Al-Kahina ( Arabic : الكاهنة , lit. 'the diviner'), also known as Dihya , was a Berber warrior-queen of the Aurès and a religious and military leader who lived during the seventh century AD.
74-517: Her legacy has been retold through the oral tradition since her lifetime. There are various written accounts of her from precolonial and postcolonial perspectives. Generally, she is known to have united various Berber tribes under her leadership to fight against the ongoing Muslim conquest of the Maghreb , leading the indigenous North African defense of the region then known as Numidia . She fought in multiple battles, notably defeating Umayyad forces in
148-455: A Berber chieftain. It began in southern Morocco , lasting through to 743. The rebels managed to massacre the Arab population of Tangier, its Arab governor, and capture a territory including modern Morocco, Western and Central Algeria whom were never recovered by an Oriental caliphate , but failed to capture Ifriqiya (Tunisia, East-Algeria and West- Libya ) after suffering a crushing defeat at
222-638: A Berber who was the lord and master of the Catholic tribe of Gomera." In any case, being an able diplomat who was adept in Visigothic, Berber, and Arab politics, Julian might well have surrendered to Musa on terms that allowed him to retain his title and command. At this time the population of Ceuta included many refugees from a ruinous Visigothic civil war that had broken out in Hispania (modern Portugal and Spain). These included family and confederates of
296-745: A free Berber state from the Aurès Mountains to the oasis of Gadames (695–700 AD). But the Arabs, commanded by Musa bin Nusayr , returned with a strong army and defeated her. She fought at the El Djem Roman amphitheater but finally was killed in combat near a well that still bears her name, Bir al Kahina in Aures . Various sources suggest that she was of Jewish religion or that her tribe were Judaized Berbers . According to al-Mālikī , she
370-413: A new version of the history of the conquest, which was finalised by Ibrahim ibn ar-Raqiq . This version was copied in its entirety and sometimes interpolated, by later authors, reaching its zenith in the 14th century by scholars such as ibn Idhari , ibn Khaldun and al-Nuwayri . It differs from the earlier version not only in greater detail but also in giving conflicting accounts of events. This, however,
444-564: A refuge and base for further operations. This would become the capital of the Islamic province of Ifriqiya (the Arabic pronunciation of Africa ), which would be today's western Libya , Tunisia , and eastern Algeria . After this, as Edward Gibbon writes, the fearless general "plunged into the heart of the country, traversed the wilderness in which his successors erected the splendid capitals of Fes and Morocco , and at length penetrated to
518-435: Is characteristic of witches in legends. Even the fact that two were her own and one was adopted (an Arab officer she had captured) was an alleged trait of sorcerers in tales. Another legend claims that in her youth, she had supposedly freed her people from a tyrant by agreeing to marry him and then murdering him on their wedding night. Virtually nothing else of her personal life is known. Al-Kahina succeeded Kusaila as
592-582: Is evidently yet another of the many myths which surround her. In either case she was beheaded , and her head was sent back to the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus as proof of her death. According to many historians, Bagay and Khenchla converted, and led the Berber army to Iberia . However, the historian Ibn al-Athīr says they died with their mother. Al-Kahina was adopted as a symbol by women, and
666-538: Is extremely questionable." Over four centuries after her death, Tunisian hagiographer al-Mālikī seems to have been among the first to state she resided in the Aurès Mountains . Seven centuries after her death, the pilgrim at-Tijani was told she belonged to the Lūwāta tribe. When the later historian Ibn Khaldun came to write his account, he placed her with the Jarawa tribe. According to various Muslim sources, al-Kāhina
740-629: Is still unknown, artists have depicted her with certain aspects that reinforce the progressive movement she is known to represent. However, not all governments accept the ideals behind Kahina. One statue of Kahina in Baghai was condemned by the government due to blasphemy. The president of the Defense of the Arab Language, Othman Saadi , said that Kahina represented the resistance to Islam , and thus, should be condemned. Muslim conquest of
814-435: Is the best-known version and is the one given below. It is recorded by Ibn Abd al-Hakam that during the siege of Tripoli by Amr ibn al-As , seven of his soldiers from the clan of Madhlij, sub branch of Kinana , unintentionally found a section on the western side of Tripoli beach that was not walled during their hunting routine. These seven soldiers managed to infiltrate the city through this way without being detected by
