Igawawen or Gawawa , mostly known as Zwawa (in Kabyle : Igawawen , in Arabic : زواوة , and in Latin : Jubaleni ) were a group of Kabyle tribes inhabiting the Djurdjura mountains, Greater Kabylia , in Algeria . The Zouaoua are a branch of the Kutama tribe of the Baranis Berbers .
164-559: In the most restricted sense, the Igawawen were a confederation ( kabyle : taqbilt , derived from arabic "قبيلة" meaning tribe) of 8 tribes split into two groups: "Zwawa" was the Arabic name of medieval Muslim historians for the tribes who inhabited the region between Bejaia and Dellys . Some say that it's a deformation of the word "Igawawen", which was the name of a Kabyle confederation made up of eight tribes organized into two groups:
328-433: A full marriage , but had slave concubines, who could rise to the high status of an umm walad upon the birth of a son. Several caliphal daughters are not even known by name, and for those that are, it is likely that they never married at all as a matter of policy, even though they are often mentioned only by their teknonyms . Although politically inactive, the members of the dynasty enjoyed immense riches, founded on
492-466: A 'national language' in the 2002 Algerian Constitution, but not as an 'official language' until 2016 after a long campaign by activists. French is not recognized in any legal document of Algeria but enjoys a de facto position of an official language as it is used in every Algerian official administration or institution, at all levels of the government, sometimes much more than Arabic. The Berber (Amazigh) language faces an unfavourable environment, despite
656-517: A 2002 constitutional amendment. In February 2016, the Algerian constitution passed a resolution that made Berber an official language alongside Arabic. The phonemes below reflect the pronunciation of Kabyle. Kabyle has three phonemic vowels : ⟨e⟩ is used to write the epenthetic schwa vowel [ə] which occurs frequently in Kabyle. Historically, it is thought to be the result of
820-535: A corresponding agent noun . In English it could be translated into verb+er. It is obtained by prefixing the verb with « am- » or with « an- » if the first letter is b / f / m / w (there are exceptions, however). Verbal nouns are derived differently from different classes of verbal stems (including 'quality verbs'). Often a- or t(u)- is prefixed: Pronouns may either occur as standalone words or bound to nouns or verbs. Example: « Ula d nekk. » – "Me too." Possessive pronouns are bound to
984-658: A figurehead. The uprising was defeated, and the Fatimid control over the Kutama consolidated. Nevertheless, Fatimid power remained fragile, as it was based almost exclusively on the—often truculent—Kutama, and later the Sanhaja tribe as well. Conversely, the local Arabs of Ifriqiya were Maliki Sunnis, while most Berber tribes further west—notably the Zenata confederation—adhered to various forms of Kharijism , and thus opposed to
1148-890: A hidden imam, implied at the time to be Muhammad ibn Isma'il . The Isma'ili da'wa spread widely across the Islamic world, then ruled by the Abbasid Caliphate . In 899, the future first Fatimid caliph, Abdallah , proclaimed himself to be the expected imam, causing a rift in the Isma'ili da'wa as the Qarmatians , who did not recognize his imamate, split off. In the meantime, Isma'ili agents had managed to conquer large parts of Yemen and Ifriqiya , as well as launch uprisings in Syria and Iraq. Fleeing Abbasid persecution to Ifriqiya, Abdallah proclaimed himself openly and established
1312-865: A literate and educated family, which had been well established in Bejaia , and had long served the Hafsid sultans. In Spanish documents, the Kingdom of Kuku was often referred to as "Reino de Azuagos " , meaning the Kingdom of the Zwawa. But the French anthropologist, Émile Masqueray supports the idea that the Aït Ulqadi reigned only over the valley of Wad Sebaou and part of eastern Great Kabylia. Émile Masqueray says about Sidi Ahmed el-Kadi: "The precise witnesses of
1476-519: A mixture of both religious imperative—since God has decreed his imams to be hidden, they should remain so—and apparent ignorance. Al-Mahdi himself, in a letter sent to the Isma'ili community in Yemen, even claimed not to be descended from Isma'il ibn Ja'far, but from his older brother Abdallah al-Aftah, who is generally held to not have had any descendants at all. Notably, later official Fatimid genealogies rejected this version. In addition, it appears that
1640-809: A native language among the Algerian Kabyle-descended diaspora in European and North American cities (mainly France). It is estimated that half of Kabyles live outside the Kabylian region. Estimates on the number of Kabyle speakers in the region vary widely, with different dates and data given for different points of time. As such the number of Kabyle speakers varies considerably depending on differnt sources given. French ethnologist Camille Lacoste-Dujardin [ fr ] estimates four million Kabyle speakers in 2001 in Algeria. According to
1804-406: A pan-Berber reduction or merger of three other vowels. The phonetic realization of the vowels, especially /a/ , is influenced by the character of the surrounding consonants; emphatic consonants invite a more open realization of the vowel, e.g. aẓru = [azˤru] 'stone' vs. amud = [æmud] 'seed'. Often /a, i, u/ are realized as [æ, ɪ, ʊ] . In the Kabyle language there are various accents which are
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#17327647339961968-622: A pious fiction. States People Centers Other Both the Twelvers and the Seveners held that their final imams were not dead, but had simply gone into concealment, and that they would soon return as a messiah, the mahdi ('the Rightly Guided One') or qa'im ('He Who Arises'), to usher in the end times . The mahdi would rapidly overthrow the usurping Abbasids and destroy their capital Baghdad , restore
2132-489: A public radio in Algeria (Channel II, which dates back to 1925 ), as well as a public TV channel in Morocco (Channel IV or Tamazight TV). Since private ownership of TV channels is illegal in Algeria, Kabyles have launched a private Kabyle speaking TV channel, called Berbère Television , that broadcasts from France. There is no Kabyle newspaper. Some Algerian newspapers such as La Dépêche de Kabylie [ fr ] offer
2296-457: A renewed Fatimid attempt to conquer Syria. At the same time, around 970/71, the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina , recognized Fatimid suzerainty, an important symbolic victory for the Fatimids. In 978, Caliph al-Aziz ( r. 975–996 ) captured Damascus, but Fatimid power in Syria continued to be challenged, whether by powerful generals or by the restive Bedouin of Palestine under
2460-617: A single united confederation, even if they speak the same language, have the same culture, and the same religion, and despite this, they were often allies to deal with foreign invasions, as in 1849 against the French, but also in 1830, 1857, and 1871 against the same enemy. While the Spaniards had control over some ports in the Maghreb, the Turks and the Kabyles supported each other against
2624-464: A small Kabyle section. In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the " Haut commissariat à l'amazighité " (HCA) in 1995. Berber was subsequently taught as a non-compulsory language in Berber speaking areas. The course being optional, few people attend. The Kabyle school boycott also resulted in
2788-442: A topic of debate among scholars today. As the historian of Shi'a Islam Heinz Halm comments, "The alleged descent of the dynasty from Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter Fatima has been called into question by contemporaries from the very beginning and cannot be proven", while Michael Brett, an expert on the Fatimids, asserts that "a factual answer to the question of their identity is impossible". The main problem arises with
2952-575: Is Artana, which may refer to the Aït Iraten confederation. The third is Benicassim. The Zwawa were always traditional allies of the Kutama , perhaps even because they are themselves Kutama as Ibn Hazm and Ibn Khaldun claimed, even though they were mentioned separately in the historical records. In the tenth century, the tribes of the Baranis group of modern central Algeria, such as the Sanhaja ,
3116-631: Is a Berber language ( tamazight ) spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria . It is spoken primarily in Kabylia , east of the capital Algiers and in Algiers itself, but also by various groups near Blida , such as the Beni Salah and Beni Bou Yaqob. Estimating the number of Berber speakers is very difficult and figures are often contested. A 2004 estimate was that 9.4% of
3280-455: Is expressed by « ur » before the verb and the particle « ara » after the verb: Other negative words (acemma... etc.) are used in combination with ur to express more complex types of negation. This system developed via Jespersen's cycle . Verb derivation is performed by adding affixes. There are three types of derivation forms: causative , reflexive and passive . Two prefixes can cancel each other: Every verb has
