mohamed : azul abba alitbarkllah 3lik tamazight akmazynkka ;ha youne site n nguigou 3ad aydiys bdikh (http://almisgu igou.vu.ma)
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Publié le 13/04/2006 à 09:08
Par aderwi
 Since the dawn of history, the Imazighen people have been the indigenous inhabitants of North Africa. (Berber is a name that has been given them by others and which they themselves do not use). Their territory reaches from Egypt to Mauritania and from the Mediterranean to the boundaries of historic sub-Saharan Africa (not North Africa). Various empires and peoples have conquered portions of historic Tamazgha (their land), beginning with the Phoenicians and Greeks and continuing through the Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, French, British, Spanish, and Italians. Imazighen and beliefs
Imazighen have been subjected to various religious beliefs: their own early pantheistic (God is in all) concepts; the polytheistic (idolatry) dogmas of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; and monotheistic (one God) Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Since the 13th century, most Imazighen have professed the Islamic faith and Islam has sunk most deeply into their psyches. Throughout their history, the Imazighen have always had their heroes or heroines who have defended their ancestral homeland but then succumbed to the superior "civilized" might of their conquerors.
The term Amazigh
Amazigh "nationalists" are lobbying for the use of the term "Amazigh", which they use to describe themselves in their own languages. "Amazigh" signifies "free" or "noble" person; the plural is Imazighen. To define, in the most generic way, the language that they speak, Imazighen use the term "Tamazight." This term is also used specifically for the speech of the Imazighen of Kabylia in Algeria and the Middle Atlas in Morocco. The "gh" in the words Tamazight and Amazigh is pronounced as a sharp "r" (Amazir).
Regional Tamazight speakers use their own localized terms to define their own regional variations, such as Tarrifit in northern Morocco, Tashilhit in Morocco's Sous Valley, and the like. The original Amazigh alphabetic transcription system is referred to as "Tifinagh". Variant transcription systems in use include Latin and Arabic adaptations of Tifinagh representations.
Biological affinity
Amazigh/ Berber populations show varying degrees of biological affinity with Europeans, Middle Easterners and sub-Saharan Africans. Those who inhabit the northern Maghrib (the western part of North Africa) and most of the Atlas Mountains are typically light brown to pallid in complexion, with a high frequency of blond and red hair and green and blue eyes relative to the region as a whole.
Those who live in and around the Sahara zone range from brown to very dark.
Isolated Tamazight-speaking groups are found all over North Africa, from the Atlantic in the west to Egypt in the east. A colourful nomadic Berber tribe, the Tuaregs, whose male warriors wear blue dresses and indigo-colored veils, still roam the Sahara desert.
Sedentary agriculture
Contrary to popular romanticism which portrays Imazighen as nomadic peoples crossing the desert on camels, most actually practice sedentary agriculture in the mountains and valleys throughout northern Africa. Some do, in fact, engage in trade throughout the region, and such practices certainly had a tremendous influence on the history of the African continent.
Trade routes established from western Africa to the Mediterranean connected the peoples of southern Europe with much of sub-Saharan Africa thousands of years ago. There are five trade routes which extend across the Sahara from the northern Mediterranean coast of Africa to the great cities, which are situated on the southern edge of the Sahara. Berber merchants were responsible for bringing goods from these cities to the north. From there, they were distributed throughout the world.
Morocko and Algeria - Berber
It may come as a surprise to hear that the North African Moslem countries Morocco and Algeria are, in an ethnic sense, not Arab nations at all, but Berber/ Amazigh nations, speaking a completely different language than Arabic. Politically the Arab minority has dominated these countries for centuries, and has - without much success, though - attempted to eradicate the language. This also holds true of the present leaderships in independent Morocco and Algeria, who up to now have tried to establish an Arab identity for their countries. In the latest years, the Maghrib (the western part of North Africa) experienced an awakening of Berber consciousness.