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#1732766234665888-472: The Battle of Meskiana . Afterwards, she became the uncontested ruler of the whole Maghreb region, and remained so until being decisively defeated and killed at the Battle of Tabarka . There are various accounts of the circumstances surrounding her death, but she is thought to have died in modern-day Algeria towards the end of the seventh century. She is considered one of the most famous figures of her era in
962-519: The Battle of Tabarka (a locality in present-day Tunisia near the Algerian border) about which there is some uncertainty. According to some accounts, Al-Kahina died fighting the invaders, sword in hand. Other accounts say she committed suicide by swallowing poison rather than be taken by the enemy. This final act occurred in the 690s or 700s, with 703 CE given as the most likely year. In that year, she was, according to Ibn Khaldun , 127 years old. This
1036-705: The Byzantine Empire in Africa . He gathered his allies, confronted the invading Islamic Arab forces and suffered defeat (647) at the Battle of Sufetula , a city 240 kilometres (150 mi) south of Carthage . With the death of Gregory, his successor, probably Gennadius , secured the Arab withdrawal in exchange for tribute. The campaign lasted fifteen months and Abdallah's force returned to Muslim territories in 648. All further Muslim conquests were soon interrupted, however, when Egyptian dissidents murdered Caliph Uthman after holding him under house arrest in 656. He
1110-692: The Byzantine navy that still fought on against the Muslim invasions. So he built a navy of his own which went on to conquer the Christian islands of Ibiza , Majorca , and Menorca . Advancing into the Maghreb, his forces took Algiers in 700. By 709, all of the top half of North Africa was under the control of the Arab caliphate. The only possible exception was Ceuta at the African Pillar of Hercules . Gibbon declares: "In that age, as well as in
1184-519: The Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates commenced in 647 and concluded in 709, when the Byzantine Empire lost its last remaining strongholds to Caliph Al-Walid I . The North African campaigns were part of the century of rapid early Muslim conquests . By 642 AD, under Caliph Umar , Arab Muslim forces had laid control of Mesopotamia (638 AD), Syria (641 AD), Egypt (642 AD), and had invaded Armenia (642 AD), all territories previously split between
1258-494: The 14th century, after which trace of them was lost. The only thing that is certain is that at the beginning of French colonial rule in the Maghreb there were no longer any Romance-speaking or Christian communities. This ultimately complete Islamization of the entire population brought about the separation of the Mediterranean region into northern and southern halves, which continues to this day. The full Islamization of
1332-457: The Arab army, receiving less pay than an Arab would have. This led to much dissatisfaction and ultimately the death of Maghreb Arab governor, Yazid ibn Abi Muslim at the hands of one of his bodyguards after ordering them to tattoo his name on their arms to signal his ownership. In 740, a Berber Revolt was prompted by the taxation of the Berbers. The rebels were lead at first by Maysara ,
1406-547: The Arabs, they told the story in a perspective that made the Kahina seem like a sorcerer, all in an attempt to discredit her. The story of the Kahina was told to paint colonialism in a positive light. The story was told with a message saying that it represented the freeing of Berbers from the Arabs. Another, lesser known account of Al-Kahina claimed that she had an interest in early studies of desert birds. While this view may or may not be plausible, some evidence has been recovered at
1480-493: The Berber reign. Thus Hassan was welcomed upon his return, and managed to kill Kahina at the Battle of Tabarka . Gibbon writes that “the friends of civil society conspired against the savages of the land; and the royal prophetess was slain in the first battle.” The successful general Musa bin Nusair was appointed the governor of Ifriqiya . His armies brutally put down the Berbers, consisting of various faiths, who fought against
1554-525: The Berbers, the Arab chieftains had greatly extended their African dominions, and as early as the year 682 Uqba had reached the shores of the Atlantic, but he was unable to occupy Tangier, for he was forced to turn back toward the Atlas Mountains by a man who became known to history and legend as Count Julian . Moreover, as Gibbon writes, Uqba, "this Mahometan Alexander, who sighed for new worlds,