3444-406: Is little or no independent confirmation", as even Isma'il ibn Ja'far is an obscure figure, let alone his supposed hidden successors. While pro-Fatimid sources emphasize their Alid descent—the dynasty named itself simply as the 'Alid dynasty' ( al-dawla al-alawiyya )—many Sunni sources instead refer to them as the 'Ubaydids' ( Arabic : بنو عبيد , romanized : Banu Ubayd ), after
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#17327647339963608-491: Is mostly composed of fricatives, phonemes which are originally stops in other Berber languages, but in writing there is no difference between fricatives and stops. Below is a list of fricatives vs. stops and when they are pronounced (note that gemination turns fricatives into stops ). The most ancient Berber writings were written in the Libyco-Berber script , mostly from Numidian and Roman times. This script
3772-703: Is no longer used in Algerian Arabic either, except in western Algeria, where Kabyles are still called Zwawa. Zwawa was also a personal name. In the 9th century, one of the chiefs of the Huwwara Berber tribe, who took part in the Muslim conquest of Sicily , was called Zwawa ibn Neam al-Half, who assisted in the triumph of the Muslim armies against the Byzantines. Ibn Hawqal in the 10th century,
3936-514: Is still strong in villages but urban Kabyles in Algeria are increasingly shifting to Arabic and diaspora Kabyles to the surrounding language. A 2013 study found that 54% of Kabyles living in Oran spoke Arabic to their siblings. After the 2001–02 widespread Kabyle protests known as the Black Spring , the Berber (Amazigh) language (with all its Algerian dialects and varieties) was recognized as
4100-421: Is used for subjects placed after their verbs, after prepositions, in noun complement constructions, and after certain numerals. Kabyle also places nouns in construct state when they head a noun phrase containing a co-referential bound pronoun earlier in the utterance. Examples: After a preposition (with the exception of "ar" and "s"), all nouns take their annexed state: Verbs are conjugated for three tenses:
4264-604: The Dajjal ('the false Messiah') by the Isma'ili da'wa , was the moment when Abu Tahir declared himself as the imam and caliph in succession to his father, with the name of al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah ('The Victor with the Help of God'). Al-Mansur moved the Fatimid court to a new palace city, al-Mansuriyya near Kairouan , but died soon after, and was succeeded by his son, al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah ( r. 953–975 ). Al-Mu'izz
4428-473: The da'wa was diminished by bitter succession disputes, which resulted in large parts of the Isma'ili community, such as the Druze , Nizaris , and Tayyibis , breaking off from the Fatimid allegiance, and tarnished the prestige and authority of the dynasty. The last of the Fatimid imam–caliphs were powerless child rulers that were pawns in the hands of their viziers. The last of these viziers, Saladin , deposed
4592-513: The mahdi . In this chaotic atmosphere, and with the Abbasids preoccupied with suppressing the Zanj uprising, the Isma'ili da'wa spread rapidly, aided by dissatisfaction among Twelver adherents with the political quietism of their leadership and the recent disappearance of their twelfth imam. Missionaries ( da'i s) like Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law Abu Muhammad Abdan spread
4756-832: The International Encyclopedia of Linguistics there were 2.5 million speakers in Kabylia in 2003 out of 3.1 million worldwide. In 2004, Canadian linguist Jacques Leclerc (linguist) [ fr ] estimated that there were 3.1 million Kabyle speakers in Algeria (9.4% of the total Algerian population) and 500,000 in France. Salem Chaker estimated there were 5.5 million speakers in 2004, including 3 to 3.5 in Kabylia. The Encyclopædia Universalis gives 7 million Kabyle speakers. The French Ministry of Culture estimated there were one million Kabyle speakers in France in 2013. Linguist Matthias Brenzinger estimates
4920-572: The Abbasid Caliphate in response, triggering the Sunni revival of the 11th century. Faced with internal turmoil, and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks and then the Crusades , Fatimid power began to decline in the later 11th century. the dynasty was saved by passing power to powerful military viziers , but this also meant that the imam–caliphs often were mere puppet rulers. The initial dynamism of
5084-1094: The Aït Waguenun , the Iflissen Lebhar , the Aït Djennad , the Aït Ghubri, the tribes of High Sebaou and Assif el-Hammam , the Aït Aissi , the Aït Dwala , the Aït Zmenzer , the Betruna, the Aït Khelifa and part of the Maatka . The caïdat de Sebaou was, like the caïdat of Boghni, under the authority of the Bey of Titteri. The populations of the mountain ranges of the Aït Iraten (Aït Akerma,
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5248-1137: The Beni Yenni , the Beni Bou-Ghardan, the Beni Ituragh , the Beni Bu Yusef , the Beni Chayb, the Beni Aissi, the Beni Sedqa, the Beni Ghubrin and the Beni Gechtoula." The Aït Iraten and the Aït Frawsen, Zwawian tribes, were also mentioned on the same page, but not in this list. Moreover, Ibn Khaldun mentioned the Ait Yenni separately from the Ait Betrun, while they belong to the latter. Same thing for
5412-586: The Fatimid dynasty , is strong evidence in favor of this opinion. The Kutama , including the Zwawa, like all the other Berber tribes, participated in the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula . There are also several toponyms in Spain that derive their origins from Berber tribes settled in the region, such as Atzueva (At Zwawa), which can even mean that the Berber language was spoken there, because of
5576-799: The Hafsids of Tunis , confronted the Ottomans for the first time in the Battle of Issers, on the territory of the Aït Aicha tribe (province of Boumerdès ). The Kabyles inflicted heavy losses on the Ottomans and emerged victorious. The way for Algiers became open, they seized the city the following year and Sidi Ahmed Ulkadi became Master of Kuku and Algiers , and therefore controlled the Mitidja . Khayr ad-Din took refuge in Jijel after his defeat against
5740-578: The Jarrahids . Al-Aziz's attempts to capture the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo brought the Fatimids into conflict with the Byzantines, who considered the city their protectorate. Attempts to take Aleppo failed in 983, 992/3 and 994/5, and effective Fatimid power reached little past Tripoli in the north. In 987, the Fatimid suzerainty was recognized by the Ya'furids in Yemen, but Fatimid attempts to induce
5904-524: The Kabyle "th" with "z". During the time of the Regency of Algiers , the Kabyles were considered such excellent infantrymen that the name "Zwawi" became synonymous with "infantryman". The various factions of the Titteri tribes provided a certain number of infantrymen who at times guarded Algiers and especially the surrounding bordjs (plural of fortress). They were only paid during active service. It
6068-404: The Kabyles and the Ottomans was not always good. The relationship between Sidi Ahmed Ulkadi and the Barberossa brothers ( Aruj and Khayr ad-Din ) deteriorated because of the assassination of Salim at-Tumi, leader of the Thaaliba who controlled Algiers , by the Barberossa brothers in 1516 for their own interest. Perhaps it is for this reason that Sidi Ahmed Ulkadi had abandoned Aruj Barbarossa
6232-418: The Kabyles , and he had captured Bona , Collo and Constantine and received the allegiance of many tribes in the region, although he failed to liberate all of Algeria. After five or even seven years, but more likely five, Sidi Ahmed Ulkadi was assassinated, and Khayr ad-Din had recaptured Algiers . The history of the Kingdom of Kuku did not end there, although the kingdom was weakened. Sidi Ahmed el-Kadi
6396-407: The Kingdom of Tlemcen . One of his sons, Abu Abdulrahman Ya'qub, fled, was arrested and died shortly thereafter. After this event, a butcher from the Sultan's kitchen, who looked a lot like Abu Abdulrahman Yacoub, went to the Aït Iraten. When he reached the tribe's territory, Chimsi, a woman of the noble family of the Abd al-Samed, hastened to grant him protection and urged the whole tribe to recognize
6560-411: The Kutama , and the Zwawa, played a fundamental role in the creation of the Fatimid Caliphate by constituting the Army of the empire that had conquered most of the Maghreb , Sicily , Egypt , the Levant , and the Hejaz . The Zwawa participated in several battles for the Fatimid Caliphate , alongside their neighbors and blood brothers, notably in the siege of the fortress of Kiana (in the vicinity of
6724-437: The Levant , the Hejaz , Yemen, and Multan . The Fatimids' claimed pedigree of descent from Fatima and Ali was central to their legitimacy as the legitimate imams in an unbroken, divinely ordained line from Ali onwards. Their initial obscurity, and the publication of conflicting and incorrect genealogies by the first Fatimid caliph, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah (known by the diminutive Ubayd Allah by his detractors), cast doubt on
