Barghawata

Barghawata Confederacy
744–1058
Barghawata Confederacy (blue).
Capital Not specified
Languages Berber languages
Religion Official : Indigenous religion inspired by Islam (adopted by 12 tribes)
Other : Khariji Islam (adopted by 17 tribes)
Government Monarchy
Tribal confederacy
(29 tribes)
King
 •  744 Tarif al-Matghari
Historical era Middle Ages
 •  Established 744
 •  Disestablished 1058
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
Umayyad Caliphate
Almoravid dynasty

The Barghawatas (also Barghwata or Berghouata) were a group of Berber tribes on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, belonging to the Masmuda confederacy. After allying with the Sufri Kharijite rebellion in Morocco against the Umayyad Caliphate, they established an independent state (CE 744 - 1058) in the area of Tamesna on the Atlantic coast between Safi and Salé under the leadership of Tarif al-Matghari.

Etymology

Some historians believe that the term Barghawata is a phonetic deformation of the term Barbati, a nickname which Tarif carried. It is thought that he was born in the area of Barbate, near Cádiz in Spain.[1] However, Jérôme Carcopino and other historians think the name is much older and the tribe is the same as that which the Romans called Baquates, who up until the 7th century lived near Volubilis.[2]

History

Few details are known about Barghawata. Most of the historical sources are largely posterior to their rule and often present a contradictory and confused historical context. However, one tradition appears more interesting. It comes from Córdoba in Spain and its author is the Large Prior of Barghawata and the Barghawata ambassador to Córdoba Abu Salih Zammur, around the middle of the 10th century. This tradition is regarded as most detailed concerning Barghwata.[3] It was reported by Al Bakri, Ibn Hazm and Ibn Khaldun, although their interpretations comprise some divergent points of view.

The Barghawatas, along with the Ghomara and the Miknasa, launched the Berber Revolt of CE 739/40. They were fired up by Sufri Kharijite preachers, a Muslim sect that embraced a doctrine representing total egalitarianism in opposition to the aristocracy of the Quraysh which had grown more pronounced under the Umayyad Caliphate. The rebels elected Maysara al-Matghari to lead their revolt, and successfully seized control of nearly all of what is now Morocco, inspiring further rebellions in the Maghreb and al-Andalus. At the Battle of Bagdoura, the rebels annihilated a particularly strong army dispatched by the Umayyad caliph from Syria. But the rebels army itself was eventually defeated in the outskirts Kairouan, Ifriqiya in CE 741. In the aftermath, the rebel alliance dissolved. Even before this denouement, the Barghawatas, as founders of the revolt, had grown resentful of the attempt by later adherents, notably the Zenata chieftains, in alliance with the increasingly authoritarian Sufri commissars, to take control of the leadership of the rebellion. As their primary objective – the liberation of their people from Umayyad rule – had already been achieved, and there was little prospect of it ever being re-imposed, the Barghwata saw little point in continued military campaigns. In CE 742 or 743, the Barghwata removed themselves from the rebel alliance, and retreated to the Tamesna region, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, where they founded their new independent state and abandoned their Sufri Kharijitism.

The Barghawatas ruled in the Tamesna region for more than three centuries (CE 744–1058). Under the successors of Salih ibn Tarif, Ilyas ibn Salih (CE 792-842); Yunus (CE 842-888) and Abu Ghufail (CE 888–913) the tribal kingdom was consolidated, and missions sent to neighbouring tribes. After initially good relations with the Caliphate of Cordoba there was a break at the end of the 10th century with the ruling Umayyads. Two Umayyad incursions, as well as attacks by the Fatimids were fought off by the Barghawata. From the 11th century there was an intensive guerrilla war with the Banu Ifran. Even though the Barghawata were subsequently much weakened,[4] they were still able to fend off Almoravid attacks—the spiritual leader of the Almoravids, Ibn Yasin, fell in battle against them (CE 1058). Only in 1149 were the Barghawata eliminated by the Almohads as a political and religious group.

Religion

After the conversion to Islam at the beginning of the 8th century and the Maysara uprising (CE 739-742), the Barghawata Berbers formed their own state on the Atlantic coast between Safi and Salé.

The Barghawata kingdom followed a syncretic religion inspired by Islam (perhaps influenced by Judaism)[5] with elements of Sunni, Shi'a and Kharijite Islam, mixed with astrological and traditional Berber mythology such as their taboo surrounding eating eggs and chickens, and the belief that the saliva of the prophet contained baraka, or, roughly translated, blessedness.[6] Supposedly, they had their own Qur'an in the Berber language comprising 80 suras under the leadership of the second ruler of the dynasty Salih ibn Tarif who had taken part in the Maysara uprising. He proclaimed himself a prophet.[7] He also claimed to be the final Mahdi, and that Isa (Jesus) would be his companion and pray behind him.

Tribes

The Barghawata confederacy was made of 29 tribes. 12 of these tribes adopted the Barghawata religion while 17 retained Islam.[8]

Barghawata religion (syncretic with Islam) tribes

  • Gerawa
  • Zouagha
  • Branès
  • Banu Abi Nacer
  • Menjasa
  • Banu Abi Nuh
  • Banu Waghmar
  • Matghara
  • Banu Borgh
  • Banu Derr
  • Matmata
  • Banu Zaksent

Khariji Muslim tribes

  • Zenata-Jbal
  • Banu Bellit
  • Nemala
  • Ounsent
  • Banu Ifren
  • Banu Naghit
  • Banu Nuaman
  • Banu Fallusa
  • Banu Kuna
  • Banu Sebker
  • Assada
  • Regana
  • Azmin
  • Manada
  • Masina
  • Resana
  • Trara

Some constituent tribes, such as Branès, Matmata, Ifren and Trara, were fractions of much larger tribal groups, and only the Tamesna-based fractions joined the Barghawata Confederacy.

Barghawata kings

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Tarif, el conquistador de Tarifa by Enrique Gozalbes Cravioto - (Spanish)
  2. ↑ see e.g. this article originally published in Hesperis Archived April 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. and for a contrary view the reference by Mohammed Talbi cited above
  3. ↑ Talbi (ref. cited above) believes, however, that it contains a certain amount of myth or propaganda
  4. ↑ Al Bakri even states they were annihilated in 1029, although this is inconsistent with what he himself states elsewhere regarding their battles with the Almoravids
  5. ↑ It is believed that Salih Ibn Tarif was a Jewish born in the Iberian Peninsula - Kitab Al-Istibsar, transl. of E. Fagnan, L'Afrique Septentrionale au XII siécle de notre Ere, Argel, 1900, p. 157.
  6. ↑ The Barghawata Heresy: Contextualizing a Berber Cultural Rebellion
  7. 1 2 Talbi (ref. cited above) notes that in fact there is no contemporary record of him being anything other than a Sufri Kharijite, and that it may have been a myth propagated by Yunus
  8. ↑ http://www.achaari.ma/Article.aspx?C=5790
  9. ↑ Dates with question marks are calculated on the basis of a secondary source . Other info is from Ibn Khaldun.
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