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#17327662346651628-735: The Church nor the ruling Byzantine veneer was able to resist the propagation of Islam , particularly since they were at odds with each other, and that without any particular persecution on the part of the Muslim rulers, who treated the Christians leniently because they were " People of the Book ". Had the first Muslim conquerors persecuted the North African Christians rather than tolerating them, Christianity may well have continued to flourish. Many causes have been seen as leading to
1702-704: The Iberian Peninsula, defeated Roderic, and went on to besiege the Visigothic capital of Toledo . He and his allies also took Córdoba , Ecija , Granada , Málaga , Seville , and other cities. Due to this, the Umayyad conquest of Hispania completed the Arab conquest of North Africa. Fearing that the Byzantine Empire might reconquer it, they decided to destroy Roman Carthage in a scorched earth policy and establish their headquarters somewhere else. Its walls were torn down, its water supply cut off,
1776-559: The Jarawa were Judaized comes from the medieval historian Ibn Khaldun , who named them among seven Berber tribes. Hirschberg and Talbi note that Ibn Khaldun seems to have been referring to a time before the advent of the late Roman and Byzantine empires, and a little later in the same paragraph seems to say that by Roman times "the tribes" had become Christianized . As early as 1963, the Israeli historian H.Z. Hirschberg, in retranslating
1850-474: The Latin and Punic speaking population began. Contrary to widespread opinion, the Latin language did not disappear promptly or completely from the Maghreb, which can be read both from Latin grave inscriptions dating back to the eleventh century and from the numerous and conspicuous Latin foreign words in today's Berber languages on site. But the special features of the dialects of Maghrebi Arabic that developed after
1924-563: The Maghreb The Levant Egypt North Africa Anatolia & Constantinople Border conflicts Sicily and Southern Italy Naval warfare Byzantine reconquest The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( Arabic : فَتْحُ اَلْمَغْرِب , romanized : Fath al-Maghrib , lit. 'Conquest of the West';) or Arab conquest of North Africa by
1998-486: The Maghreb along with the full Arabization of the non-Berber population may have been favored by the following factors: Archaeological and scholarly research has shown that Christianity existed after the Muslim conquests. The Catholic church gradually declined along with local Latin dialect . According to a view, Christianity in North Africa effectively continued a century after the Muslim conquest but that neither
2072-524: The Romans and Persians ) is said to range from 30,000 to 300,000 in various Muslim histories and some even allude to a higher number. Philip Khuri Hitti described the attribution of figures such as 300,000 slaves (also capturing 30,000 noble maidens of Spain) to him as exaggerated which was due to the high number of slaves that were available after Muslim conquests. An assertion which is confirmed by historian Kishori Saran Lal . Musa also had to deal with
2146-478: The Romans. The Algerian nationalists , seeking to tie Algeria to the East instead, draw the same parallels, but for them both Rome and France were colonial powers, responsible for the decline of Phoenician civilisation in the past, and Arabic civilisation in the present. Both ideologies used Kahina's mythology as a founding myth . On one side, she was the one who fought the Arabs and Islam to keep Algeria Christian, on
2220-542: The advancing Muslims. Their conquest reached the Atlantic coast in 708. He was noted for the vast number of mawla he had amassed which consisted of Berber converts to Islam and people from other regions as well. In 698-702 AD all the major capitals in the Berber states were taken definitively by the Arabs: Christian Carthago was completely destroyed, half the inhabitants were killed (only a few hundreds could escape by boats toward Byzantine Sicily) and
2294-626: The agricultural land was ravaged and its harbors made unusable. The destruction of the Exarchate of Africa marked a permanent end to the Byzantine Empire's influence in the region. It is visible from archaeological evidence, that the town of Carthage continued to be occupied. Constantine the African was born in Carthage. The fortress of Carthage was used by the Muslims until Hafsid era and
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2368-528: The armies met near Meskiana in the present-day province of Oum el-Bouaghi at the Battle of Meskiana (or "battle of camels") in Algeria . Al-Kahina defeated Hasan so soundly that he fled Ifriqiya and holed up in Cyrenaica (Libya) for four or five years. Realizing that the enemy was too powerful and bound to return, she was said to have embarked on a scorched earth campaign, which had little impact on