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6888-409: The Marinids , Zenata from the same branch as the Zayyanids (Beni Wasin), and they controlled Al-Maghrib al-Aqsa ("The extreme Maghreb", i.e. Morocco ), and had Fez as their capital. The Zwawa were part of the territory controlled by the government of Bejaia , and therefore of the Hafsid Sultanate . Ibn Khaldun , who was the only historian of the Middle Ages to give important information about
7052-451: The Qalaa of the Beni Hammad ) against Abu Yazid , in which the Fatimids succeeded in taking the fortress and defeating the Zenati Kharijites and Nekkarites . In the year 972, the Zwawa came under the control of the Zirids , Sanhaja Berbers whose ancestor was Ziri Ibn Menad al-Sanhaji , who ruled over "Al-Maghrib al-Awsat" (central Maghreb, modern Algeria ) and Ifriqya , also called "Al-Maghrib al-Adna" ("he closest Maghreb" to
7216-404: The Taifa of Alpuente . 3 of the 47 clan toponyms identified in the Balearic Islands , which were conquered by Muslims in the 10th century, 12th century and 13th centuries, refer to tribes belonging to the Zwawa, these three toponyms are : Beniatron, which is a variant of the name of the Aït Betrun confederation. Ibn Khaldun had mentioned the Aït Betrun in the same form. The second toponym
7380-404: The caïdat de Sebaou and built a bordj (fortress) of the same name, halfway between Tizi Ouzou and bordj Menaïel , in 1720–21, then four years later, bordj-Boghni among the Guechtoula. Ali Khodja had defeated the Iboukhtouchen and their allies in Draâ Ben Khedda and among the Aït Frawsen. The caïdat du Sebaou included the Aït Khalfun, the Iflissen Umellil, the Beni Thur, the city of Dellys ,
7544-460: The independence of Algeria , some Kabyle activists tried to revive the Libyco-Berber script, which is still in use by the Tuareg . Attempts were made to modernize the writing system by modifying the shape of the letters and by adding vowels. This new version of Tifinagh has been called Neo-Tifinagh and has been adopted as the official script for Berber languages in Morocco . However, a majority of Berber activists (both in Morocco and Algeria) prefer
7708-441: The preterite (past), intensive aorist (present perfect, present continuous, past continuous) and the future (ad+aorist). Unlike other Berber languages, the aorist alone is rarely used in Kabyle (in the other languages it is used to express the present). Verbs are conjugated for person by adding affixes. These suffixes are static and identical for all tenses (only the theme changes). The epenthetic vowel e may be inserted between
7872-414: The regnal title of al-imam al-mahdi bi'llah , 'the imam rightly guided by God'. The first crisis of the new regime occurred quickly. Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i and his brother demanded proof of Abdallah being the mahdi , or resented the limitations on their authority placed by the new ruler. Al-Mahdi Billah was able to eliminate them in 911, but this led to a Kutama revolt, led by a child mahdi as
8036-449: The Ait Betrun (Ait Yenni, At Wasif , Ait Budrar , Ait Bu Akkash), and the Ait Mengellet ( Ait Mengellet proper , Ait Aqbil , Ait Attaf , Ait Bu Yusef ), and used as pars pro toto by the Kabyles of Lesser Kabylia to refer to Greater Kabylia. They were named after the mountain they occupy, the Agawa mountain, the most densely populated, in the north of Djurdjura . Kabyles do not refer to themselves in their language as Zwawa, and
8200-399: The Ait Bu Yusef, who were mentioned separately from the Aït Mengellat, while they are part of the latter. However, some tribes considered as Zwawa, in the less restricted sense, were not mentioned here, such as the Aït Yahya , the Illilten and the Aït Khelili . Here is what Ibn Khaldun said about the Zwawa: "The territory of the Zwawa is located in the province of Bejaia and separates
8364-483: The Algerian army, mainly as infantry. In 1817 the freshly elected Dey of Algiers, Ali Khodja signed an alliance with the Zwawas, and elevated them to high positions, including the personal guard of the Dey. He defeated a Turkish Janissary rebellion with their help. This normalized the relationship between the Zwawas and the Dey. Several Zwawa tribesmen, were also allowed into the Odjak of Algiers , serving as regular infantry. By 1828 about 2,000 Algerian men, mainly from
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#17327647339968528-545: The Algerian population speaks Kabyle. The diaspora population has been estimated at one million. Kabyle is one of the Berber languages , a family within the Afroasiatic languages . It is believed to have broken off very early from Proto-Berber , although after the Zenaga language did so. Kabyle Berber is native to Kabylia . It is present in seven Algerian districts. Approximately one-third of Algerians are Berber-speakers, clustered mostly near Algiers , in Kabylian and Shawi, but with some communities related to Kabyle in
8692-436: The Andalusian genealogist Ibn Hazm , the Zwawa are a branch of the great Berber tribe of the Kutama ( Ucutamanii of antiquity), which itself is a branch of the Berber group of Baranis (also called Branes), like the Adjisa, the Masmuda , and the Sanhaja . Ibn Khaldun agrees with Ibn Hazm . The proximity of the Zwawa territory to that of the Kutama , and their cooperation with them to support Ubayd-Allah , founder of
8856-562: The Aït Frawsen, and in 1610 when they had reached their capital, Kuku. Amar had been replaced by his brother, Mohammed. Amar's wife, who was pregnant, took refuge with her parents' family, the Hafsid family in Tunis , and gave birth to a boy, Ahmed. Ahmed was nicknamed "Boukhtouch", meaning the man with the javelin, and his full name was Sidi Ahmed et-Tunsi. In the 1630s, Sidi Ahmed returned to Kabylia with Hafsid troops from Tunis , then avenged his father's death, and took control of Great Kabylia . Sidi Ahmed had left Kuku, and returned to
9020-423: The Aït Irdjen, the Agwacha, the Aït Umalu and the Aït Ussammer) and the Zwawa proper, that is to say the Aït Betroun ( Aït Yenni , Aït Wasif , Aït Boudrar , the Aït Bou-Akkach, and the Aït Oubelkacem) and the Aït Mengellat (the Aït Mengellat proper, the Aqbil , the Aït Bou-Yousef , and the Aït Attaf ), remained rebellious and were completely independent; they themselves appointed their leaders and paid no taxes to
9184-411: The Aït Mengellat; Omar Ibn 'Ali from the Aït Melikesh ; Abu el-'Abbas from the Aït Ghubri, and many other scholars from various Zwawian tribes. The French historian, Robert Brunschvig (1901 - 1990), had said in his book, La Berbérie Orientale sous les Hafsides , volume 1, that the nisbas formed on Meshedalla , Melikesh , Mengellat, Ghubri(n) are numerous in the texts from the Hafsid period. After
9348-445: The Berber stock of al-Abter , are the children of Semgan, son of Yahya (or Yedder), son of Dari, son of Zeddjik (or Zahhik), son of Madghis al-Abter . Of all the Berber tribes, their closest relatives are the Zenata , since Djana, the ancestor of this people, was Semgan's brother and Yahya's (Yedder's) son. It is for this reason that the Zwawa and the Zwagha consider themselves related to the Zenata by blood." However, according to
9512-414: The Christian invaders, especially in the attempt to retake Béjaïa in 1512, where the Kabyles numbered 20,000 in the battlefield, but failed to retake the city. In 1555, there will be a new attempt, in which a large force of the Zwawa had participated to retake the city in the capture of Bejaia , which ultimately ended in success, and the Spanish were driven out of the city. However, the relationship between
9676-407: The East, modern day Tunisia ), in the name of the Fatimids after their departure for Cairo . After the split of the Zirid dynasty into two branches in the beginning of the 11st century, the Badicids (descendants of Badis , son of al-Mansur , son of Buluggin , son of Ziri ) reigned over Ifriqya from Kairouan , and the Hammadites (descendants of Hammad , son of Buluggin ) who reigned over
9840-407: The Fatimid Caliphate in 909. From there, the Fatimid imam–caliphs extended their rule over most of the Maghreb as well as Sicily , before conquering Egypt in 969. Founding Cairo as their new capital, for the next two centuries, the Fatimids would be based in Egypt and identified with the country. At their height, the Fatimids claimed control or suzerainty over much of North Africa, Sicily, Egypt,
10004-405: The Fatimid army under Jawhar arrived in Egypt in summer 969, it faced little organized resistance. Jawhar entered the Egyptian capital, Fustat , in July 969, and claimed the country for his master. Immediately he began establishing a new capital city near Fustat, which came to be known as al-Qahira al-Mu'izziyya ('the Victorious One of al-Mu'izz'), modern Cairo . Jawhar governed Egypt for
