DOCSLIB.ORG

Encyclopédie Berbère, 30 | 2010 Masmuda 2

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Encyclopédie Berbère, 30 | 2010 Masmuda 2 Encyclopédie berbère 30 | 2010 30 | Maaziz – Matmata Masmuda A. Khelifa Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/488 DOI : 10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.488 ISSN : 2262-7197 Éditeur Peeters Publishers Édition imprimée Date de publication : 29 décembre 2010 Pagination : 4644-4646 ISBN : 978-90-429-2367-6 ISSN : 1015-7344 Référence électronique A. Khelifa, « Masmuda », Encyclopédie berbère [En ligne], 30 | 2010, document M51, mis en ligne le 22 septembre 2020, consulté le 15 octobre 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ encyclopedieberbere/488 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.488 Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 15 octobre 2020. © Tous droits réservés Masmuda 1 Masmuda A. Khelifa NOTE DE L’ÉDITEUR Beaucoup de ces noms de tribus sont encore vivants dans le Maroc actuel, en tant qu’ethnonymes (mis en italiques dans la liste) ou en tant que toponymes, ce qui témoigne à la fois de la permanence et de la continuité du peuplement depuis l’époque médiévale, et de l’importance démographique et politique de ces groupes humains. 1 Grand agrégat de tribus de la confédération des Baranis. D’après les généalogistes médiévaux, Masmud, descendant de Burnus Ibn al-Barr, serait venu d’Orient et se serait établi dans les environs de Tanger. El-Bekri, au XIe siècle signale les Masmuda dans la région de Bûna (Annaba) et dans les environs de Tanger. Dans cette dernière localité, ils se divisent en quatre tribus : les Doghagh, les Assada, les Bani Senghera et les Kotama. Ils peuplent les territoires situés entre la rivière Zelloul et la rivière de Bab El-Yemm dont ils cultivent de nombreux champs et jardins, et ceux qui vont de Ceuta à Tétouan. Leur limite à l’ouest se trouve entre Ceuta et Tanger au-delà du Nahr Ilîan (rivière du comte Julien). Ibn Khaldun affirme qu’avant l’islamisme, les Berghouata étaient commandés par le Comte Julien qualifié de prince des Ghomara. El-Bekri les signale aussi dans le parcours qui mène de Ceuta à Fès où ils occupent un grand nombre de villages comme celui d’Iou Iddjadjin peuplé par la tribu masmoudienne des Beni Messara. El-Idrissi ajoute que face à Tarifa en Andalousie (du nom de Tarif, un chef Barghawata, tribu masmoudienne) se trouve sur l’autre côté du détroit Marsa el-Qasr (le port du château) qui est attribué aux Masmuda et qu’on appelle aussi Qasr Masmuda. Ibn Khaldun ajoute les Ghomara qui peuplent la chaîne du Rif et son littoral depuis Ghassassa jusqu’à Tanger incluant les villes de Nokour, Badis, Tikisas, Tittawin (Tétouan), Ceuta et El Kasr. Ils sont voisins des Berghouata qui occupent le littoral atlantique Les femmes des Masmuda s’enduisent les cheveux d’huile d’argan, ce qui les rend lisses et beaux (El-Idrissi). El-Bekri considère cette confédération comme étant la plus nombreuse parmi les Berbères. Son territoire s’étendait de la Méditerranée, (dans la région du Rif) jusqu’à l’Atlantique vers les rivières du Sous et à l’intérieur des terres Encyclopédie berbère, 30 | 2010 Masmuda 2 vers le Haut-Atlas ; elle occupait une grande partie du Maroc actuel. De la même façon, Ibn Khaldun les situe essentiellement dans ces deux régions. 2 Cette confédération de tribus connut ses heures de gloire, d’abord avec la fondation du royaume des Barghwata qui vit le jour dans les plaines du Tamesna et la partie du littoral comprise entre Salé et Azemmour jusqu’à la région d’Anfa et Asfi. Ibn Khaldun affirme que cette tribu était puissante au début de l’islamisation de l’Afrique du Nord. Vers le commencement du second siècle de l’Hégire, elle avait pour chef un nommé Tarif Abou Saleh qui avait occupé un haut commandement dans l’armée de Maysara El Faqir, El Haqir, le matgharien, connut pour ses doctrines sufrites qui avait été l’âme de la révolte de 122 H/740. El-Bekri donne force détails sur la religion des Berghouata qui suivirent les principes religieux de Saleh, leur roi-prophète qui régna dès 127 H/744-45. La dynastie perdura jusqu’en 420 H/1029 où elle périt sous les coups des Ifrénides puis sous les coups des Almoravides qui les exterminèrent vers le milieu du XIe siècle. 