2442-500: The character of a prophetess, they attacked the invaders with an enthusiasm similar to their own. The veteran bands of Hassan were inadequate to the defence of Africa: the conquests of an age were lost in a single day; and the Arabian chief, overwhelmed by the torrent, retired to the confines of Egypt. In 703, five years passed before Hassan received fresh troops from the caliph. Meanwhile, the people of North Africa's cities chafed under
2516-475: The citizens hailed the ensign of the cross, and the winter was idly wasted in the dream of victory or deliverance.” In 698, the Arabs conquered Carthage under Hassan ibn al-Nu'man and completed the conquest of the eastern Barbary coast. Anticipating attempts at Byzantine reconquest however, they decided to destroy it. The walls were torn down, the agricultural land ravaged, the aqueducts and harbors made unusable. They established their base instead at Tunis which
2590-437: The city guards, and then managed to incite riots within the city while shouting Takbir (God is the greatest), causing the confused Byzantine garrison soldiers to think the Muslim forces were already inside in the city and to flee towards their ship leaving Tripoli, thus, allowing Amr to subdue the city easily. Later, the Muslim forces besieged Barqa ( Cyrenaica ) for about three years to no avail. Then Khalid ibn al-Walid , who
2664-695: The close of 643. The next invasion of the Maghreb , ordered by Abdallah ibn Sa'd , commenced in 647. 20,000 soldiers marched from Medina in the Arabian Peninsula , with another joining them in Memphis, Egypt where Abdallah ibn Sa'd then led them into the Byzantine Africa , the Maghreb region. The invading army took Tripolitania (in present-day Libya ). Count Gregory , the local Byzantine governor, had declared his independence from
2738-458: The conquest were also shaped primarily in the lexis of Latin. The same applies to Christianity in the Maghreb, which did not end with the Arab conquest, but is also documented afterwards by sporadic sources. In what is now Tunisia, for example, Muslims were probably in the majority towards the end of the ninth century. The decline of Christian institutions only accelerated towards the end of the eleventh century; individual communities survived until
2812-423: The death of the rebel leader. This development brought about a return of domestic order that allowed the caliph to resume the Islamic conquest of North Africa. It began with the renewed invasion of Ifriqiya. Gibbon writes: the standard was delivered to Hassan governor of Egypt, and the revenue of that kingdom, with an army of forty thousand men, was consecrated to the important service. In the vicissitudes of war,
2886-442: The decline of Christianity in Maghreb. One of them is the constant warfare, as well as persecutions. In addition, many Christians migrated to Europe. The Church at that time lacked the backbone of a monastic tradition and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the so-called Donatist heresy, and this contributed to the early obliteration of the Church in the present day Maghreb. Some historians contrast this with
2960-504: The expanding Rashidun Caliphate . With Afghanistan and North Africa being targets of major invasions and Muslim sea raids ranging from Rhodes to the southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula , the Byzantine navy was defeated in the eastern Mediterranean. The earliest Arab accounts are those of ibn Abd al-Hakam , al-Baladhuri , and Khalifah ibn Khayyat , all of which were written in the ninth century, some 200 years after
3034-528: The fate of his predecessor in the Battle of Mamma . He vanquished the native population in many battles but he was overthrown by a powerful army, which Constantinople had sent to the relief and liberation of Carthage ." Meanwhile, a new civil war among rivals for the monarchy raged in Arabia and Syria. It resulted in a series of four caliphs between the death of Mu'awiya in 680 and the accession of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 685; strife ended only in 692 with
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3108-557: The first invasions. These are not very detailed. In the case of the most informative, the History of the Conquest of Egypt and North Africa and Spain by Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Robert Brunschvig has shown that it was written with a view to illustrating points of Maliki law rather than documenting history and that some of the events it describes are probably ahistorical. Beginning in the 12th century, scholars at Kairouan began to construct
3182-399: The hand of Ifriqiya governor Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi . One of the unifying forces of these rebellions were the teachings of Arab Kharijite missionaries who had worked as merchants. They were able to convert some sections to their way of thinking and this provided a "unifying discipline and revolutionary zeal that powered the Berber rebellion of 739" through 743. The loss of Africa