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#173276473399610168-422: The Isma'ili regime of the Fatimids. Given the semi-divine status they claimed as the rightful imams of Islam, the Fatimids' ambitions were not limited to Ifriqiya. The Fatimid caliphs aimed to overthrow not only the rival Muslim monarchs—the Abbasids of Baghdad and the Umayyads of Cordoba —but also the Byzantine Empire , claiming a divine right to universal sovereignty. Fatimid power quickly expanded across
10332-420: The Latin script and see the Tifinagh as a hindrance to literacy in Berber. Kabyle literature continues to be written in Latin script. The use of Tifinagh is limited to logos . Mouloud Mammeri codified a new orthography for the Kabyle language which avoided using French orthography. His script has been adopted by all Berber linguists, the INALCO , and the Algerian HCA. It uses diacritics and two letters from
10496-413: The Ottomans. Thomas Shaw , a British traveller, had lived twelve years in the Regency of Algiers , from 1720 until 1732. Thomas Shaw mentioned the Zwawa as the most numerous and wealthy of the Berbers . They lived in Djurdjura , which is the highest mountain in Barbary . It is, from one end to the other, a chain of craggy rocks which serve as asylum for various Berber tribes, and preserve them from
10660-406: The Sultan with a deputation made up of some of her sons and several notables of her tribe. The Marinid monarch, Abu al-Hassan Ibn Uthman, gave her the most honorable welcome, and having showered her with gifts and those who had accompanied her. The Abd al-Samed family still retained command of the tribe. During the Almohad period, and especially Hafsid, there were many mentions of great scholars from
10824-410: The Umayyads as usurpers and called for the establishment of a regime led by a member of the ahl al-bayt , the family of Muhammad. The Abbasids , who claimed descent from Muhammad's paternal uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and thus claimed membership of the wider family, profited from this during their rise to power against the Umayyads; but their claim was rejected by the Shia , who insisted on
10988-420: The Umayyads of Cordoba. In an attempt to supplant the Abbasids, al-Mahdi's son and heir, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, led campaigns eastward to capture Egypt in 914 and 919 . Both endeavours failed, leaving only the Cyrenaica in Fatimid hands. Between 916 and 921, al-Mahdi built a new residence, the fortified palace city of Mahdiyya , on a rocky promontory on the Ifriqiyan coast. When Al-Mahdi died in 934, he
11152-401: The Wad Sahel ( Soummam ), the Beni Koufi of the Guechtoula, and finally, the Mesheddala , neighbors of the Aït Betrun. The Beni Koufi belong to the Guechtoula, but apparently, they were mentioned separately in the list. Here are the tribes of the second list cited by Ibn Khaldun : "Today, the most prominent Zwawa tribes are the Beni Idjer, the Beni Mengellet, the Beni Itrun (Beni Betrun),
11316-425: The Zeglawa and the Beni Merana. Some people say, and perhaps rightly, that the Melikech belong to the race of the Sanhaja ." In this list, most of the mentioned tribes are not known to anyone, they probably disappeared or were absorbed by other tribes due to various reasons, including civil wars, as was the case with two tribes, the Isemmadien who once belonged to the Aït Iraten , and the Aït U-Belqasem tribe, which
11480-578: The Zwawa tribes served as Janissairies. In 1830 during the Invasion of Algiers by France, many Algerian troops were of Zwawa origins. Their heavy resistance and fighting capability during the Battle of Staouéli impressed the French, whom created a unit called the Zouaves to recruit Zwawas into the French army. As these recruitment campaigns were rather unsuccessful, they rebranded the unit. Kabyle language Kabyle ( / k ə ˈ b aɪ l / ) or Kabylian ( / k ə ˈ b ɪ l i ən / ; native name: Taqbaylit [θɐqβæjlɪθ] )
11644-407: The Zwawa, lived in this period, and precisely in the 14th century. He mentioned the Zwawa as a numerous Berber people, and he gave a list of the tribes belonging to the Zwawa: "According to Berber genealogists, the Zwawa are divided into several branches such as the Medjesta, the Melikesh , the Beni Koufi, the Mesheddala , the Beni Zericof, the Beni Guzit, the Keresfina, the Uzeldja, the Mudja,
11808-676: The Zwawa, such as Abu Zakariya Yahya ez-Zwawi , better known under the name of Ibn Mu'ṭi, philologist from the Hesnawa tribe, confederation of the Ait Aissi, author of the first versified grammatical work, the Alfiyya . He also wrote several works on various subjects; Abu Ali Nacer ed-Din ez-Zwawi, from the Meshedalla , great doctor of Bejaia; Amrane al-Medhedalli, also from the Meshedalla , professor of law; Abu r-Ruḥ 'Isa al-Mengellati, from
11972-593: The Zwawas served as highly trained mercenaries in the armies of Algiers. Zwawas were always a part of the Algerian army. Even in cases where some tribes were in rebellion, many other ones were still serving under the Dey of Algiers. Because of this, the relationship between the Deylikal government in Algiers, and the Zwawas was very much complicated. During the late 18th and 19th century the Zwawas played an important role in
12136-522: The accuracy of these claims, which were usually rejected by contemporary Sunni and Twelver Shi'a alike, who considered them impostors and usurpers. As a result, many sources into the 20th century referred to the Fatimids by the derogatory name Ubaydids. Fatimid expansion into the Levant, and the ideological challenge that the ascendancy of Shi'a regimes represented, resulted in the Sunnis rallying around
12300-694: The administration as a tribe subject to tax ( kharadj )." In the 14th century, the Marinid Berbers launched an expedition into the territory of the Abdelwadids of Tlemcen and the Hafsids of Tunis with the aim of unifying the Maghreb, as their predecessors, the Almohads, did. In the year 1338 (or 1339), the 10th Marinid Sultan, Abu al-Hassan , had camped with his army in Mitidja , not far from Algiers , after his successful military campaign against
12464-466: The affix and the verb. Verbs are always marked for subject and may also inflect for person of direct and indirect object. Examples: Kabyle is a satellite-framed based language, Kabyle verbs use two particles to show the path of motion: Examples: Kabyle usually expresses negation in two parts, with the particle ur attached to the verb, and one or more negative words that modify the verb or one of its arguments . For example, simple verbal negation
12628-579: The agreement signed with the Turks is not surprising, because the Bel-K'adhi (Aït Ulkadi), who refused to pay this tax, only followed and respect the traditions of their country." The Spanish historian, Diego de Haëdo, in his work, History of the Kings of Algiers, which was published in 1612, wrote about the Zwawa, which he called "Azuagos" or "Mores de Kouko", and he also wrote about the Kingdom of Kuku , whose king
12792-658: The appointed caïds (chiefs) were all foreign to the tribe. The Guechtula confederation was forced to pay taxes. The Aït Sedqa (except the Aït Ahmed; Awqdal), part of the Aït Abdelmumen (Aït Aissi confederation) and the south of the Maatka tribe were part of it after their defeat against the Algerines years later. In 1696, Great Kabylia had been divided into two çofs (parties) during a succession conflict between Ali,
12956-507: The attention of the authorities, and he moved on to the small town of Salamiyah on the western edge of the Syrian Desert . There he settled as a merchant from Basra, and had two sons, Ahmad and Ibrahim. When Abdallah died c. 827/8 , Ahmad succeeded his father as the head of the Isma'ili movement, and was in turn succeeded by his younger son, Muhammad, known as Abu'l-Shalaghlagh. In later Fatimid doctrine, Abdallah al-Akbar
13120-485: The authority of the pretender and to assist him against the sultan. So, the latter offered considerable sums to the sons of Chimsi and to the people of the tribe, in order to have the pretender delivered. Chimsi initially rejected this proposal, but having subsequently discovered that she had supported an impostor, she withdrew her protection and sent him back to the country occupied by the Arabs . Then she went to appear before
13284-722: The capture of Bejaia by the Spanish in the year 1510, a certain Sidi Ahmed U-Lqadi, descendant of the judge of Bejaia, Abu el-'Abbas el-Ghubrini, took refuge in the village of his ancestors, Awrir (commune of Ifigha ) of the Aït Ghubri tribe, and will found a state which will include Great Kabylia, which is the Kingdom of Kuku, whose capital was his village of origin, then Koukou among the Aït Yahya in 1515, because of its strategic position and its geopolitical advantages that no other village had. Sidi Ahmed or el-Kadi came from
13448-454: The case of Algeria". Nevertheless, after four decades of pacific struggle, riots, strikes, and social mobilization, including the Berber spring (1980, riots and strikes in the Kabylie region of Tizi Ouzou, Bouira and Bejaïa, as well as Algiers) and the Black Spring in 2001, President Bouteflika and his government recognized Amazigh (Berber) as a "national language" for the second time through
