| Banu Hilal بنو هلال | |
|---|---|
| Qaysi Arab tribe | |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Nisba | al-Hilālī |
| Location | Najd (origin),Maghreb, Egypt |
| Descended from | Hilal bin 'Amir bin Sa'sa bin Mu'awiya bin Bakr bin Hawazin |
| Parent tribe | Banu 'Amir |
| Population | 4,000,000 (1573)[1] |
| Branches | |
| Language | Arabic |
| Religion | Shia Islam (originally)[2] Sunni Islam (later)[3] |
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TheBanu Hilal (Arabic:بنو هلال,romanized: Banū Hilāl) was a confederation ofArab tribes from theNajd region of the centralArabian Peninsula thatemigrated to theMaghreb region ofNorth Africa in the 11th century. They ruled theNajd and campaigned in the borderlands betweenIraq andSyria. When theFatimid Caliphate became the rulers of Egypt and the founders ofCairo in 969, they confined theBedouin in the south before sending them to Central North Africa (Libya,Tunisia andAlgeria) and then toMorocco.
Historians estimate the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century to be to 500,000[4] to 700,000[5] to 1,000,000.[6] HistorianMármol Carvajal estimated that more than a million Hilalians migrated to the Maghreb between 1051 and 1110, and estimated that the Hilalian population in the Maghreb at his time in 1573 was at 4,000,000 individuals, excluding other Arab tribes and other Arabs already present.[1]
The Banu Hilal originated inNajd in the centralArabian Peninsula,[7] sometimes travelling towardsIraq in search of pastures and oases.[8] According to Arab genealogists, the Banu Hilal were a sub-tribe of theMudar tribal confederation, specifically of theAmir ibn Sa'sa'a, and theirprogenitor was Hilal. According to traditional Arab sources, their full genealogy was the following: Hilāl ibnʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr ibnHawāzin ibn Manṣūr ibn ʿIkrima ibn K̲h̲aṣafa ibnQays ibn ʿAylān ibnMuḍar ibnNizār ibnMa'ad ibnʿAdnān.[3] The Banu Hilal were very numerous, effectively a nation divided into its own sub-tribes, of which the most notable were theAthbaj,Riyah,Jusham,Zughba, Adi, and Qurra.[9]
Ibn Khaldun described their genealogy, which consisted of two mother tribes: themselves and theBanu Sulaym. In Arabia, they lived on the Ghazwan nearTa'if while theBanu Sulaym attended nearbyMedina, sharing a common cousin in the Al Yas branch of theQuraysh. At the time of their migration, Banu Hilal comprised six sub-tribes: Athbadj, Riyah, Jusham, Adi, Zughba, and Rabi'a.[10]
Its original habitat, like that of its related tribes, was theNajd. Its history duringpre-Islamic times is bound with other tribes of the Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa, especially in Ayyām al-ʿArab and in affairs related to the rise of Islam in the region, such as that ofMassacre of Bi'r Ma'una.[3] The Banu Hilal likely did not acceptIslam until afterMuhammad's victory at theBattle of Hunayn in 630, but like other ʿĀmirid tribes, they also did not join in theRidda Wars that followedMuhammad's death in 632.[3]
The tribe does not appear to have played any significant role in theearly Muslim conquests, and for the most part remained in the Nejd.[3] Only in the early 8th century did some of the Banu Hilal (and theBanu Sulaym) move toEgypt. Many followed, so that the two groups became numerous in Egypt.[3] During theAbbasid Caliphate, the Hilal were known for their unruliness.[3] In the 9th century, Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym migrated from Najd toIraq, and later to theLevant, before migrating to the Maghreb in the 11th century.[11]
In the 970s, the Hilal and the Sulaym joined the radical sect of theQarmatians in their attacks on theFatimid Caliphate, which had justconquered Egypt and was pushing intoSyria.[3][12] As a result, after his victory over the Qarmatians in 978, the Fatimid caliphal-Aziz (r. 975–996) forcibly relocated the two tribes toUpper Egypt.[3][12] As they continued to fight among themselves and pillage the area, they were prohibited from crossing theNile River or leaving Upper Egypt.[3]
The Banu Hilal first began migrating to the Maghreb when theZirid dynasty of Ifriqiya proclaimed its independence from theFatimid Caliphate of Egypt. In retribution against the Zirids, the Fatimids dispatched largeBedouin Arab tribes, mainly the Banu Hilal andBanu Sulaym, to defeat the Zirids and settle in the Maghreb. These tribes followed anomadic lifestyle and were originally from theHejaz andNajd.[13] To persuade the Bedouin into migrating to the Maghreb, the Fatimid caliph gave each tribesman a camel and money and helped them cross from the east to the west bank of theNile River. The severe drought in Egypt at the time also persuaded these tribes to migrate to the Maghreb, which had a better economic situation at the time. The Fatimid caliph instructed them to rule the Maghreb instead of the Zirid emirAl-Mu'izz and told them "I have given you the Maghrib and the rule of al-Mu'izz ibn Balkīn as-Sanhājī the runaway slave. You will want for nothing." and told Al-Mu'izz "I have sent you horses and put brave men on them so that God might accomplish a matter already enacted".[14]
