayyad Caliphate in
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
. Nonetheless the Fatimids prospered.
Conquest of Egypt
In 969 the Fatimid caliph
al-Mu'izz
Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah ( ar, ابو تميم معد المعزّ لدين الله, Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, Glorifier of the Religion of God; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid calip ...
sent against Egypt his best general Jawhar al-Rumi, who led a
Kotama
Kodama (, or ) are spirits in Japanese folklore that inhabit trees. The term is also used to denote a tree in which a kodama supposedly resides. The phenomenon known as yamabiko, when sounds make a delayed echoing effect in mountains and vall ...
Berber army. Egypt then was nominally under the
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, yet since 856 Egypt had been ruled by Turks, now by the Turkish
Ikhshidid dynasty
The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi. The dynasty carried the Arabic t ...
; however, actual control had passed into the strong hands of the Ethiopian eunuch
Abu-l-Misk Kafur for 22 years. At Kafur's death in 968, Egypt's leadership became weak and confused. The Fatimids in Ifriqiya, carefully observing these conditions in ''Misr'' (Egypt), ceased the opportunity to conquer.
Jawhar al-Rumi accordingly managed the military conquest without great difficulty. The Shi'a Fatimids subsequently founded al-Qahira (
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
)
the victorious" or the "city of Mars" In 970 the Fatimids also founded the world-famous
al-Azhar mosque
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the histori ...
, which later became the leading Sunni theological center. Three years later al-Mu'izz the Fatimid caliph decided to leave Ifriqiyah for Egypt, which he did, taking everything, "his treasures, his administrative staff, and the coffins of his predecessors." This al-Mu'izz was highly educated, wrote Arabic poetry, had mastered Berber, studied Greek, and delighted in literature; he was also a very capable ruler and it was he who founded Fatimid power in Egypt. Once centered there the Fatimids expanded their possessions further, northeast to
Syria and southeast to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
and
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
, while retaining control of North Africa until the late 11th century. From Cairo the Fatimids were to enjoy relative success, even with the loss of Ifriqiya, reigning until 1171. They became for a time the foremost power of Islam; they never returned to Ifriqiyah. Meanwhile, the Kotama Berbers, wornout from their conflicts on behalf of the Fatimids, disappeared from the streets of al-Qahira, and thereafter also from the life of al-Maghrib.
The western lands of the Fatimids were assigned to Berber vassals who continued in name the Shi'a caliphate rule. The first chosen ruler was
Buluggin ibn Ziri
Buluggin ibn Ziri, often transliterated Bologhine, in full ʾAbū al Futūḥ Sayf ad Dawlah Bulukīn ibn Zīrī ibn Manād aṣ Ṣanhājī ( ar, أبو الفتوح سيف الدولة بلكين بن زيري بن مناد الصنهاجي; die ...
, son of
Ziri ibn Manad Ziri ibn Manad or Ziri son of Mennad (died in 971) was the founder of the Zirid dynasty in the Maghreb.
Ziri ibn Mennad was a chief of the Takalata branch of the Sanhajah confederation, to which the Kutama Berbers belonged located in the Central M ...
(died 971), the
Sanhaja
The Sanhaja ( ber, Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen; ar, صنهاجة, ''Ṣanhaja'' or زناگة ''Znaga'') were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Ma ...
Berber chieftain who had saved the Fatimids when besieged in Mahdiya by Abu Yazid (see above). The
Zirid
The Zirid dynasty ( ar, الزيريون, translit=az-zīriyyūn), Banu Ziri ( ar, بنو زيري, translit=banū zīrī), or the Zirid state ( ar, الدولة الزيرية, translit=ad-dawla az-zīriyya) was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from m ...
dynasty would eventually become the sovereign power in Ifiqiya.
[Julien, ''History of North Africa'' (1931, 1961, 1970) at 62, 64-66.]
References
See also
*
History of Tunisia
The present day Republic of Tunisia, ''al-Jumhuriyyah at-Tunisiyyah'', is situated in Northern Africa. Geographically situated between Libya to the east, Algeria to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Tunis is the capital and th ...
*
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( ar, الْفَتْحُ الإسلَامِيُّ لِلْمَغرِب) continued the century of rapid Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of ...
*
Ifriqiya
*
Aghlabid
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a ...
dynasty
*
Fatimid Caliphate
*
Zirid dynasty
The Zirid dynasty ( ar, الزيريون, translit=az-zīriyyūn), Banu Ziri ( ar, بنو زيري, translit=banū zīrī), or the Zirid state ( ar, الدولة الزيرية, translit=ad-dawla az-zīriyya) was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from m ...
*
Almohad dynasty
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
*
Hafsid dynasty
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Ibn Khaldun
{{History of Africa
Ifriqiya
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
ar:تاريخ تونس الوسيط
fr:Tunisie à l'époque médiévale