3 El-Bekri signale la présence des Masmouda dans le sud du Maroc actuel, autour de la ville de Nfis et dans les montagnes. Ibn Khaldun affirme que les Masmouda sont à peu d’exceptions près les seuls habitants de la partie montagneuse du Maghreb el-Aqsa (Maghreb extrême). 4 Essentiellement sédentaires, habitants les montagnes du Haut-Atlas, les Masmuda supportèrent la domination des Almoravides. Par la suite, ils connurent leur heure de gloire avec l’avènement des Almohades. Les notables de leurs tribus firent alors partie du « conseil des Dix » et de celui des « cinquante », ossature de l’administration almohade. Ils furent désignés alors dans les différentes provinces de l’empire almohade depuis l’ouest du Nil aux rivages de l’Atlantique et dans les provinces d’Al-Andalus. Les descendants de Abu Hafç Hinti, l’un des principaux compagnons d’Ibn Totimert, fondèrent au XIIe siècle la dynastie Hafside à Tunis, qui régna jusqu’au XVIe siècle. 5 A la chute de la dynastie almohade (milieu du XIIIe siècle), ils subirent la domination des différentes dynasties qui se succédèrent au Maroc (mérinide*, wattaside, saadienne etc.). Mais ils eurent toujours un esprit d’indépendance. L’occupation française en fit l’expérience (blad es-siba). Léon l’Africain les fait habiter dans la partie occidentale de l’Atlas : « du Hea (Haha) à la Rivière des Esclaves (Oued El ʻAbid). Ils habitent aussi le versant de l’Atlas qui fait face au Midi et toutes les plaines avoisinantes. Ils occupent quatre provinces : le Hea, le Sous, le Guzzula et la région de Marrakech ». 6 Les Masmuda se divisent en un grand nombre de tribus dont les principales sont : • Akanghis Aylana Ganfisa • Ankatutawan Barghwata Ghumara • Ansatit Banu Battan Glawa • Anti Nitat Djuzzula Haha • Antuzkit Dughagha Hargha • Ar’an Dukkala Haskura • Assadan Gadmiwa Hazmira • Hazradja Hintata Banu Katrat • Banu Makar Banu Maghus Banu Marzuq ibn ‘Awn • - Banu Masara Ragraga Banu Rasan • Saksiwa Sanghara Banu Sikkin • Tahlawa Tinmallal Warika • Banu Wasanu Wazguit... Encyclopédie berbère, 30 | 2010 Masmuda 3 BIBLIOGRAPHIE EL-BEKRI, Description de l’Afrique septentrionale, trad. De Slane, Paris, 1965 EL-IDRISSI, Le Maghrib au XIIe siècle, trad. Hadj Sadok, Alger, 1983. IBN KHALDUN A., Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l’Afrique septentrionale, 4 tomes, trad. De Slane, Paris, 1978. LEON L’AFRICAIN J., Description de l’Afrique, trad. Epaulard, Maisonneuve, 1956. INDEX Mots-clés : Ethnonymie, Maroc, Moyen Âge, Tribu Encyclopédie berbère, 30 | 2010.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Aghlabids and Their Neighbors: an Introduction
    Please provide footnote text Chapter 1 The Aghlabids and Their Neighbors: An Introduction Glaire D. Anderson, Corisande Fenwick, and Mariam Rosser-Owen This book takes an interdisciplinary and transregional approach to the Aghlabid dynasty and ninth-century North Africa, to highlight the region’s im- portant interchange with other medieval societies in the Mediterranean and beyond. It comprises new invited essays alongside revised versions of select papers presented at the symposium, “The Aghlabids and Their Neighbors: Art and Material Culture in Ninth-Century North Africa,” held in London in May 2014 under the aegis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.1 This event was originally intended as a small interdisciplinary workshop on the his- tory and material culture of the Aghlabid dynasty of Ifriqiya and its immediate neighbors in the region, but it rapidly became a larger event when we real- ized the scale of scholarly interest in the topic. The workshop brought scholars together from different national as well as disciplinary traditions to consider the Aghlabids and their neighbors, with the aim of moving toward a more in- tegrated understanding of this crucial dynasty and period within the Islamic world. Our stated aim in the call for papers was to consider North Africa not as a peripheral frontier whose artistic production was inferior to or derivative of trends in the Abbasid heartlands of Iraq and Egypt, which is how it has long been situated in the history of Islamic art, but as one of the vibrant centers of the early medieval dār al-Islām. In doing so, we hoped not only to reevaluate problematic yet persistent notions of the region’s peripherality in Islamic (art) history and archaeology, but also to illuminate processes of acculturation and interaction between ninth-century North Africa, Iberia, Sicily/Italy, and other regions.