3256-523: The history of the Berber resistance to the Arab conquest. Her personal name is one of these variations: Daya, Dehiya, Dihya, Dahya or Damya. Her title was cited by Arabic-language sources as al-Kāhina (the priestess soothsayer ) ( Arabic : الكاهنة ). This was the nickname given to by her Muslim opponents because of her alleged ability to foresee the future. Al-Kahina led the Jarāwa Zenata tribe. She may have been Jewish . For five years she ruled
3330-402: The imperial throne, for his officers, afraid of being held responsible for the defeat, elevated him to the position of anti-emperor and overthrew Leontios, who had his nose cut off. Another effect was that there were no longer any major Latin or Romance-speaking provinces in the Byzantine Empire and Greek finally prevailed. With the conquest of Carthage, the Arabs laid the basis for domination of
3404-518: The interior provinces had been alternately won and lost by the Saracens. But the seacoast still remained in the hands of the Greeks; the predecessors of Hassan had respected the name and fortifications of Carthage; and the number of its defenders was recruited by the fugitives of Cabes and Tripoli . The arms of Hassan were bolder and more fortunate: he reduced and pillaged the metropolis of Africa; and
3478-496: The invasion of non-Muslim neighboring states, attacking Sicily and Anatolia (in Asia Minor) in 663. In 664, Kabul , Afghanistan, fell to the invading Muslim armies. The years 665 to 689 saw a new Arab invasion of North Africa . It began, according to Will Durant , to protect Egypt "from flank attack by Byzantine Cyrene". So "an army of more than 40,000 Muslims advanced through the desert to Barca , took it, and marched to
3552-501: The late King Wittiza , Arian Christians fleeing forced conversions at the hands of the Visigothic Catholic church, and Jews . As Gibbon puts it, Musa received an unexpected message from Julian, "who offered his place, his person, and his sword" to the Muslim leader in exchange for help in the civil war. Though Julian's "estates were ample, his followers bold and numerous", he "had little to hope and much to fear from
3626-460: The mention of scaling-ladders may justify the suspicion, that he anticipated, by a sudden assault, the more tedious operations of a regular siege. Having lost Carthage to the Muslims in 695, the Byzantine Empire responded with troops from Constantinople, joined by soldiers and ships from Sicily and a powerful contingent of Visigoths from Hispania. This forced the invading Arab army to run back to Kairouan. Then, writes Gibbon, “the Christians landed;
3700-452: The mountain and desert tribes, but lost her the crucial support of the sedentary oasis-dwellers. Instead of discouraging the Arab armies, her desperate decision hastened defeat. The story of the Kahina is told by a variety of cultures, and each story often offers a different, or even contradictory, perspective. For example, the story is used to promote feminist beliefs. Additionally, it is even told by Arabs to promote their own nationalism. For
3774-401: The neighborhood of Carthage", defeating a defending Byzantine army of 20,000 in the process. Next came a force of 10,000 Muslims led by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi and enlarged by thousands of others. Departing from Damascus, the army marched into Africa and took the vanguard. In 670, the city of Kairouan (roughly 150 kilometers [80 mi] south of modern Tunis ) was established as
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#17327662346653848-682: The new reign." And he was too feeble to challenge Roderic directly. So he sought Musa's aid. For Musa, Julian, "by his Andalusian and Mauritanian commands, ... held in his hands the keys of the Spanish monarchy." And so Musa ordered some initial raids on the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula in 710. In the spring of that same year, Tariq ibn Ziyad —a Berber, a freed slave, and a Muslim general—took Tangier. Musa thereupon made him governor there, backed by an army of 6,700. The next year, 711, Musa directed Tariq to invade Hispania. Disembarking from Ceuta aboard ships provided by Julian, Tariq plunged into
3922-455: The other, she was the one who fought all invaders (Byzantines or Arabs) to create an independent state. In the present day, the image of Kahina is constantly used by Berber activists to showcase how they, as a people, are strong and will not be conquered or diminished by other communities. Her face is often seen in graffiti and sculptures around Algeria to showcase their support for the progressive ideals she represents. While her true appearance
