| Al-Kahina | |
|---|---|
| Queen of the Aurès | |
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| Queen of the Aurès | |
| Reign | c. 668 - 703? |
| Predecessor | Iaudas |
| Leader of the Berber | |
| In office | c. 680s - 703? |
| Predecessor | Kusaila |
| Born | Early seventh century inAurès (present-day Algeria) |
| Died | 703? (in battle) Bir al-Kahina,Aurès[1] |
| Father | Tabat[2] |
Al-Kahina (Arabic:الكاهنة,romanized: al-Kāhina,lit. 'the priestess'), also known asDihya, was aBerber warrior-queen of theAurès (a kingdom in present-day northeast Algeria)[1] and a religious and military leader who lived during the seventh century AD.
Her legacy has been retold through the oral tradition since her lifetime. There are various written accounts of her from precolonial and postcolonial perspectives. Generally, she is known to have united variousBerber tribes under her leadership to fight against the ongoingMuslim conquest of the Maghreb, leading the indigenous North African defense of the region then known asNumidia. She fought in multiple battles, notably defeatingUmayyad forces in theBattle of Meskiana. Afterwards, she became the uncontested ruler of the wholeMaghreb region,[3][4][5][6] and remained so until being decisively defeated and killed at theBattle of Tabarka.
There are various accounts of the circumstances surrounding her death, but she is thought to have died in modern-dayAlgeria towards the end of the seventh century. She is considered one of the most famous figures of her era in the history of the Berber resistance to the Arab conquest.[1]
Her personal name is one of these variations: Daya, Dehiya, Dihya, Dahya or Damya.[7] Her title was cited by Arabic-language sources asal-Kāhina (thepriestesssoothsayer) (Arabic:الكاهنة). This was the nickname given to by herMuslim opponents because of her alleged ability to foresee the future.[1]
Al-Kahina led theJarāwaZenata tribe. She may have beenJewish.[8] For five years she ruled a free Berber state from theAurès Mountains to the oasis ofGadames (695–700 AD). But the Arabs, commanded byMusa bin Nusayr, returned with a strong army and defeated her. She fought at theEl Djem Roman amphitheater but finally was killed in combat near a well that still bears her name,Bir al Kahina inAures.[9]
Various sources suggest that she was ofJewish religion or that hertribe wereJudaizedBerbers.[10] According toal-Mālikī, she was accompanied in her travels by an "idol". BothMohamed Talbi andGabriel Camps interpreted this idol as a Christian icon, either of Christ, the Virgin, or a saint protecting the queen.M'hamed Hassine Fantar held that this icon represented a separate Berber deity, suggesting she followedtraditional Berber religion. However, Al-Kahina being a Christian remains the most likely hypothesis.[1]
The idea that the Jarawa were Judaized comes from the medieval historianIbn Khaldun, who named them among seven Berber tribes. Hirschberg and Talbi note that Ibn Khaldun seems to have been referring to a time before the advent of the lateRoman andByzantine empires, and a little later in the same paragraph seems to say that byRoman times "the tribes" had becomeChristianized. As early as 1963, the Israeli historian H.Z. Hirschberg, in retranslating the text of Ibn Khaldun and rigorously repeating the whole document, questioned this interpretation, and in general the existence of large Jewish Berber tribes in the end of Antiquity.[1] In the words ofH.Z. Hirschberg, "of all the known movements of conversion toJudaism and incidents ofJudaizing, those connected with theBerbers andSudanese inAfrica are the least authenticated. Whatever has been written on them is extremely questionable."[11]
Over four centuries after her death, Tunisianhagiographeral-Mālikī seems to have been among the first to state she resided in theAurès Mountains. Seven centuries after her death, the pilgrimat-Tijani was told she belonged to theLūwāta tribe.[12] When the later historian Ibn Khaldun came to write his account, he placed her with theJarawa tribe.
According to various Muslim sources, al-Kāhina was the daughter ofTabat, or some sayMātiya.[2] These sources depend ontribalgenealogies, which were generally concocted for political reasons during the 9th century.[13]
Ibn Khaldun records many legends about Al-Kahina. A number of them refer to her longhair or great size, both legendary characteristics ofsorcerers. She is also supposed to have had the gift ofprophecy and she had three sons, which is characteristic of witches in legends. Even the fact that two were her own and one was adopted (anArab officer she had captured) was an alleged trait of sorcerers in tales. Anotherlegend claims that in her youth, she had supposedly freed her people from atyrant by agreeing to marry him and then murdering him on theirwedding night. Virtually nothing else of her personal life is known.[according to whom?]