13612-630: The central Maghreb from the Kaala des Beni Hammad , then Bejaia . The Zwawa were forced to make their submission, and the city of Bejaia was built on their territory. The Zwawa often rebelled against the Hammadids , because they were reassured and had nothing to fear in their mountains. Bejaia was conquered by the Masmudi and Zenati Almohad Berbers , who succeeded in unifying the Maghreb under
13776-688: The community was split between the two factions, but in Bahrayn, the local da'i s split off from Salamiyah and established an independent Qarmatian state that lasted into the 1070s. On the other hand, Zakarawayh and his loyalists now began a series of anti-Abbasid uprisings in Iraq and Syria in 902–907, with the support of the Bedouin tribes. Calling themselves the Fatimiyyun , the uprisings enjoyed some ephemeral success, but were eventually suppressed by
13940-792: The conclusion of peace with Byzantium in 1001, as well as the great tribal revolts of Abu Rukwa in Cyrenaica in 1005, and of Mufarrij ibn Daghfal in Palestine in 1012–13. In the north, the Uqaylids of Mosul briefly acknowledged Fatimid suzerainty in 1010, and in 1015, Aleppo did the same, with Fatimid troops entering the city and imposing direct control in 1017. Relations with the Zirids, who quickly had begun distancing themselves from Cairo's authority, became more strained under al-Hakim due to disputes over Cyrenaica and Tripoli , and in 1016/7,
14104-577: The country of the Kutama from that of the Sanhaja . They live in the midst of precipices formed by mountains so high that the view is dazzled, and so wooded that a traveler cannot find his way there. This is how the Beni Ghubrin inhabit the Ziri, a mountain also called Djebel ez-Zan, because of the large quantity of zean oaks with which it is covered, and the Beni Frawen and the Beni Iraten occupy
14268-462: The diminutive form Ubayd Allah for al-Mahdi's name, commonly used in Sunni sources with an apparently pejorative intent. Medieval anti-Fatimid polemicists, starting with Ibn Rizam and Akhu Muhsin , were keen to discredit Isma'ilism as an antinomian heresy and generally considered Fatimid claims to Alid descent fraudulent. Instead, they put forth a counter claim that al-Mahdi descended from Abdallah,
14432-753: The domination of the Regency of Algiers . Thomas Shaw had cited the following Zwawi tribes (in order): the Boghni (confederation of Guechtula), the Guechtula, the Aït Kufi (confederation of Guechtula), the Aït Betrun, then the Aït Mengellat and the Aït Frawsen, and finally, the Aït Ghubri. He had cited Kuku as the most important of the Kabyle villages. In the middle of the 18th century, the caïd of Sebaou, Mohammed Ben Ali, nicknamed "ed-Debbah" (meaning
14596-524: The dynasty in 1171, after the death of Caliph al-Adid . The remaining members of the dynasty and their offspring were placed under house arrest in Cairo until their deaths; the last members of the dynasty died in the mid-13th century. Since the death of Caliph Ali ( r. 656–661 ) in 661, which led to the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate , a part of the Muslim community rejected
14760-499: The earlier Shi'a figure. Another suggestion, by Abbas Hamdani and F. de Blois, is that the officially published genealogies represent a compromise between two different lines of descent from Ja'far al-Sadiq, one from Isma'il and another (per al-Mahdi's letter to the Yemenis) from Abdallah al-Aftah. Other scholars, such as Halm, remain skeptical, while Omert Schrier and Michael Brett dismiss the Fatimid claims of Alid descent entirely as
14924-401: The early Isma'ili da'wa divided into two factions: those who accepted Abdallah's claims, and continued to follow him, and became the Isma'ilis proper, and those who rejected them and continued to believe in the return of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as mahdi , who became known as the Qarmatians (although anti-Fatimid sources also used the label for the Fatimids themselves). In Iraq and Persia,
15088-513: The end of the world; indeed, these scholars argued that the imams' existence was an inevitable necessity. The sixth of these imams, Ja'far al-Sadiq , appointed ( nass ) his son Isma'il al-Mubarak as his successor, but Isma'il died before his father, and when al-Sadiq himself died in 765, the succession was left open. One faction of al-Sadiq's followers held that he had designated another son, Musa al-Kazim , as his heir. Others followed other sons, Muhammad al-Dibaj and Abd Allah al-Aftah —as
15252-531: The exclusive right of the descendants of Hasan ( d. 670 ) and Husayn ( d. 680 ), Ali's sons by Muhammad's daughter Fatima . A line of imams emerged from the offspring of Husayn, who did not openly lay claim to the caliphate, but were considered by their followers as the true representatives of God on earth. This doctrine was founded on the designation ( nass ) of Ali by Muhammad at Ghadir Khumm , and later pro-Fatimid scholars held that an unbroken chain of designated imams would follow until
15416-407: The existence of Maymun al-Qaddah, but later, Fatimid-era sources were forced to confront their opponents' claims about his person, and tried to reconcile the conflicting genealogies accordingly. Some sectarian Isma'ili—especially Druze —sources even claimed that during the period of concealment of the Isma'ili imams, the Isma'ili movement was actually led by the descendants of Maymun al-Qaddah, until
15580-469: The expected mahdi was not Muhammad ibn Isma'il, as commonly propagated, but Abdallah himself, and that Abdallah's ancestors, far from being simply the hujja s of the imams, were actually the imams themselves. In a letter to the Yemeni community, Abdallah claimed that 'Muhammad ibn Isma'il' was actually a cover name assumed by each incumbent imam, and denied any particular role of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as
15744-538: The expected mahdi who was to usher in the end times. These doctrinal innovations caused a major rift in the movement, as Hamdan denounced the leadership in Salamiyah, gathered the Iraqi da'i s and ordered them to cease the missionary effort. Shortly after this Hamdan "disappeared" from his headquarters, and Abdan was assassinated by Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh , who had remained loyal to Salamiyah. The schism left
15908-494: The extended Latin alphabet: Č č Ḍ ḍ Ɛ ɛ Ǧ ǧ Ɣ ɣ Ḥḥ Ṣ ṣ Ṭ ṭ Ẓ ẓ. Kabyle has two genders : masculine and feminine. As in most Berber languages , masculine nouns and adjectives generally start with a vowel ( a- , i- , u- ), while feminine nouns generally start with t- and end with a -t , e.g. a qcic 'boy' vs. t aqcic t 'girl'. Plurals generally are formed by replacing initial a- with i- , and either suffixing -en ("regular/external" plurals), changing vowels within
16072-530: The fellow Shi'a rulers of Iraq, the Buyids , to recognize their suzerainty, failed; the Buyids rejected the Fatimids' claims of Alid descent. Al-Aziz's reign saw also a transformation in the structure and nature of the Fatimid state: the Kutama, who had been the main pillar of the early Fatimid regime, were now complemented by Turkish military slaves ( ghilman ) as well as Black African slave soldiers, while under
16236-490: The first known ancestor of the Fatimid line, Abdallah al-Akbar , the great-grandfather of the first Fatimid caliph, initially claimed descent not from Ali at all, but from his brother Aqil ibn Abi Talib , and was accepted as such by the Aqilids of Basra. According to Brett, the line of descent claimed by the Fatimid between Ja'far al-Sadiq and al-Mahdi reflects "historical beliefs rather than historical figures, for which there
16400-460: The first recognition of Amazigh as a national language in November 1996. President Bouteflika has frequently stated that "Amazigh (the Berber language) will never be an official language, and if it has to be a national language, it must be submitted to a referendum". In 2005, President Bouteflika, stated that "there is no country in the world with two official languages" and "this will never be
16564-410: The governance of provinces or the command of armies as in other medieval states, which might result in an independent power base that could threaten the orderly father-to-son succession of the imamate and caliphate. The sole exception was the designated successor, such as al-Qa'im, al-Mansur and Abdallah ibn al-Mu'izz, and that only in the early decades of the dynasty; as the caliphs increasingly ascended
16728-669: The great Caliph, Abd al-Mumin Ibn Ali , in 1159. During the period of weakness of the Almohad Caliphate in the 13th century, three dynasties took over power: the Hafsids of the Masmuda tribe who controlled Ifriqya , from Tripoli to Bejaia , and their capital was Tunis ; the Zayyanids , also called "Abdalwadids" (or "Beni Abdelwad"), Zenata who controlled the central Maghreb and had Tlemcen as their capital; finally,