Recognition of the identity
After years of repression, the Amazigh movement in Morocco is now going through a very active and decisive stage in the struggle for the recognition of the Moroccan Amazigh identity. More Imazighen are being organized and involved in their local communities in order to denounce the marginalization of the Amazigh culture and language. More than a dozen Amazigh associations were created in the last few years. Moreover, newsstands and bookstores in all the major cities are filled with new Amazigh magazines and other publications that provide outstanding articles about their culture. This enthusiasm is not shared by the national press or the government controlled radio and television.
| Amazigh people's language - TamazightThe Amazigh heart is beating stronger than ever. Amazigh associations in North Africa, Europe and the USA are working very hard not only to preserve the Amazigh culture but also to fight Arab cultural dominance in North Africa. Amazigh magazines are published not only in Tamazight language, but also in French and Arabic in order to reach out and encourage militancy amongst all citizens against the cultural discrimination against Tamazight. Furthermore, while the Maghreb Arab Union is still struggling to exist, the Amazigh World Congress (CMA) is alive, in order to unite and streamline the efforts to preserve the Amazigh cultural heritage.
In Algeria, where the Amazigh language rights movement is most overt and powerful, there have been periodic mass demonstrations since 1980 when the so-called Berber Spring uprising forced this issue into public view. That movement continues today. In June of 2001, over 1-million Imazighen demonstrated in Algiers and Morocco, calling for official acceptance of Amazigh identity and state-funded education in the Tamazight language.
In May of 2002, Imazighen in the Tamazight-speaking region of Kabylia (Algeria) boycotted the country’s parliamentary elections because they feel that the country’s entire political system is rigged against them. A number of people have died in this struggle in Algeria in recent years, and no sign of a lasting resolution is in sight.
Education for Imazighen
Amazigh protests have had limited success, but they have at least led to the introduction of formal teaching of Imazighen in some Moroccan and Algerian schools and universities. The strong Amazigh desire to establish a national identity is accelerating. (Their flag to the right).
Thousands of Tamazight speakers of Tunisia, from the north to the south, are living witnesses to the vitality of the Tamazight language and culture and the silent resistance of the Amazigh people despite a ferocious repression. Amazigh citizens of Tunisia only dare express themselves in their native language in the privacy of their homes.
Libya practices the same type of linguistic and cultural genocide toward Amazigh identity. The right to assemble or form associations does not exist there, and anyone who dares publicly express his Amazigh identity is punishable by death, imprisonment, or forced exile.
The Guanches ancestral heritage
The Amazigh autochthonous ancestral heritage of the Guanches at the Canary Islands is evoked by the Spanish authorities only as local folklore to attract the tourists. Amazigh associations are presently at work to renew and re-appropriate the ancestral Canarian cultural identity. To help the brothers and sisters of the Archipelago, the CMA (Amazigh World Congress) encourages the development of exchanges between Canarian and Amazigh associations throughout Tamazgha and the Diaspora (people that settle far away from their homelands).
Interview with the singer Kahleb
The Afro pop Worldwide in the Berber Rising program, had an interview with Khaled, the pre-eminent Algerian rai singer in 25th February 2005.
The reporters simply asked Kahleb: "What are the most important songs in your career?" and he began with this answer:
"Look, for example, at ’Harba Wine,’ done in the 80s when things were starting to get hot in Algeria. We were starting to have problems. The first release coincided with the civil unrest of October 1988. I had recorded it in 1987. When the song was released, I was in France, and I heard that young people were singing it outside in the street. So I was afraid to go back to Algeria. I told myself, ’It’s over. If I go back, they’ll throw me in prison.’ Because the young really found themselves in that song ’Harba Wine.’ It’s a song that was created by Idir, a Berber singer, singing in the Amazigh language. The words meant something like, ’Let’s move, let’s boogie.’ The words were about dancing. Now me, I’m an Arabaphone. So, I made words in Arabic. ’You want to leave your country? Where do you want to go?’ Because this had become a mode in Algeria. All the young people wanted to leave. So why did they want to emigrate? Because life had become so bad. The song says that. And all the youth were singing it."
The people, the words and the pictures
At the beginning of the Amazigh civilisation, there is a people, then there are the words, then the pictures of animals and other means of living things, facts of early life drawn on cave walls several thousands of years B.C. Many of those rocking engravings exist on several prehistoric landmarks, throughout the North-West of Africa, the Amazigh land, Tamazgha, that covers a vast and mountainous land and desert from the Canary Islands to Siwa in Egypt.