    [Show full text]
  • Rites Et Construction De L'identité Berbère. Les Rites Funéraires Dans
    École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales École doctorale de l’EHESS Anthropologie Sociale et Ethnologie Thèse en co-tutelle - UNIOR Ferraro Rosa Rites et construction de l'identité berbère. Rituels funéraires et évolution des formes traditionnelles du rite au Maroc Thèse dirigée par: Yacine Tassadit et Di Tolla Anna Maria Date de soutenance : le 16-01-2017 Jury 1 Anna Maria Di Tolla – UNIOR 2 Tassadit Yacine – EHESS 3 Gianfranca Ranisio – UNINA 4 Enric Porquères – EHESS SYNTHÈSE DE LA THÈSE EN FRANÇAIS Remerciements D'abord, je veux remercier mes précieux, ponctuels et attentifs Tutor de ces années d'étude, le professeur Yacine Tassadit et le professeur Anna Maria Di Tolla. Elles m'ont conduit à travers les étapes délicates de la recherche, mais surtout m'ont transmis l'amour et le dévouement pour le monde et la culture berbère. Un grand merci aux trois Professeurs Saa Fouad, Abdelmounïm El Azouzi et Bassau Hamri, leurs suggestions et leur contribution ont été très précieux pour la réalisation du projet. Je voudrais aussi remercier mes médiateurs, interprètes et surtout mes amies Samira et Talia qui m'ont suivi, m'ont aidé et m'ont soutenu pendant toute la phase de recherche sur le terrain au Maroc. — 3 — Résumé et mots clés Résumé Ce travail est le résultat d'une recherche croisée entre l'Italie et le Maroc, limité à un restreinte environnement géographique, à savoir, la ville de Maddaloni dans la région Campanie, et les deux provinces du Maroc, Beni Mellal et Khouribga, lieux d'où vient la plupart des migrants marocains qui vit dans le sud de l'Italie.
    [Show full text]
  • Application of Link Integrity Techniques from Hypermedia to the Semantic Web
    UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Department of Electronics and Computer Science A mini-thesis submitted for transfer from MPhil to PhD Supervisor: Prof. Wendy Hall and Dr Les Carr Examiner: Dr Nick Gibbins Application of Link Integrity techniques from Hypermedia to the Semantic Web by Rob Vesse February 10, 2011 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE A mini-thesis submitted for transfer from MPhil to PhD by Rob Vesse As the Web of Linked Data expands it will become increasingly important to preserve data and links such that the data remains available and usable. In this work I present a method for locating linked data to preserve which functions even when the URI the user wishes to preserve does not resolve (i.e. is broken/not RDF) and an application for monitoring and preserving the data. This work is based upon the principle of adapting ideas from hypermedia link integrity in order to apply them to the Semantic Web. Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Hypothesis . .2 1.2 Report Overview . .8 2 Literature Review 9 2.1 Problems in Link Integrity . .9 2.1.1 The `Dangling-Link' Problem . .9 2.1.2 The Editing Problem . 10 2.1.3 URI Identity & Meaning . 10 2.1.4 The Coreference Problem . 11 2.2 Hypermedia . 11 2.2.1 Early Hypermedia . 11 2.2.1.1 Halasz's 7 Issues . 12 2.2.2 Open Hypermedia . 14 2.2.2.1 Dexter Model . 14 2.2.3 The World Wide Web .
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix for “The Feudal Revolution and Europe's Rise: Political
    Appendix for “The Feudal Revolution and Europe’s Rise: Political Divergence of the Christian West and the Muslim World before 1500 CE” August 1, 2012 1 Feudalism and Political Stability To formalize the intuition presented in Section 3.3 using a simple framework, suppose that a perfectly myopic, risk-neutral sovereign imperfectly controls a polity that creates output of size one each period. Denote by γ the amount of land controlled by the military regardless of the actions of the sovereign (this can be interpreted as the percentage of the entire polity controlled by the military). Suppose that there are N perfectly myopic, risk-neutral members of the military (where N is sufficiently large) and that γ is evenly distributed between the members of this class. We consider the parameter value γ exogenously given. A value of γ = 0 corresponds to a perfectly absolutist sovereign (who uses mamluks or mercenaries to staff his military) whereas higher values of γ denote more feudal arrangements. Note that our assumption of perfectly myopic agents allows us to abstract from the potentially important issue of how the sovereign compensates the military (i.e., iqta’ rents versus land grants).1 In addition, we abstract from other important issues in order to focus on the sovereign’s desire to prevent a successful revolt. We do so in order to highlight one mechanism that we believe contributes to the observed increase in ruler duration. The order of play in the game is as follows: after observing γ the sovereign moves first and decides whether to keep the entire amount of output he controls to himself or whether to divide it equally between himself and the military.