16892-428: The guidance of Ya'qub ibn Killis , the Fatimid administration became organized and regularized. Al-Aziz died in 996, while preparing a major campaign against the Byzantines and Hamdanids. He was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, al-Hakim ( r. 996–1021 ). Initially under the tutelage of powerful officials, al-Hakim managed to seize the reins of power for himself in 1000. The early years of his reign saw
17056-527: The hidden imams assumed various aliases for safety. Thus the pro-Isma'ili Prince Peter Hagop Mamour, in his 1934 apologetic work Polemics on the Origin of the Fatimi Caliphs , lists no fewer than fifty variations of the line of the four hidden imams between Isma'il ibn Ja'far and al-Mahdi, claiming that the various names represent pseudonyms. Early Isma'ili sources tend to be silent on the matter, from
17220-468: The historical Maymun al-Qaddah is now known to have been a disciple of Muhammad al-Baqir (recognized by both Isma'ilis and Twelvers as an imam), and both he and his son Abdallah hailed from the Hejaz . For reasons of chronology alone, Ibn Rizam's version is thus proven to be untenable. Access to more sources has furthermore led to the partial reconciliation of the conflicting accounts by positing that some of
17384-587: The imam's existence, the hujja ( lit. ' seal ' ). The first known hujja was Abdallah al-Akbar, a wealthy merchant from Askar Mukram , in what is now southwestern Iran . Apart from improbable stories circulated by later anti-Isma'ili polemicists, his exact origin is unknown. His teachings led to his being forced to flee his native city to escape persecution by the Abbasid authorities, and seek refuge in Basra . Once again, his teachings attracted
17548-481: The infidels. In practice, relations were often more pragmatic, and warfare alternated with periods of truce. From 948 on, a series of hereditary governors, the Kalbid dynasty , governed Sicily on the Fatimids' behalf. The Fatimids also expanded west to the rest of the Maghreb, where Fez and Sijilmasa were captured in 920–921, although these conquests were difficult to hold, and brought the Fatimids into conflict with
17712-459: The latter died soon after, his followers went over to Musa's camp—or even refused to believe that al-Sadiq had died, and expected his return as a messiah . Musa's adherents, who constituted the majority of al-Sadiq's followers, followed his line down to a twelfth imam who supposedly vanished in 874. Adherents of this line are known as the Twelvers . Another branch believed that Ja'far al-Sadiq
17876-456: The legitimate heir to the throne, and his brother, Ourkho. Both were sons of Sidi Ahmed el-Tunsi. Here are the allegiances of the Kabyle tribes: Ourkho disappeared from history, and his brother, Ali, emerged victorious. At the beginning of the 18th century, a certain caïd, Ali Khodja, asserted his authority over the Amrawa, a powerful Kabyle tribe which would become a Makhzen tribe. He founded
18040-620: The meantime, in Ifriqiya, the da'i Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i had managed to convert the Berber tribe of the Kutama to the Isma'ili cause. From 902 on, the Kutama had gradually conquered the region from its Abbasid clients, the Aghlabids . On 25 March 909, Abu Abdallah and his Kutama entered the Aghlabid palace city of Raqqada in triumph. The da'i proclaimed a Shi'a regime, but kept
18204-512: The modern scholar Farhad Daftary calls it, influenced Sunni historiographers throughout the following centuries, and became official doctrine with the Baghdad Manifesto of 1011. Due to the paucity of actual Isma'ili material until Isma'ili sources started to become available and undergo scholarly examination during the 20th century, the Sunni version was adopted even by some early modern Orientalists . Early Isma'ili sources ignore
18368-483: The modified noun. Example : « Axxam-nneɣ. » – "Our house." (House-our) Fatimid dynasty The Fatimid dynasty ( Arabic : الفاطميون , romanized : al-Fāṭimiyyūn ) was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Fatimid Caliphate , between 909 and 1171 CE. Descended from Fatima and Ali , and adhering to Isma'ili Shi'ism , they held the Isma'ili imamate , and were regarded as
18532-501: The movement remained hidden even from the senior missionaries, however, and a certain Fayruz functioned as chief missionary ( da'i al-du'at ) and 'gateway' ( bab ) to the hidden leader. In about 899, Abdallah ibn al-Husayn assumed the leadership of the da'wa . Soon, he began making alterations to the doctrine, which worried Hamdan Qarmat. Abdan went to Salamiyah to investigate the matter, and learned that Abdallah claimed that
18696-559: The name of his master secret as yet, only using the title hujjat Allah , 'God's proof'; and soon set out westward, at the head of a large army, to bring his imam to Ifriqiya. The Kutama army destroyed the Kharijite Rustamid emirate on its way, and arrived at Sijilmasa in August 909. There Abdallah was acclaimed caliph by the troops. On 4 January 910, Abdallah entered Raqqada, where he publicly proclaimed himself caliph with
18860-518: The natives limit the domination of the Lord of Kuku to the Wad Boubehir and Wad of the Amrawa. His influence undoubtedly extended much further; but, despite his musketeers and his cavalry, he was never master the mountain of Gawawa." There is also no evidence that the Aït Ulqadi levied taxes on the central tribes of Djurdjura , such as the Aït Betrun, the Aït Iraten, and the Aït Mengellat, who were
19024-419: The network of agents to the area round Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to Yemen ( Ibn Hawshab , 882) and thence India (884), Bahrayn ( Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi , 899), Persia , and Ifriqiya ( Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i , 893). The real leadership of the movement remained hidden at Salamiyah, and only the chief da'i s of each region, such as Hamdan Qarmat, knew and corresponded with it. The true head of
19188-707: The new Zirid emir, al-Mu'izz ibn Badis , launched a pogrom against the remaining Isma'ilis in Ifriqiya. From 1015 on, the Fatimid Caliphate, and the Isma'ili community, were confronted by a rise in sectarianism: a series of preachers who propagated extremist versions of Isma'ilism appeared, preaching the imminence of the end times, the divinity of al-Hakim, and the abolition of the Sharia . The Fatimid religious establishment opposed such antinomian views, but al-Hakim seems to have tolerated, if not encouraged them. Although al-Hakim never officially espoused their views,
19352-571: The next four years as viceroy of al-Mu'izz, restoring the country's finances. It was not until August 972 that al-Mu'izz left Ifriqiya, appointing the Berber Buluggin ibn Ziri as his viceroy there. In June 973, the Fatimid court arrived in Egypt and al-Mu'izz took up residence in Cairo. In the meantime, immediately after the conquest if Egypt Jawhar had tried to extend Fatimid rule into Syria . The first Fatimid invasion failed largely due to
19516-628: The number of Kabyle speakers in Algeria at between 2.5 to 3 million in 2015. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman's 2018 estimate is more than 5 million Kabyle speakers in Kabylie. Linguist Asya Pereltsvaig gives 5.6 million Kabyle speakers worldwide in 2020, mostly in Algeria. In 2021, Amina Mettouchi, professor of Berber linguistics, estimated the number of speakers at five million worldwide and more than three million in Algeria. In 2022, according to Ethnologue there were 7.5 million speakers worldwide, including 6.4 million in Algeria. Many identify two dialects: Greater Kabylie (west) and Lesser Kabylie (east), but
19680-465: The one located between Bejaia and Dellys . This last mountain is one of their most difficult retreats to tackle and the easiest to defend; from there they brave the power of the government (of Bejaia), and they pay tax only when it suits them. they stand on this lofty peak and challenge the forces of the Sultan, although they still recognize its authority. Their name is even registered in the registers of
19844-467: The opposition of the Qarmatians of Bahrayn, who did not hesitate to align themselves with the Abbasid caliph and denounce al-Mu'izz in public. The Qarmatian leader al-Hasan al-A'sam led two invasions of Egypt in 971 and again, despite al-Mu'izz's efforts to win him over, in 974. Both invasions were beaten back at the gates of Cairo, forcing the Qarmatians to retreat to Bahrayn, and opening the path for
20008-408: The possession of properties in the capital, Cairo, and its environs, as well as commerce. The caliph himself was not above such enrichment, and owned extensive parts of Cairo; according to the mid-11th traveller Nasir Khusraw , all 20,000 shops in the city, as well as its caravanserais and baths, and 8,000 other buildings that paid a monthly rent to the caliph's private purse ( diwan al-khass ) or
20172-407: The posts, thereby arousing the hostility of the Fatimid elites. As a result of a conspiracy among the latter, al-Hakim was murdered during one of his night rides outside Cairo, and his corpse disposed of, never to be found. Members of the dynasty were carefully kept out of public affairs; even princes and princesses of the blood did not have a special position at court, let alone being entrusted with
