Banū Hilāl
The Banū Hilāl ( Arabic بنو هلال, DMG Banū Hilāl ) were an Arab Bedouin tribe who made history especially in the Maghreb . Hilāl means "new moon" or "crescent moon", Banu is translated as "sons" or "descendants of ...", the tribal name therefore means "sons of the crescent moon".
The Islamic Banu Hilal immigrated to Lower Egypt with the Banu Sulaym from Arabia as early as the 8th century . Because of constant unrest, they were resettled by the Fatimids to Upper Egypt in the 10th century . After the governors of the Fatimids in Ifrīqiya (today's Tunisia and western Libya ), the Zirids , declared themselves independent from the Fatimids in 1046, the Fatimids took the opportunity to deport the restless Bedouins to Ifriqiya.
The Banu Hilal invaded Ifriqiya with 50,000 warriors, which led to destruction in agriculture and an impairment of the caravan trade. The attempt of the Zirid Al-Muizz ibn Ziri to integrate the Bedouins into the empire as mercenaries failed. After a victory over the Zirids at Gabès (1052) and further unsuccessful negotiations, the Bedouins conquered and plundered Kairuan, among others, in 1057 . The Arab historian Ibn Chaldun (1332–1406) complained that the Banu Hilal had invaded Ifriqiya like a swarm of locusts.
In the period that followed, several Bedouin sheikdoms formed in Ifriqiya. This resulted in the economic center of gravity shifting from the inland to the coastal areas, as the sea towns were easier to defend against the Bedouins. To this day it is controversial whether the incursion of the Banu Hilal was the cause of the economic decline of Ifriqiya or whether it had already started before the Bedouin invasion.
From Ifriqiya, the Bedouins also immigrated to the Hammadid Empire ( Algeria ) and were hired as mercenaries. As such, they successfully fought against the Moroccan Almoravids . Nevertheless, the Hammadids did not succeed in keeping the Bedouins under permanent control. During this time, the increasing Arabization of the settled Berber population in the country began, which dragged on for the following centuries.
After the unified Banu Hilal were defeated by the Almohads at Sétif in 1152 , tribal parts were resettled to Morocco . In the following centuries this led to a radical Arabization of the population there as well.
In addition to the Banu Hilal, other Arab tribes moved along the northern edge of the desert into the western Sahara . The Maʿqil probably came from Yemen , a subgroup were the Dūī Ḥassān . The Arab culture brought by these tribes included the black tent ( Ḫaīma ) consisting of long strips of fabric and the irrigation technique with the bucket wheel (Noria) .
These events also form the background of an orally transmitted heroic epic, the Taghribat Bani Hilal , which is very popular in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia . In 2003 it was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO .
literature
- Gerald Schuster: The Bedouins in the prehistory of Tunisia. The Banu Hilal invasion and its aftermath. Klaus Schwarz Verlag, Berlin 2006 ISBN 978-3-87997-330-9
- Ulrich Haarmann : History of the Arab World. CH Beck, Munich, 2001
- Stephan and Nandy Ronart: Lexicon of the Arab World. Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1972
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfgang Creyaufmüller: Nomad culture in the Western Sahara. The material culture of the Moors, their handicraft techniques and basic ornamental structures. Burgfried-Verlag, Hallein (Austria) 1983, p. 25f