Upon arriving inCyrenaica, the Arab nomads found the region almost empty of its inhabitants, except a fewZenata Berbers that Al-Mu'izz had already mostly destroyed.[14] The number of Hilalians who moved westward out of Egypt has been estimated as high as 200,000 families.[15] Cyrenaica was left to be settled by Banu Sulaym while the Hilalians marched westwards. As a result of the settlement by Arab tribes, Cyrenaica became the most Arab place in theArab world after the interior ofArabia.[15] According toIbn Khaldun, the Banu Hilal were accompanied by their wives and their children when they came to theMaghreb. They settled inIfriqiya after winning battles againstBerber tribes, eventually going on to coexist with them.Abu Zayd al-Hilali led between 150,000 and 300,000Arabs into theMaghreb, who intermarried with the indigenous peoples.[6] The Fatimids used the tribe, which began their journey as allies and vassals, to punish the particularly difficult to controlZirids after the conquest ofEgypt and the founding ofCairo. As the dynasty became increasingly independent and abandonedShia Islam, they quickly defeated the Zirids after thebattle of Haydaran and deeply weakened the neighboringHammadid dynasty and theZenata. TheZirids abandonedKairouan to take refuge on the coast where they survived for a century. The Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym spread on the high plains ofConstantine where they gradually obstructed theQal'at Bani Hammad as they had done toKairouan a few decades ago. From there, they gradually gained control over thehigh plains ofAlgiers andOran. In the second half of the 12th century, they went to theMoulouya valley and theAtlantic coast in the western Maghreb to areas such asDoukkala.[16]
Their influx was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural and ethnicArabization of theMaghreb and in the spread ofnomadism in areas whereagriculture had previously been dominant.[17] They had also heavily transformed the culture of the Maghreb intoArab culture, and spread nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant.[13] It played a major role in spreadingBedouin Arabic to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near theSahara.Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.[18]
Historians estimate the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century to be 250,000[19] (only the first few decades) to 700,000[5] to 1,000,000[6] when the entire population of the Maghreb at the time was 5,000,000.[20] HistorianMármol Carvajal estimated that more than a million Hilalians migrated to the Maghreb between 1051 and 1110, and estimated that the Hilalian population at his time in 1573 at 4,000,000 individuals, excluding other Arab tribes and other Arabs already present.[1]
The Banu Hilal later came under the rule of various subsequent dynasties, including theAlmohad Caliphate,Hafsid dynasty,Zayyanid dynasty andMarinid dynasty. Finding their continued presence intolerable, the Almohad Caliphate defeated the Banu Hilal in theBattle of Setif and forced many of them to leave Ifriqiya and settle in Morocco. Upon the arrival of theTurks, the Banu Hilal rose against theOttoman Empire near theAurès region and southAlgeria. InMorocco during the 17th century, the sultanIsmail Ibn Sharif created aguich army made up of Arab warriors from the Banu Hilal and theBanu Maqil which was one of the main parts of the Moroccan army. They were garrisoned in their own lands of water and pastures and served as troops and military garrisons to fight in wars and suppress rebellions.[21][22]
Originally, the Banu Hilal embraced a nomadic lifestyle, rearing cattle and sheep. Despite several tribes living in arid and desert areas, they became experts in the field of agriculture. The Banu Hilal were conservative and patriarchal, and were tolerantShi'ites.[23] They were initiallyIsma'ili Shia, but after their conquest of the SunniMaghreb, the vast majority of Banu Hilal progressively adopted theMaliki school ofSunni Islam, following theMalikization of the Maghreb in the twelfth century and later centuries.[23][24]
The accounts and records that the folk poetAbdul Rahman al-Abnudi gathered from the bards of Upper Egypt culminated in theTaghribat Bani Hilal, an Arab epic describing the journey of the tribe from Arabia to the Maghreb. The tale is divided into three main cycles. The first two bring together unfolding events in Arabia and other countries of the east, while the third, calledTaghriba (march west), recounts the migration of the Banu Hilal to North Africa.[25] Until the early 20th century, the story of Banu Hilal was performed in a variety of forms across theArab world fromMorocco toIraq, as folktale or local legend recounted in poetry.[26]
Marmol évalue à plus d'un million le nombre d'individus que le premier flot versa en Afrique. Vers la fin du xv siècle, le nombre des Arabes répartis sur toute la surface du Maghreb s'élevait à plus de quatre millions, et l'empire du Maroc en contenait à lui seul deux fois autant que les trois autres états (Alger, Tunis et Tripoli). == Marmol estimates the number of individuals that the first flood poured into Africa at more than a million. Towards the end of the 15th century, the number of Arabs spread over the entire surface of the Maghreb amounted to more than four million, and the empire of Morocco alone contained twice as many as the three other states (Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli).
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