20336-549: The preservation of the Berber prefix for the parentage "Ath" instead of the Arabic "Beni". There are other toponyms too, such as Azuébar (Assuévar in Catalan ), which comes from Zwawa. Without forgetting Algatocin (Atouch, confederation of Aït Waguenun) and Benicàssim, which may have been an extinct fraction of the Zwawa. These Beni Qasim even founded a taifa after the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba ,
20500-583: The reality is more complex than that, Kabyle dialects constitute a dialect continuum that can be divided into four main dialects (from west to east): With the exception of the far-eastern dialect, much of the vocabulary of Kabyle is common across its dialects, though some lexical differences exist, e.g. the word dream in English (from west to east): bargu, argu, argu, bureg. Almost all Berber speakers are multilingual, in Arabic and often also in French. Kabyle
20664-411: The rebels laid siege to Mahdiyya itself. Al-Qa'im died during the siege, and was succeeded by his son, Abu Tahir Isma'il ( r. 946–953 ). The new caliph concealed his father's death, took to the field, and in a series of battles defeated the rebel armies and captured Abu Yazid in August 947. The victory over the rebel leader, who had almost destroyed the Fatimid state and was symbolically called
20828-472: The region and extending Fatimid rule to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. After these successes, al-Mu'izz once again turned to the abandoned project of the conquest of Egypt. Meticulous military and political preparations were undertaken, and the agents of the Isma'ili da'wa engaged to promote the Fatimid cause in Egypt and suborn officials of the weakened Ikhshidid regime. As a result, when
20992-592: The region of Kabylia by the sixth century, when Latin became the official and administrative language in North Africa, as in the rest of the former Roman empire. Kabyle became a mostly spoken language after the Arabic conquest of North Africa , and while many examples of the Kabyle language written in a form of Berber-Arabic script survive, the number of Kabyle texts was relatively much smaller than those written in other Berber languages such as Shilha , Mozabite , and Nafusi . The first French–Kabyle dictionary
21156-468: The reign of Harun al-Rashid ( r. 786–809 ), the history of the early Isma'ili movement becomes obscure. Official Fatimid doctrine claimed an uninterrupted line of succession between the first Fatimid caliph, Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah ( r. 909–934 ), and Ali and Fatima, via Muhammad ibn Isma'il. This descent was both accepted and challenged already in the Middle Ages, and remains
21320-406: The reign of al-Amir, the caliph's single full brother ( shaqiq ), Ja'far, is accorded first place in the hierarchy, while their half-brothers from other women are listed much lower, after the caliph's own concubines, followed by the "sons and daughters of cousins". For similar reasons, Fatimid princesses were usually not wed outside the family, and the caliphs themselves did not usually engage in
21484-408: The restoration of the true line with the Fatimid caliphs. Later Tayyibi Isma'ili authors also used the figures of Maymun al-Qaddah and his son Abdallah to argue for the legality of there being a substitute or representative of the imam, whenever the latter was underage. A further controversy that emerged already in medieval times is whether the second Fatimid caliph, Muhammad al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah ,
21648-457: The result of assimilations (these accents are generally divided into western and eastern Kabyle). Some of these assimilations are present among all Kabyle "dialects" and some not. These assimilations are not noted in writing, such as: Gemination affects the quality of certain consonants, turning semivowels and fricatives into stops ; in particular, geminated ɣ becomes qq , geminated y becomes gg , and geminated w becomes bb . Kabyle
21812-440: The revolts instigated by Zakarawayh were suppressed, Abdallah moved to Tulunid Egypt in early 904. As the Abbasids recovered control of Egypt in the next year, the small party fled again. While his companions expected to head to Yemen, where the Isma'ili da'wa had enjoyed great success, Abdallah turned westward, and established himself at the oasis town of Sijilmasa , in what is now southwestern Morocco , in August 905. In
21976-541: The rightful leaders of the Muslim community. The line of Nizari Isma'ili imams , represented today by the Aga Khans , claims descent from a branch of the Fatimids. The Alavi Bohras , predominantly based in Vadodara , also claim descent from the Fatimids. The Fatimid dynasty emerged as the leaders of the clandestine early Isma'ili missionary movement ( da'wa ) in the ninth century CE, ostensibly acting on behalf of
22140-483: The sea to Sicily , which had been conquered by the Aghlabids from the Byzantines, but Fatimid rule was established there only after a series of revolts by the local Muslims, who at times declared for the Abbasids, were suppressed. Sicily was also important as a battleground against the Byzantines, which among other things allowed the Fatimids to present themselves as champions of Islam, engaged in holy war against
22304-644: The slaughterer), was about to launch a campaign against the Aït Aïssi , the Ait Sedqa, and the Guechtula. Mohammed married the daughter of Si Ammar ou-Boukhetouch to conclude an alliance with his family and keep the tribes under their influence, like the Aït Iraten and the Aït Frawsen, neutral. In 1710, the Deylik of Algiers became De facto independent from the Sublime Porte . In the 17th-18th century
22468-430: The son of a certain Maymun al-Qaddah from Khuzistan , that al-Mahdi's real name was Sa'id, or that al-Mahdi's father was in reality a Jew (a common antisemitic trope among medieval Arab authors). While several medieval Sunni authors and contemporary potentates—including the impeccably Alid sharifs of Mecca and Medina —accepted or appeared to accept Fatimid claims at face value, this anti-Isma'ili 'black legend', as
22632-414: The still potent Abbasid army. Zakarawayh apparently moved without Abdallah's authorization or prior knowledge, and thus placed him in danger: the Abbasid authorities began a crackdown on the da'wa , and Zakarawayh's sons unwittingly revealed the location and identity of Abdallah to the Abbasids, who launched a man-hunt against him. Already in 902, Abdallah with his household left Salamiyah for Ramla . As
22796-441: The strongest of the Zwawa in numbers, both weapons and manpower. According to Pierre Boyer, the territory of Kuku included the tribes of maritime Kabylia , and also those of the Aït Iraten and the Zwawa proper (the Aït Betrun and the Aït Mengellat), but these last were rather allies than submitted tribes. It should not be forgotten that the Zwawa, in the less restrictive sense of the term, are various confederations and tribes, and not
22960-434: The succession for his own sons but failed, as the latter all died prematurely. During the late ninth century, millennialist expectations increased in the Muslim world, coinciding with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate during the decade-long Anarchy at Samarra , the rise of breakaway and autonomous regimes in the provinces, and the large-scale Zanj Rebellion , whose leader claimed Alid descent and proclaimed himself as
23124-405: The succession linking al-Mahdi with Ja'far al-Sadiq. According to Isma'ili doctrine, the imams that followed Muhammad ibn Isma'il were in concealment ( satr ), but early Isma'ili sources do not mention them, and even later, official Isma'ili genealogies diverge on the number, names and identities of these 'hidden imams' ( al-a'imma al-masturin ), a problem complicated by the Isma'ili claims that
23288-402: The teachings of men such as al-Darzi and Hamza ibn Ali resulted in the birth of the Druze faith. At the same time, al-Hakim made curious innovations in the succession, by splitting up his office in two: one to succeed the caliphate, i.e. the secular office, and one to succeed as imam, i.e. as leader of the Isma'ili community. Furthermore, he sidelined his own son and appointed two cousins to
23452-401: The throne as children, this practice was also dropped. This did not remove inter-family feuds, however, most notably in the sidelining of Nizar and the other sons of al-Mustansir at the accession of al-Musta'li, which was followed by repeated attempts by Nizar's descendants to raise a revolt and reclaim power. This led to differences in rank: a detailed list of court precedence from 1122, during
23616-400: The true religion, the religion of Adam , would be manifested without the need for symbols and other mediating devices. While the mahdi Muhammad ibn Isma'il remained hidden, however, he would need to be represented by agents, who would gather the faithful, spread the word ( da'wa , 'invitation, calling'), and prepare his return. The head of this secret network was the living proof of