3996-590: The present, the kings of Spain were possessed of the fortress of Ceuta [...] Musa, in the pride of victory, was repulsed from the walls of Ceuta, by the vigilance and courage of Count Julian, the general of the Goths." Other sources, however, maintain that Ceuta represented the last Byzantine outpost in Africa and that Julian, whom the Arabs called Ilyan, was an exarch or Byzantine governor. Valdeavellano offers another possibility, that "as appears more likely, he may have been
4070-540: The rest enslaved, erasing forever the main center of Greco-Roman influence in the Maghreb. Musa bin Nusair, a successful Yemeni general in the campaign, was made governor of "Ifriqiya" and given the responsibility of putting down a renewed Berber rebellion and forcefully converting the population to Islam. Musa and his two sons prevailed over the rebels, slaughtered nearly all the Christian Berber civilians of his Ifriqiya and enslaved 300,000 captives (in those years
4144-561: The site of her death place, modern-day Algeria. Several fragments of early parchment with a painting of a bird on them were found, although there's no way to conclude the fragments were hers. However, it is possible that she began her interest while in Libya, as the painting was of a Libyan bird species. Hasan eventually returned and, aided by communications with the captured officer Khalid bin Yazid al-Qaysi adopted by Al-Kahina, defeated her at
4218-523: The story of the Kahina may vary from one informant to another, the pattern is the same: the Kahina is the Berber heroine who fought the Arabs for independence." Feminist scholar Fatima Sadiqi has stated that "Kahina’s female leadership did not rely on institutionalized authority, but on recognized personal charismatic power". Also, the French, in the early 20th century, anxious to Frenchify Algeria by Romanising its past, drew parallels between themselves and
4292-740: The strong monastic tradition in Coptic Egypt , which is credited as a factor that allowed the Coptic Church to remain the majority faith in that country until around after the 10th century despite numerous persecutions. In addition, the Romans were unable to completely assimilate the indigenous people like the Berbers. Jarawa (Berber tribe) The Jarawa or Jrāwa were a nomadic Berber Zenata tribal confederacy, who may have converted to Christianity according to Mohamed Talbi , though Ibn Khaldun claimed they were Jewish. The Berber tribe ruled in northwest Africa before and during
4366-483: The text of Ibn Khaldun and rigorously repeating the whole document, questioned this interpretation, and in general the existence of large Jewish Berber tribes in the end of Antiquity. In the words of H.Z. Hirschberg , "of all the known movements of conversion to Judaism and incidents of Judaizing , those connected with the Berbers and Sudanese in Africa are the least authenticated. Whatever has been written on them
4440-670: The top of the wall and allowed these warriors to enter the city, opening the gates and killing the guards, thus allowing the Muslim forces to enter and capturing the city. Then caliph Umar, whose armies were already engaged in conquering the Sassanid Empire , did not want to commit his forces further in North Africa while Muslim rule in Egypt was still insecure and ordered 'Amr to consolidate the Muslims' position in Egypt and that there should be no further campaigning. 'Amr obeyed, abandoning Tripoli and Burqa and returning to Fustat towards
4514-561: The total population of the Maghreb was around one million, and this gives an idea of the massacre and why Christianity disappeared). The caliph's portion was 60,000 of the captives. He sold into slavery these Christian Berbers (mainly in Damascus, after a deadly deportation through the desert from southern Tunisia to Egypt): the proceeds from their sale went into the Arab public treasury. Daniel Pipes The number of slaves he took in his various campaigns (including campaigns outside Africa, against
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#17327662346654588-465: The verge of the Atlantic and the great desert ". In his conquest of the Maghreb (western North Africa), he besieged the coastal city of Bugia as well as Tingi or Tangier , overwhelming what had once been the traditional Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana . But here he was stopped and partially repulsed. Luis Garcia de Valdeavellano writes: In their invasions against the Byzantines and
4662-600: The war leader of the Berber tribes in the 680s and opposed the encroaching Arab Islamic armies of the Umayyad dynasty . Hasan ibn al-Nu'man marched from Egypt and captured the major Byzantine city of Carthage and other cities (see Muslim conquest of North Africa ). Searching for another enemy to defeat, he was told that the most powerful monarch in North Africa was "the Queen of the Berbers" (Arabic: malikat al-barbar ) Al-Kahina, and accordingly marched into Numidia . In 698,
