conquest of Egypt, but the internal disputes of the Muslim community
prevented this invasion from resulting in a regular conquest, much less
in settlement. It was not until the second invasion took place in A.H.
45 (= A.D. 665) that we can regard the Arabs as really beginning the
conquest of the country and its settlement. For centuries afterwards the
Arab hold was precarious in the extreme, and many Berber states were
founded from time to time, some of which had an existence of several
centuries. As a rule there was a pronounced racial antipathy between Arab
and Berber, but this was mild compared with the tribal feuds between
different Berber groups, and Arab rule was only possible by temporary
alliance with one or other of the quarrelling factions. Strangely enough
the religion of Islam spread rapidly amongst the Berbers, but it took
a peculiar development which shows the survival of many pre-Islamic
religious ideas and observances. The worship of saints and the reverence
paid to their tombs is a corruption of Islam which appears in most lands,
but in the West it takes an extreme form, although there are tribes
which reject it altogether. Similar worship, often in a revolting form,
is paid to living saints or _murabits_ (marabouts), who are allowed to
indulge every passion, and to disregard the ordinary rules of morality:
very often these reputed saints are no more than insane persons, for the
Berbers, like many other primitive people, regard insanity as a form of
divine inspiration. Such saints, even those living to-day, are credited
with miraculous powers, and especially with the power of surpassing the
limitations of time and place, and so to pass from one place to another
in an instant of time, and to be in two places at once.
These ideas, of course, are no legitimate development of Islam, to
which they are plainly repugnant, but represent the survival of older
pagan beliefs which Islam has not been able to eradicate. At the same
time, as we have noted, there are tribes which are completely free from
these ideas, and there is, especially in the towns, an element which is
strictly orthodox in its rejection of alien superstitions, and there
have been many learned theologians and jurists of the Berber race, for
the most part of a reactionary and conservative school of thought.
The conquest of Spain was carried out by Muslims, amongst whom the
Berbers were in the numerical majority, and the Berber element always
predominated in Spain, where some of the most brilliant philosophy,
literature, and art of the Islamic world was produced.
North Africa was always the home of the lost causes of Islam. Whenever
the Khalifs of Baghdad tried to exterminate some obnoxious sect or
dynasty, the last survivors took refuge in the remoter parts of the
West, and there managed to hold their own, so that even now those parts
show the strangest survivals of otherwise forgotten movements. But North
Africa always gave its readiest welcome to those sects which show a
strongly puritan character: though anyone in revolt against the Khalif or
other recognized authority could count on a welcome in North Africa for
that very fact.
In race, language, and religious ideas the Berbers of the North are one
with the Berber tribes of the great desert which spreads to the watershed
of the Benwe and connects, by regular trade routes following the ridges
which traverse North Africa from north-west to south-east, with the Horn
of Africa. But these desert dwellers of the south do not enter into the
subject of our present enquiry.
The Arab conquerors settled along North Africa and down to the desert
edge in sporadic groups, their tribes as a rule occupying the lower
ground, whilst the older population maintained itself in the mountainous
districts. But this does not mean that the Berbers were held at bay
as a subject people: the Katama, for instance, possessed some of the
best territory in North Africa, and were practically independent of the
Khalif. During the invasion of 45 the city of Kairawan was founded some
distance south of Tunis. The site was badly chosen, and it is now little
more than a decayed village, but for some centuries it served as the
political capital of _Ifrikiya_, the province which lay next to Egypt
and embraced the modern states of Tripoli, Tunis, and the eastern part
of Algeria to the meridian of Bougie. West of this lay _Maghrab_ or “the
western land” which was divided into two districts, Central Maghrab,
extending from the borders of Ifrikiya across the greater part of Algeria
and the eastern third of Morocco, and _Farther Maghrab_, which was the
land beyond to the Atlantic coast.