23780-416: The unity of the Muslims, conquer Constantinople , ensure the final triumph of Islam and establish a reign of peace and justice. The Isma'ilis in particular believed that the mahdi would reveal the true, 'inner' ( batin ) meaning of religion, which was until then reserved for a few select initiates. The mahdi would abolish the 'outer' ( zahir ) forms and strictures of Islam, since henceforth
23944-490: The variant names in the genealogies were indeed cover names for the Isma'ili imams: thus Maymun ('the Fortunate One') is suggested as the sobriquet for Muhammad ibn Isma'il, especially since a source connects him with a sect known as the Maymuniyya. This explanation is also present in an epistle by the fourth Fatimid caliph, al-Mu'izz , in 965. This would make the claim of al-Mahdi's descent from an 'Abdallah ibn Maymun' actually correct, and lead hostile sources to confuse him with
24108-422: The village of his ancestors, Awrir NAït Ghubri, then moved to Tifilkut among the Illilten tribe. This marked the end of Kuku as a political capital. However, the ruling family remained the same, but under a different name: Aït Boukhtouch, or Iboukhtouchen. In the year 1659, the Algerine founded the caïdat (chiefdom) of bled Guechtula (or Boghni). The caïdat was under the authority of the Bey of Titteri, and
24272-405: The west ( Shenwa languages ), east and south of the country. The populations of Béjaïa (Bgayet), Bouïra (Tubirett) and Tizi Ouzou (Tizi Wezzu) provinces are in majority Kabyle-speaking. In addition, Kabyle is mainly spoken in the provinces of Boumerdès , and as well as in Bordj Bou Arréridj , Jijel , and in Algiers where it coexists with Algerian Arabic . Kabyle Berber is also spoken as
24436-499: The word ("broken/internal" plurals), or both. Examples: As in all Berber languages, Kabyle has two types of states or cases of the noun : free state and construct state (or 'annexed state'). The free state is morphologically unmarked. The construct state is derived either by changing initial /a-/ to /u-/, loss of initial vowel in some feminine nouns, addition of a semi-vowel word-initially, or in some cases no change occurs at all: As in Central Morocco Tamazight , construct state
24600-404: The year after, during the battle of Tlemcen , in which the Ottomans were defeated and Ziyyanid Sultan, Abu Hammou III , had been restored on the throne as a vassal of the Spanish Empire . The regency of Algiers had therefore lost its most important kabyle allies. After this event, war with Aruj 's brother, Kheireddine Barberossa , was inevitable. The following year, the Kabyles , supported by
24764-418: Was also said about them: "The Zwawa are in front for misery, behind for pay." The Zwawa are undoubtedly Berbers , but there are no longer two hypotheses about their tribal origin. The Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun reported that Berber genealogists themselves considered the Zwawa related to the Zenata by blood. In his book, History of the Berbers he said in volume 1: "The Zwawa and the Zwagha, tribes from
24928-452: Was an abjad , and is not yet completely deciphered today. Deciphered scripts are mostly funerary, following a simple formula of "X son of Y" (X u Y) which is still used to this day in the Kabyle language. Such writings have been found in Kabylie (also known as Kabylia) and continue to be discovered by archeologists. The Tifinagh script of the Tuaregs was a direct continuation of this earlier script. The Libyco-Berber alphabet disappeared in
25092-435: Was an excellent planner and organizer, and the state he inherited had regained internal stability, after the turmoils of Abu Yazid's revolt. His early reign saw successes against the Byzantines, where the last remaining Byzantine strongholds were extinguished with the Fall of Rometta in 965, as well as the reconquest of the western Maghreb by the Fatimid general Jawhar in 958–960, temporarily expelling Umayyad influence from
25256-530: Was cited as a powerful ruler. De Haëdo had said that the Zwawa were very numerous, that they only came and went back, buying weapons, roaming freely in Algiers , as if the city was theirs. In 1576, 1,000 Zwawa participated in the capture of Fez in Morocco as allies of the Regency of Algiers, in which they supported the future Saadian sultan, Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik , against his nephew, Muhammad al-Mutawakkil . The Zwawa were equipped with muskets, and they were noted to be good soldiers. Muhammad al-Mutawakkil
25420-441: Was compiled by a French ethnologist in the 18th century. It was written in Latin script with an orthography based on that of French . However, the Kabyle language really became a written language again in the beginning of the 19th century. Under French influence, Kabyle intellectuals began to use the Latin script . " Tamacahutt n wuccen " by Brahim Zellal was one of the first Kabyle books written using this alphabet. After
25584-465: Was defeated. In 1541, the Zouaoua supported Charles V in his Expedition to Algiers by sending 2000 men to his army. Hassan Pasha responded in 1542 by attacking and massacring the Zouaoua. In 1546, Amar had succeeded his father, el-Hussein, to the throne. Amar had reigned until his assassination in 1618, because of "tyranny" and his weakness against the Regency of Algiers who led two punitive expeditions, in 1607 in which they reached Jema'a n Saharij among
25748-452: Was followed by a seventh imam, who also had gone into hiding; hence this party is known as the Seveners. The exact identity of that seventh imam was disputed, but by the late ninth century had commonly been identified with Muhammad , son of Isma'il and grandson of al-Sadiq. From Muhammad's father, Isma'il, the sect receives its name of 'Isma'ili'. Neither Isma'il's nor Muhammad's lives are well known, and after Muhammad's reported death during
25912-446: Was part of the Aït Betrun confederation at least before the middle of the 18th century. This shows how erroneous the claim of common ancestry is. The claim of common ancestry is very difficult to accept everywhere else, is even less acceptable in Kabylia , where the tribe is a political federation which changes over time and at the will of the confederates. The only tribes that still exist in this first list are three: The Aït Melikech of
26076-456: Was presented as the eldest son of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, and his successor as imam, followed by Ahmad. While Muhammad Abu'l-Shalaghlagh was the head of the da'wa , however, the imamate passed to another son, al-Husayn (d. 881/2), and thence to al-Husayn's son, Abdallah or Sa'id, the future Caliph al-Mahdi, who was born in 873/4. Isma'ili texts suggest that Abu'l-Shalaghlagh was the guardian and tutor of al-Mahdi, but also that he tried to usurp
26240-479: Was replaced by his brother, el-Hussein, and Great Kabylia had kept its independence. In the year 1529, that is to say two or four years after the capture of Algiers by Khayr ed-Din , a peace treaty was concluded by the Aït Ulkadi and the Regency of Algiers, the latter recognizing the undisputed master of the independent Great Kabylia, el-Hussein, but also imposing an annual tax, which has never been paid. Ammar Boulifa says about this: "The non-execution of this part of
26404-425: Was succeeded by his son, al-Qa'im ( r. 934–946 ), who continued his father's policies. Another attempted invasion of Egypt in 935 was defeated by the country's new strongman ruler, Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid . The most notable event of al-Qa'im's reign was the revolt of the Zenata Berbers under the Khariji preacher Abu Yazid in 943/44: almost all of Ifriqiya succumbed to the rebels, and in January 945,
26568-411: Was the first Muslim traveler and geographer to mention the name in his book, ZwawaKitab al-Masâlik wa l-Mamâlik , but without giving substantial information about them. Adolphe Hanoteau [ fr ] , a 19th-century French general, thought that the word Zwawa might be an alteration of "Ath Wawa", the regular plural of Agawa (son of Awa), used to designate a man from the Igawawen, by replacing
26732-423: Was the son of al-Mahdi, or whether the latter was merely usurping the position of a still-hidden imam; that would mean that al-Qa'im was the first true Fatimid imam-caliph. Modern authors have tried to reconcile the genealogies. In Origins of Ismāʿı̄lism , the Arabist Bernard Lewis suggested the existence of two parallel series of imams: trustee ( mustawda' ) imams, descended from Maymun al-Qaddah, whose task
26896-424: Was to hide and protect the existence of the real ( mustakarr , lit. ' permanent ' ) imams. Lewis posited that al-Mahdi was the last of that line, and that al-Qa'im was the first of the mustakarr imams to sit on the throne. Research by Vladimir Ivanov , on the other hand, has conclusively shown that the supposed Qaddahite descent of the Fatimids is a legend, likely invented by Ibn Rizam himself:
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