4736-547: The warring Byzantine and Sasanian empires, and were concluding their conquest of Sasanian Persia with their defeat of the Persian army at the Battle of Nahāvand . It was at this point that Arab military expeditions into North African regions west of Egypt were first launched, continuing for years and furthering the spread of Islam . In 644 at Medina , Umar was succeeded by Uthman , during whose twelve-year rule Armenia, Cyprus , and all of modern-day Iran , would be added to
4810-517: The western Mediterranean, since they could now use the African ports there as a springboard for operations against the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Sicily. They also prepared for the invasion of Spain 13 years later by eliminating the flank threat. The capture of Septem, in turn, removed the last immediate obstacle. On the territory of the Exarchate of Carthage, after the conquest, a rather gradual but ultimately complete Arabization of
4884-447: Was a severe blow to the Byzantine Empire. In 698, after Egypt, the second large granary and a significant source of taxes went here was lost, which in retrospect did not detract from the empire's ability to survive, but significantly impaired the decades-long defensive struggles against the caliphate. Financially, the lost tax revenue for Eastern Rome/Byzantium could not be compensated for a long time. The fall of Carthage brought Tiberios
4958-470: Was accompanied in her travels by an "idol". Both Mohamed Talbi and Gabriel Camps interpreted this idol as a Christian icon, either of Christ, the Virgin, or a saint protecting the queen. M'hamed Hassine Fantar held that this icon represented a separate Berber deity, suggesting she followed traditional Berber religion . However, Al-Kahina being a Christian remains the most likely hypothesis. The idea that
5032-536: Was captured by the Crusaders during the Eighth Crusade . Remnants of former Roman Carthage was used as a source to provide building materials for Kairouan and Tunis in 8th century. Although the area was under control of the caliphate, there were still some sections of the population that would resist the spread of Islam. The Berber people were thought of as inferior and made to convert to Islam and join
5106-459: Was heavily expanded, though Kairouan remained the governor's capital until late-9th century. This was immediately followed by a Berber rebellion against the new Arab overlords and a decisive victory at the Battle of Meskiana . Gibbon writes: Under the standard of their queen Kahina , the independent tribes acquired some degree of union and discipline; and as the Moors respected in their females
5180-455: Was previously involved in the conquest of Oxyrhynchus , offered a radical plan to erect catapult which filled by cotton sacks. Then as the night came and the city guard slept, Khalid ordered his best warriors such as Zubayr ibn al-Awwam , his son Abdullah , Abdul-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr , Fadl ibn Abbas , Abu Mas'ud al-Badri, and Abd al-Razzaq to step into the catapult platform which filled by cotton sacks. The catapult launched them one by one to
5254-486: Was replaced by Ali , who in turn was assassinated in 661. The Umayyad Caliphate of largely secular and hereditary Arab caliphs, then established itself at Damascus and Caliph Muawiyah I began consolidating the empire from the Aral Sea to the western border of Egypt. He put a governor in place in Egypt at al-Fustat , creating a subordinate seat of power that would continue for the next two centuries. He then continued
5328-417: Was the daughter of Tabat , or some say Mātiya . These sources depend on tribal genealogies , which were generally concocted for political reasons during the 9th century. Ibn Khaldun records many legends about Al-Kahina. A number of them refer to her long hair or great size, both legendary characteristics of sorcerers . She is also supposed to have had the gift of prophecy and she had three sons, which
5402-460: Was unable to preserve his recent conquests. By the universal rebellion against muslim occupation of the Greeks and Africans he was recalled from the shores of the Atlantic." On his return, a Berber-Byzantine coalition under the berber king of Altava known as Kusaila ambushed and crushed his forces near Biskra , killing Uqba and wiping out his troops. Then, adds Gibbon, "The third general or governor of Africa , Zuhayr , avenged and encountered
5476-506: Was used as a symbol against foreign occupation, and later as a symbol against male hegemony. Indeed, already during the period of French colonisation of Algeria , Kahina was a model for the militant women who fought the French. In the Kabyle insurrection of 1851 and 1857, women such as Lalla Fatma N'Soumer and Lalla Khadija Bent Belkacem , who were known as chief warriors took Kahina as a model. Anthropologist Abdelmajid Hannoum wrote "though
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