The Berber tribes were spread over all these provinces. In the eastern
part of Ifrikiya the chief were the tribes of _Hwara_, _Luata_,
_Nefusa_, and _Zuagha_: in Central Ifrikiya the _Warghu_ and _Nefzawa_:
in western Ifrikiya the _Nefzawa_, _Katama_, _Awraba_, and a number of
smaller tribes to the south: the chief tribes of Central Maghrab were the
_Zuawa_ (or Zouaves), _Magbrawa_, and _B. Mzab_: and in Farther Maghrab
the _B. Wanudin_, _Ghomara_ (in the Rif of Morocco), the _Miknasa_,
etc. No satisfactory result has ever been attained by those who have
tried to identify the ancient Numidians, Mauritanians, and Gaetuli with
existing tribes; evidently, as in Arabia, there have been new groupings
and new formations, which forbid the tracing back of the mediaeval
tribal divisions to ancient times; perhaps it was Islam which finally
rendered permanent the divisions as they existed in the first century of
the Hijra. Amongst these Berber tribes were spread the tribes of Arab
invaders and settlers which, even in the 10th century A.D. extended in
scattered groups from the borders of Egypt to the Atlantic. For the
most part each race preserved its own language, the Arabic dialects
being distinguished by archaic forms, and a phonology somewhat modified
by Berber influences; but there are several instances of Berber tribes
which have adopted Arabic, and some of Arabs and mixed groups which have
adopted the Berber language. For the most part the Arabs have had no
reluctance to mingle with the Berbers, but the attitude of the Berbers
varies, and some groups rigidly exclude intermarriage between themselves
and the Arabs or any others.
The Kharijites, the oldest and most turbulent dissenting sect of Islam,
the reactionaries who opposed the modification of Muslim customs under
Hellenistic influence, had appeared in Maghrab early in the 2nd century
of the Hijra after their suppression in Asia, and were still a living
force there in the fourth century, when their very name was almost
forgotten elsewhere. A small group of the less extreme branch of that
sect, the Ibadites, still survives in strict isolation in South Algeria.
The Idrisids, a dynasty descended from the house of Hasan the son of
ʿAli, founded by Idris who escaped from the attempted extermination of
his kinsmen at Madina in 169, ruled an independent state in Farther
Maghrab in the fourth century. The Umayyads dethroned by the ʿAbbasids
in 132, had a representative who escaped to North Africa, and then
crossed to Spain where they founded a Khalifate at Cordova which, in
the fourth century, had become a great and flourishing power. Indeed
the Maghrab was too remote from the Khalifs of Baghdad ever to be under
effective control: one after another punitive expeditions marched across
North Africa, the disaffected were defeated, the remnant took refuge in
the hills, and in the course of a few years or even months the former
condition returned again. Obviously those western lands offered a
promising field to the agitator, whether political rebel or sectarian
leader, and Ibn Hawshab’s missionaries had evidently struck a promising
vein in the Berber tribe of Katama.
Amongst those who attached themselves to Ibn Hawshab in Yemen was a
certain Abu ʿAbdullah Hasan (or Husayn) b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Zakariya,
afterwards surnamed ash-Shiʿi, a native of Sana and a zealous Shiʿite
who had been inspector of weights and measures in one of the districts
attached to Baghdad. He was a man not only of superior education and
intelligence, but astute and with as good knowledge of how to deal with
men. Before long he became one of Ibn Hawshab’s most trusty companions
and, when the news came of the death of the two missionaries who had
been sent to Africa, Ibn Hawshab determined to send him as _daʿi_,
and provided him with the funds necessary for his enterprise. Later
on we find him in Africa assisted by his brother, but we are without
information as to whether this brother was sent to join him later or set
out with him (Maqrizi ii. 11, Ibn Khallikan i. 465).
Abu ʿAbdullah’s first step was to go to Mecca and to find out where the
Katama pilgrims were lodged. As soon as he discovered this he engaged a
lodging near by and sat as close to them as he could, listening to their
conversation. Before long they began to talk about the prerogatives
of the house of ʿAli, a subject on which they had been instructed by
the two missionaries who had already visited their country, and Abu
ʿAbdullah joined in their conversation. When he stood up to go away
they begged to be allowed to visit him, and to this he assented. They
were delighted with his learning and began to frequent his society,
and one day they asked him where he intended to go when he had finished
his pilgrimage to Mecca. He replied that it was his intention to go
to Egypt, so they begged him to join them as they would have to pass
through Egypt on their homeward journey. They set out together, and
the good opinion they had formed of him was greatly increased as they
observed his piety, his regularity in the exercises of religion, and
his ascetic character. During all this time he mentioned no word of his
real intentions, but constantly directed the conversation to the subject
of the land of Katama, and asked many questions about the neighbouring
tribes and their relation with the governor of Ifrikiya. On this last
subject the Katamites explained that they did not regard the governor
as having any authority over them, his residence was ten days’ journey
from their country, and his control was nil. He further enquired if they
were accustomed to bear arms, and they replied that this was their usual
occupation.