    [Show full text]
  • Morocco in the Early Atlantic World, 1415-1603 A
    MOROCCO IN THE EARLY ATLANTIC WORLD, 1415-1603 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Earnest W. Porta, Jr., J.D. Washington, DC June 20, 2018 Copyright 2018 by Earnest W. Porta, Jr. All Rights Reserved ii MOROCCO IN THE EARLY ATLANTIC WORLD, 1415-1603 Earnest W. Porta, Jr., J.D. Dissertation Advisor: Osama Abi-Mershed, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Over the last several decades, a growing number of historians have conceptualized the Atlantic world as an explanatory analytical framework, useful for studying processes of interaction and exchange. Stretching temporally from the 15th into the 19th century, the Atlantic world framework encompasses more than simply the history of four continents that happen to be geographically situated around what we now recognize as the Atlantic basin. It offers instead a means for examining and understanding the transformative impacts that arose from the interaction of European, African, and American cultures following the European transatlantic voyages of the 15th and 16th centuries. Though it has not been extensively studied from this perspective, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Morocco possessed geopolitical characteristics that uniquely situated it within not only the Islamic world, but the developing Atlantic world as well. This study considers Morocco’s involvement in the early Atlantic world by examining three specific phases of its involvement. The first phase lasts approximately one hundred years and begins with the Portuguese invasion of Ceuta in 1415, considered by some to mark the beginning of European overseas expansion.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Islamic Empire in Urdu Pdf
    History of islamic empire in urdu pdf Continue This article lists successive Muslim countries and dynasties from the rise of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and early Muslim horses that began in 622 PO and continue to this day. The history of Muslim countries The early Muslim wars began in the life of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. In addition to the work of southern Europe and the Indian sub-corner, his successors hit the great sheep of the Middle East and North Africa. In the decades after his death, the caliphate, founded by his oldest successors, known as the Rashidun Caliphate, inherits the Umayyad caliphate and later the Abbasid caliphate. While the caliphate gradually broke and fell, other Muslim dynasties rose; Some of these dynasties have been overgroced into Islamic empires, with some of the most notable being the Safavid dynasty, the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire. Regional Empires Iran Shah Ismail I, Founder of Safavid Dynasty Qarinvand Dynasty (550-1110) Paduspanid (655-1598) Justanids (791-1004) Dulafid dynasty (800-898, Jibal) Samanid Empire (819-999) Tahirid Dynasty (821-873) Saffarid Dynasty (861-1003) Shirvanshah (861-1538) Alavid Dynasty (864-928) Sajid Dynasty (889-929) Ma'danids (890-1110, Makran) Aishanids (912-961) Husaynid Dynasty (914-929) Ziyarid Dynasty (928-43) Banu Ilyas (932-968) Buyid Dynasty (934-10) 62) Rawadid Dynasty (955-1071) , Tabriz) Hasanwayhid (959-1015) Annazidi (990-1180; Iran, Iraq) Ma'munid dynasty (995-1017) Kakuyid (1008-1141) Great Seljuq Empire (1029-1194) Nasrid dynasty (Sistan) (1029-1225)
    [Show full text]
  • A Correlation Analysis of Low-Level Conflict in North African Berber Groups, 1990-2011
    A CORRELATION ANALYSIS OF LOW-LEVEL CONFLICT IN NORTH AFRICAN BERBER GROUPS, 1990-2011 A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The School of Continuing Studies and of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Liberal Studies By Suzanne Hollands, B.A. Georgetown University Washington, D.C. April 10, 2014 Copyright 2014 by Suzanne Hollands-Sibley All Rights Reserved. ii A CORRELATION ANALYSIS OF LOW-LEVEL CONFLICT IN NORTH AFRICAN BERBER GROUPS, 1990-2011 Suzanne Hollands-Sibley, B.A. MALS Mentors: John O. Voll, Ph.D., Andy Vogt, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Berber regions of North Africa have long resisted incursion from the outside world. Regional conquests from the Punics, Greeks and Romans were repeatedly met with persistent and at times violent resistance, particularly under Greek and Roman rule. With the Arab conquest in the seventh century AD, the depth of penetration into Berber culture was fundamentally altered, particularly in the area of religion and language. Though still committed to Islam as a religion, recent Berber movements have shown a marked resistance to Arab cultural identity, seeking instead to re-establish a purely Berber cultural ethos through the revival of their indigenous Amazigh language and customs. Because their former identity precedes the advent of Islam, the Berber have recently sought to reconcile their ancient cultural heritage, particularly their language, with a religion they adopted in the seventh century but whose very language they conceive of as that of a former oppressor. Rather than rejecting Islam, they choose instead to reinvent it, replacing the sacred Arabic language of the QUrán with their lingua franca – Tamazight – in their practice of Islam, thereby uniting both culture and religion and reinforcing a cultural identity.