Al-Kahina succeededKusaila as the war leader of theBerber tribes in the 680s and opposed the encroaching Arab Islamic armies of theUmayyad dynasty.Hasan ibn al-Nu'man marched fromEgypt and captured the majorByzantine city ofCarthage and other cities (seeMuslim conquest of North Africa). Searching for another enemy to defeat, he was told that the most powerful monarch in North Africa was "the Queen of the Berbers" (Arabic:malikat al-barbar) Al-Kahina, and accordingly marched intoNumidia. In 698, the armies met nearMeskiana[14] in the present-day province ofOum el-Bouaghi at theBattle of Meskiana (or "battle of camels") inAlgeria.[15]
Al-Kahina defeated Hasan so soundly that he fledIfriqiya and holed up inCyrenaica (Libya) for four or five years. Realizing that the enemy was too powerful and bound to return, she was said to have embarked on ascorched earth campaign, which had little impact on the mountain and desert tribes, but lost her the crucial support of the sedentary oasis-dwellers. Instead of discouraging the Arab armies, her desperate decision hastened defeat.[16]
The story of the Kahina is told by a variety of cultures, and each story often offers a different, or even contradictory, perspective. For example, the story is used to promote feminist beliefs.[citation needed] Additionally, it is even told by Arabs[which?] to promote their own nationalism. For the Arabs,[who?] they told the story in a perspective that made the Kahina seem like a sorcerer, all in an attempt to discredit her.[citation needed] The story of the Kahina was told to paint colonialism in a positive light.[citation needed] The story was told with a message saying that it represented the freeing of Berbers from the Arabs.[17]
Another, lesser known account[which?] of Al-Kahina claimed that she had an interest in early studies of desert birds. While this view may or may not be plausible, some evidence[clarification needed] has been recovered at the site of her death place, modern-day Algeria. Several fragments of early parchment with a painting of a bird on them were found, although there's no way to conclude the fragments were hers. However, it is possible that she began her interest while in Libya, as the painting was of a Libyan bird species.[according to whom?]
Hasan eventually returned and, aided by communications with the captured officerKhalid bin Yazid al-Qaysi adopted by Al-Kahina, defeated her at theBattle of Tabarka (a locality in present-dayTunisia near theAlgerian border)[1] about which there is some uncertainty.[18] According to some accounts[which?], Al-Kahina died fighting the invaders, sword in hand. Other accounts[which?] say she committed suicide by swallowing poison rather than be taken by the enemy. This final act occurred in the 690s or 700s, with 703 CE given as the most likely year.[1] In that year, she was, according toIbn Khaldun, 127 years old. This is evidently yet another of the many myths which surround her. In either case she wasbeheaded, and her head was sent back to the UmayyadCaliph inDamascus as proof of her death.[19]
According to many historians[who?],Bagay andKhenchla converted,[20] and led the Berber army toIberia. However, the historianIbn al-Athīr says they died with their mother.
Al-Kahina was adopted as a symbol by North African women, and was used as a symbol against foreign occupation, and later as a symbol against male hegemony. Indeed, already during the period ofFrench colonisation of Algeria, Kahina was a model for the militant women who fought the French. In the Kabyle insurrection of 1851 and 1857, women such asLalla Fatma N'Soumer andLalla Khadija Bent Belkacem, who were known as chief warriors took Kahina as a model.[21][22]
Anthropologist Abdelmajid Hannoum wrote "though the story of the Kahina may vary from one informant to another, the pattern is the same: the Kahina is the Berber heroine who fought the Arabs for independence."[23] Feminist scholarFatima Sadiqi has stated that "Kahina’s female leadership did not rely on institutionalized authority, but on recognized personal charismatic power".[24]
Also, the French, in the early 20th century, anxious toFrenchify Algeria by Romanising its past, drew parallels between themselves and the Romans. TheAlgerian nationalists, seeking to tie Algeria to the East instead, draw the same parallels, but for them both Rome and France were colonial powers, responsible for the decline ofPhoenician civilisation in the past, and Arabic civilisation in the present. Both ideologies used Kahina's mythology as afounding myth. On one side, she was the one who fought the Arabs and Islam to keep Algeria Christian, on the other, she was the one who fought all invaders (Byzantines or Arabs) to create an independent state.[22]
In the present day, the image of Kahina is constantly used byBerber activists to showcase how they, as a people, are strong and will not be conquered or diminished by other communities. Her face is often seen in graffiti and sculptures around Algeria to showcase their support for the progressive ideals she represents. While her true appearance is still unknown, artists have depicted her with certain aspects that reinforce the progressive movement she is known to represent. However, not all governments accept the ideals behind Kahina. One statue of Kahina inBaghai was condemned by the government due to blasphemy. The president of the Defense of the Arab Language,Othman Saadi, said that Kahina represented the resistance toIslam, and thus, should be condemned.[17]
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