When they reached Egypt Abu ʿAbdullah said farewell to the Katama
tribesmen but, as they expressed deep regret at the idea of leaving him,
they asked what business he had to attend to in Egypt. He replied that he
had no business there but simply intended to become a teacher. “If that
is all,” they said, “our country will offer you a better field, and you
will find more who are disposed to become your pupils, for we know your
worth.” So as they pressed him warmly, he consented to continue in their
company, and went on until they met some of their fellow tribesmen who
came out to meet them. All these had come under the influence of the two
former missionaries and were devoted Shiʿites and, when they heard the
account given by the returning pilgrims, they welcomed Abu ʿAbdullah with
every demonstration of respect.
At length, about the middle of Rabiʿ I. 288 (Feb., 900 A.D.) they reached
home, and every one of his companions pressed the missionary to be his
guest. He declined all these offers of hospitality and asked them to
inform him where was the valley of _al-Khiyar_ (the righteous men). This
enquiry greatly astonished them as no one could remember that such a name
had ever been mentioned in his presence: they admitted, however, that
there was such a place and described its situation, and he then told them
that he would take up his abode there and visit each of them from time to
time. He then set out with some guides to Mount Inkijan where the valley
is situated, and when they arrived there he told his companions, “Here
is the ‘Valley of the righteous men’ and it is on your account that it
is thus named, for one reads in the traditions that ‘the Mahdi will be
obliged to make his migration, and will be helped in his flight by the
Righteous Men who will be on earth at that time, and by a nation whose
name is derived from _kitman_’; it is because you will rise up in this
valley which has been named ‘The valley of the Righteous Men’” (Maq. ii.
11). The derivation of the Berber name _Katama_ from the Arabic _kitman_
“secret” was, of course, no more than a play upon words.
Very soon the dwellers in the vicinity began to spread Abu ʿAbdullah’s
reputation, men came from all parts to visit him, and he completely
swayed a large body of Berber tribesmen amongst whom the Katama tribe
was most prominent. He made, however, no further mention of the Mahdi,
and did not seem to interest himself in the subject. But he connected
his work with that of the two former missionaries and said: “I am the
man entrusted with the sowing of whom Abu Safyan and Hulwani spoke to
you,” and this increased their attachment towards him and his importance
in their eyes (Maq. id. 37). Some, however, regarded him with disfavour,
for evidently there were Berber tribes which had not adopted Shiʿite
doctrines: but the Katama tribe under its chieftain Hasan b. Harun
supported him, and took up arms against those who tried to interfere with
his work. This inter-tribal dispute was the beginning of a long conflict,
which ultimately made the Shiʿites dominant in North Africa. Supported by
the Katama and a number of Kabyle tribes Hasan attacked and captured the
town of Tarrut, and then advanced against Meila.
Already reports of the religious teacher of Mount Ankijan had spread
through the province of Ifrikiya, and had reached Ibrahim b. Ahmad the
Aghlabi Emir. These Aghlabids were hereditary governors of Ifrikiya
established at Kairawan about 184 by the ʿAbbasid Khalifs, to whom
they paid tribute and were subject. Desirous of obtaining more accurate
information Ibrahim had sent to the governor of Meila to make enquiry
about Abu ʿAbdullah and his doings, but the governor had sent back
to Kairawan a somewhat contemptuous account of him, in which he was
described as a religious fanatic, a devotee revered as a saint by the
ignorant people, and so the political possibilities of his activity were
overlooked.
The taking of Tarrut and the advance on Meila, which city, after a brief
resistance, was betrayed by some of its inhabitants, made a change in
this attitude. Ibrahim sent an army under his brother Ahwal against
Abu ʿAbdullah and his followers, and defeated them, after which Ahwal
returned home fully convinced that the rising had been finally disposed
of. From this defeat Abu ʿAbdullah retired to Mount Ankijan where he
established a “house of flight,” and there he gathered his partisans
around him. As soon as he heard of Ahwal’s retirement he began a series
of forays, pillaging the surrounding districts and annoying those who did
not join the Shiʿite sect. At this Ahwal made a new expedition, but this
time he suffered a repulse, not severe enough to force him to retreat,
but compelling him to be satisfied with a defensive police duty in the
neighbourhood which was, however, effectual in checking the Shiʿite
raids. But this did not last long. In 291 (= A.D. 903) Ibrahim the
Aghlabi died, and the governorship passed to his son Ziadat Allah, a man
indolent and entirely devoted to pleasure, who recalled his brother Ahwal
from his military duties.