    [Show full text]
  • My Trip to Morocco
    My Trip to Morocco I hadn’t planned on going to Morocco this year. My original choice was a joint tour of Israel and Jordan, but Helene Halperin and Noelani Musicaro, two women I met on a previous trip to Turkey, convinced me to go. I normally travel solo (within a guided tour). However, over the years I’ve learned it is far better to see the world with like-minded travelers. Helene, a retired educator, and Noelani, an online entrepreneur, were a good mix for me. Not only did we embrace the same free-spirited curiosity about our planet, we also shared a similar sense of humor, which never hurts. Our tour company of choice was Gate 1 Travel; we selected an escorted tour called the 13-Day Kaleidoscope of Morocco at a very affordable price. I travel twice a year on my letter carrier’s salary and need to keep the costs of most trips to under $250 a day (including airfare), so this trip fit my budget perfectly. Although I write detailed journals of all my travels I seldom do any research on the countries I visit prior to the actual trips. This tour was no exception. Perhaps this sounds like an asinine way of seeing the world, but I often tell myself the true adventure comes from experiencing the culture and unknown wonders of a new place, and not just crossing off a checklist. Besides, I had Helene with me, a walking encyclopedia who eats travel books for breakfast, possessing an uncanny sense of direction as if she was born with a GPS device implanted in her brain.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking Religious-Secular Divisions in the Amazigh Political Imagination
    Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society Vol. 3, No. 2, 2014, pp. 131-151 Amazighité and secularism: Rethinking religious-secular divisions in the Amazigh political imagination Eden Almasude University of Minnesota Abstract Within a predominantly Muslim society, the Amazigh movement for cultural and linguistic rights for the Indigenous people of North Africa has a strong secular tendency, and activists often present secularism as an important value in Amazigh culture. In a context where Islamization is linked to a post-independence process of Arabization, emphasizing a particular concept of secularism functions as a political performance to resist Arab-Islamic ideology. By doing so, activists draw on Indigenous values and philosophical frameworks of modernity to develop a locally specific Amazigh concept of secularism. This project seeks to explicate the philosophy of this discourse and its sociopolitical context. An interrogation of the ideologies and expressions of an Amazigh secularism brings a new perspective to the concept of the ‘secular’ in a global context. Keywords: Amazigh; secularism; religion; Morocco 2014 E. Almasude This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 132 E. Almasude Introduction Allah, al-Watan, al-Malik – God, Nation, King: these Arabic words are the official motto of the Kingdom of Morocco, encapsulating the Arab-Islamic ideology of the state. In contrast, Indigenous Amazigh activists have asserted their own, unofficial motto: Akal, Awal, Afgan, meaning, “Land, Language, People.”1 Not only is there no religious reference in the Amazigh motto, but the word “Akal” (land) is the root of an Amazigh word for secularism, takalant.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tradition of Tajdid in Western Bilad Al-Sudan: a Study of the Genesis, Development and Patterns of Islamic Revivalism in the Region 900 -1900 Ad
    THE TRADITION OF TAJDID IN WESTERN BILAD AL-SUDAN: A STUDY OF THE GENESIS, DEVELOPMENT AND PATTERNS OF ISLAMIC REVIVALISM IN THE REGION 900 -1900 AD. THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KHARTOUM, SUDAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY USMAN MUHAMMAD BUGAJE DEPARTMENT OF AFRO-ASIAN STUDIES INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN AND ASIAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF KHARTOUM, SUDAN. DECEMBER 1991. 1 TABLE OF CONTENT Abstract 3 Acknowledgment 5 Chapter One Introduction 7 Chapter Two The Concept, Meaning and Place of Tajdid. 18 Chapter Three An Outline of the Spread of Islam in Western Bilad al-Sudan 900-1900 44 Chapter Four Al-Murabitun Movement and the Genesis of Tajdid in Western Bilad al-Sudan 1000-1400 80 Chapter Five The trends in Tajdid in Western Bilad al-Sudan 13th- 18th Centuries. 115 Chapter Six Tajdid in the Nineteenth Century Western Bilad al- Sudan. 