This, of course, opened new opportunities for Abu ʿAbdullah, and very
soon his followers were ranging at will through the whole province of
Ifrikiya, and he boldly declared that the Mahdi was now near at hand
and would soon appear in Africa, and would prove his sacred mission by
working miracles (Maq. ii. 11). Common report affirmed that Abu ʿAbdullah
himself had done many wonders, even making the sun rise in the west,
restoring the dead to life, and other marvels. Not only had he now a very
large following amongst the Berber tribesmen, but many of the officers
serving under Ziadat Allah were well disposed towards the Shiʿite
claims, and were secretly in correspondence with Abu ʿAbdullah.
At this juncture, in 291, the Shiʿites were practically supreme in all
the country west of the suburbs of Kairawan, and now Abu ʿAbdullah sent
messengers over to the Mahdi inviting him to cross into Africa. Ismaʿil
had just died at Salamiya, and shortly before his death advised his son
Saʿid to migrate to a distant land. As soon as his father died Saʿid and
his son Abu l-Kasam Nizar set out from Salamiya intending to go to Yemen,
but hearing of the success in North Africa changed their course in that
direction, probably meeting the messengers from Abu ʿAbdullah on the way
(cf. Ibn Khaldun ii. 515-516). The journey was beset with great perils,
especially in the passing through Egypt. At that time the governor of
Egypt was Abu Musa Isa b. Muhammad Nushari, who had been appointed after
the death of Ibn Tulun in 292, and held office until the government was
usurped by Khalanj in 293-4, after which the Khalif al-Muqtadi restored
him to office which he held until his death in 297. Saʿid, or ʿUbayd
Allah as he now preferred to call himself, arrived during this latter
period of office, and the governor had grounds of suspicion about him
without very clear information. The refugees left Misr, the old capital
lying to the south of the present Cairo, but the governor followed
and overtook them. He attempted no violence, but joined their company
and induced them to rest with him in a garden, his guard meanwhile
surrounding the place. He tried every means to win their confidence, and
so to find out who they were and what was the object of their journey: he
tried to coax ʿUbayd Allah to join him in taking refreshment, but ʿUbayd
Allah declined on the pretext that he was then observing a fast: then he
tried to get information by judicious questions, but in vain. At length
he allowed ʿUbayd Allah to go on his way. He offered the travellers an
escort, but this was politely declined. Then the governor assembled
his men to return home, but many of them showed their discontent that
the travellers had been allowed to escape, and on second thoughts the
governor himself regretted that he had not detained them for further
enquiry, and sent a body of men after them, but they had made good use
of their start, and it proved impossible to overtake them. Some said that
the governor had been bribed by ʿUbayd Allah, and this seems to be likely
enough.
After this escape ʿUbayd Allah, his son, and Abu l-ʿAbbas, the brother
of Abu ʿAbdullah, went on to Tripoli. The next town on their way would
be Kairawan, and ʿUbayd Allah was distinctly anxious about venturing
there, so he sent forward Abu l-ʿAbbas to obtain information. Now it
appears that Ziadat Allah had much clearer grounds of suspicion than the
Egyptian governor, and Abu l-ʿAbbas was not able to escape suspicion,
and was taken prisoner. Ziadat Allah does not seem to have been so much
interested in the prisoner himself, but made every endeavour to find
out some details about the companions with whom he was travelling. Abu
l-ʿAbbas denied that he had travelled with any companions, or that he
had any knowledge of a fugitive from Syria: he asserted that he was
simply a merchant passing through Ifrikiya on his own business. But
Ziadat Allah’s suspicions were not allayed: Abu l-ʿAbbas was detained in
custody, and a messenger was sent to Tripoli to secure the arrest of the
other travellers. The messenger, however, returned with the reply that
ʿUbayd Allah had already left the city before the order for his arrest
had arrived. Again the suggestion is made that the governor of Tripoli
had been won over by bribes. It is supposed that ʿUbayd Allah had been
able to take with him a great part of his considerable wealth, and that
it was easy for him to corrupt the provincial governors. Certainly he had
information of what had befallen Abu l-ʿAbbas in Kairawan. At first he
retired to Kastilia, but when he made sure that there was no possibility
of Abu l-ʿAbbas getting free and joining him there, he went on to
Sijilmassa (Maq. ii. 11).
At the time of his arrival in this town the ruling prince, al-Yasa b.
Midrar, had no grounds of suspicion, and received the travellers very
kindly. ʿUbayd Allah made him valuable presents, and they soon became
intimate. One day, however, as they were sitting together, a letter from
Ziadat Allah was put into al-Yasa’s hand, and in it the Aghlabi related
the suspicions he had formed about ʿUbayd Allah. The governor immediately
ordered the arrest of ʿUbayd Allah and his son, questioned them closely
about their relations with Abu l-ʿAbbas, and the suggestion that they
were in some way associated with Abu ʿAbdullah, but ʿUbayd Allah denied
any knowledge of either of these. The father and son were then separated
and confined in separate quarters, and the son, Abu l-Kasam, was examined
apart, but no information of any sort could be obtained from him.
Meanwhile, since the departure of the messengers from Abu ʿAbdullah to
ʿUbayd Allah, the former had continued his career of conquest. Meila,
Satif, and other towns immediately near the Katama territory were taken,
and the governor at Kairawan was no longer able to disguise from himself
that the Shiʿite revolt was threatening the very basis of Arab authority
in Ifrikiya. Under these circumstances Ziadat Allah assembled a council
of canonists to advise him about the Shiʿite claims. The meeting took
place in the house of the prince’s chief adviser, Abdullah b. Essaig,
and, after considering the religious character of Abu ʿAbdullah’s
movement, and especially the report that “he cursed the Companions,”
_i.e._, that he was a Shiʿite who cursed the first three Khalifs as
usurpers who had excluded ʿAli from his rights, regardless of the fact
that they had been the companions of the Prophet, they decided that Abu
ʿAbdullah and his followers must be publicly denounced as heretics.
Fortified with this decision which was necessary to stop the tendency of
his own people to favour the Shiʿites, the Aghlabid assembled an army
of 40,000 men whom he placed under a kinsman named Ibrahim b. Habashi
b. ʿUmar at-Tamimi, and sent them against the Katama. Ibrahim took up
his quarters at Konstantina l-Hawa, on the western edge of the Katama
country, and there he stayed six months without actually attacking
the Shiʿites, but serving as a check upon their movements. As soon as
he appeared Abu ʿAbdullah retired to his usual retreat, “the house of
flight,” and no further advance was made on either side. As Ahwal had
already proved, this kind of patrol work was the most effective. But
Ibrahim desired a decisive punishment of the revolted tribes, and rashly
resolved to move out and attack Kerma, one of the cities occupied by the
Shiʿites. On the way Abu ʿAbdullah met and defeated him, and he had to
flee with the remnants of his army to Kairawan.
Matters were now becoming extremely serious, and Ziadat assembled a new
force which he entrusted to Harun b. Tabni. Harun marched upon Daralmoluk
and took it, but immediately afterwards Abu ʿAbdullah arrived with his
main band, and a general engagement ensued, in which Harun was killed and
his forces completely routed. After this victory Abu ʿAbdullah marched
upon Banjas, which capitulated, and then was in a position to threaten
Kairawan itself. We have now reached the year 295, and at this point
Ziadat Allah raised a third army and took command himself. He advanced
to Elaris, but there his courtiers began to remonstrate with him: if any
disaster took place and he were involved it would mean the downfall of
the Aghlabid dynasty, a result which would not necessarily proceed from
the defeat of a subordinate general. Persuaded by his entourage Ziadat
Allah appointed his kinsman Ibrahim as commander-in-chief, and himself
retired to Raqada to the south-west of Kairawan, and gave himself over
entirely to a life of pleasure.
Meanwhile Abu ʿAbdullah was extending his authority over the whole
country. He was invited to Bagaya which he occupied, then took by force
the small towns of Majana, Sash, and Maskanaya. His politic clemency at
Bagaya produced a good impression, and did much to assist him in gaining
over other towns. His success caused great alarm to Ziadat Allah, and
he consulted ʿAbdullah b. Essaig, who advised him to retire to Egypt
and leave a general in charge of the army, but Ibrahim persuaded him to
abandon this idea. Soon afterwards Abu ʿAbdullah advanced to Merida,
where were many refugees from the towns already taken. The inhabitants
asked for terms, and Abu ʿAbdullah’s lieutenants agreed, the leader
himself being absent. When the envoys from the citizens returned and the
gates were opened to admit them, the attacking army made a sudden rush,
forced their way in, and pillaged the city.