158 Chapter Seven The Tradition of Tajdid in Western Bilad al-Sudan. 196 Conclusion 213 Bibliography 217 2 ABSTRACT This is a study on the tradition of tajdid in Western Bilad al-Sudan, the tradition of Islamic revival and revolution which spun out several centuries and brought about far reaching social, economic and political changes in the region. It aims at examining the genesis, development and fruition of the thoughts and ideas which spurred this tradition over the centuries in the region. To this extent, the study represents an attempt at the intellectual history of the Islamic revolutionary movements in the 19th century Western Bilad al-Sudan.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Aghlabids and Their Neighbours
    1 The Aghlabids and their Neighbours: An Introduction Glaire D. Anderson, Corisande Fenwick and Mariam Rosser-Owen This book takes an interdisciplinary and trans-regional approach to the Aghlabid dynasty and ninth-century North Africa, to highlight the region’s important interchange with other medieval societies in the Mediterranean and beyond. It comprises new invited essays alongside revised versions of select papers presented at the symposium, “The Aghlabids & their Neighbors: Art & Material Culture in Ninth-Century North Africa,” held in London in May 2014, under the aegis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.1 This event was originally intended as a small interdisciplinary workshop on the history and material culture of the Aghlabid dynasty of Ifrīqiya and their immediate neighbours in the region but rapidly became a larger event when we realised the scale of scholarly interest in the topic. The workshop brought scholars together from different national as well as disciplinary traditions to consider the Aghlabids and their neighbours, with the aim of moving towards a more integrated understanding of this crucial dynasty and period within the Islamic world. Our stated aim in the Call for Papers was to consider North Africa not as a peripheral frontier whose artistic production was inferior to or derivative of trends in the ‘Abbasid heartlands of Iraq and Egypt, which is how it has long been situated in the history of Islamic art, but as one of the vibrant centers of the early medieval Dar al-Islam. In doing so, we hoped not only to re-evaluate problematic yet persistent notions of the region’s peripherality in Islamic (art) history and archaeology, but also to illuminate processes of acculturation and interaction between ninth-century North Africa, Iberia, Sicily/Italy, and other regions.
    [Show full text]
  • 5 BERBER RULE and ABBASID LEGITIMACY the Almoravids (434/1042–530/1147)
    5 BERBER RULE AND ABBASID LEGITIMACY The Almoravids (434/1042–530/1147) Camilo Gómez-Rivas Introduction ṭ – The Almoravids (al-Mura ̄bi u ̄n 434/1042 530/1147) were a Saharan Berber tribal federation who conquered the western Maghrib and most of al-Andalus in the second half of the fifth/eleventh century. From their capital at Marrakesh, the Almoravids were the first indigenous group to unify this part of the Maghrib and the first Maghrib-based empire to conquer al-Andalus. They revolutionized the political 1 structures of the western or Far Maghrib through a novel combination of local elements with others adopted from the broader Islamic world with which the region came into intense commercial and intellectual contact at this time. The Almoravid Empire brought the Far Maghrib to the attention of the wider Mediterranean and 2 Muslim world. In al-Andalus, where a deep-seated tradition of political legitimation already existed, the Almoravids also transformed political structures, symbols, and discourse, by emerging as the most powerful Muslim military force in the Western Mediterranean (a role once exclusively Andalusi) and by promoting interaction and administrative integration between the two territories. The Almoravid leader adopted the novel title amīr al-muslimīn (Commander of the Muslims) at some point during the movement’s development; the exact moment is disputed. This variation of the classical caliphal title amīral-muʾminīn (Commander of 3 the Believers, borne by ʿUmar ibn al-Khatt ̣a ̄b) ̣ was formulated by the Almoravids to stop short of declaring full ideological independence from, or supremacy over, the Muslim community and its eastern center.4 It was understood to subordinate symbolically the Almoravid ruler to the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad.
    [Show full text]