An art, a symbol and a sound
Tamazgha’s indigenous artists, writers and musicians through their creative works that reflect the trilogy of Amazigh culture by depicting a people, an art, a symbol and a sound, is more than just a form of expression, it is a media way of recording realistically the Berber traditions and it is also a media way of communication and transmission of Berber cultural heritage to future generations and in order to keep alive one of the oldest civilisations on earth, Tamazight.
Imazighen in the world
Today, there are around 2 million Imazighen contributing to the economic, scientific, artistic and athletic domains in France. The Berbers have found in French society the very same essential values upon which their own are founded, democracy, liberty, laity, and equity. They have not encountered any major difficulties in espousing the French Republican model and are numerous in having succeeded in business, administration, medicine, research, artistic professions and sports. It is useful to recall for instance that Edith Piaf, Mouloudji, Daniel Prevost, Isabelle Adjani, Zidane, and many others, are the product of this Berber import.
The Imazighen people are also settled in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, USA
Norway, Sweden, Germany and England.
"By virtue of our democratic traditions and customs, the roots of which reach the depths of history, we strive – we the Amazighes – to be brothers and sisters to all the peoples who love peace and justice and act in accordance with the principles of equality and tolerance between people, indeed even with the principle of reaching a "fair consensus" between points of view and beliefs. We believe in the advent of a universal civilization which is capable of integrating all the contributions of mankind."
<Representatives of Algeria's ethnic Berber minority and the government signed a peace deal the 15th of January 2005, state media said, that is expected to help end a long-running crisis in the northeast Kabylie region./>
Related web site: http://www.emazighen.com/
Web site about tourism in Morocco here
| - Keywords
- Amazigh
- Imazighen
- Indigenous
- Berber
- Tamazight
|
Publié le 12/04/2006 à 09:47
Par aderwi
 Récits de l'Antiquité
Histoire[modifier] Le nom de « berbère » est issu de barbarus, donné par les gréco-romains à tout ce qui n'était pas de coutumes et de civilisation gréco-romaine. Les Romains n'ont jamais réussi à soumettre ces peuples même après la prise de Carthage au Ve siècle, d'où leur nom. Parmi quelques grands noms de l'histoire amazighe, on peut citer : Mesnsen (Massinissa), Yugurthen (Jugurtha), Juba II, Apulée, Saint Cyprien, Saint Augustin, Dihya (Kahena), Kuseilan.[modifier] La culture et les langues berbères ont survécu depuis les grandes conquêtes vandales, romaines, byzantines, arabes (VIIe siècle) jusqu'à l'occupation française, en passant par la présence turque.Cette culture reste vivante en Algérie et surtout au Maroc, qui comprennent une grande partie des Berbères. Elle est aussi présente en Libye et en Tunisie et dans une grande partie du Sahara (Touaregs en Algérie, Burkina Faso, Libye, Mali, Maroc, Niger).En 1980, les manifestations du Printemps berbère éclatent, au cours desquelles les berbérophones de Kabylie et d'Alger réclament l'officialisation de leur langue.En 1996, une réforme de la Constitution algérienne reconnaît la dimension berbère du pays aux côtés de l'arabe et de l'islam. Parallèlement, les autorités fondent un Haut Commissariat à l'amazighité.En 2000, Berbère Télévision commence à émettre dans cette langue depuis Paris. Le 17 octobre 2001, le roi Mohammed VI du Maroc crée un Institut royal de la culture amazigh (IRCAM) (site internet) pour promouvoir la culture berbère.[modifi Vie et cultureUne famille berbère traversant un gué avec son bétail. Algérie 1890Traditionnellement, les hommes s’occupent du bétail, de leur côté les femmes confectionnent l’artisanat et les biens de la famille, tout d’abord pour leur usage personnel et ensuite pour la vente dans les souks de leur localité.Ils élèvent du bétail et émigrent suivant le cycle naturel des pâturages, des sources d’eau et d’un abri. Ils sont ainsi assurés d’une abondance de laine, de coton et de plantes pour la teinture.Les kilims des tribus ont conservé l’apparence et le caractère distincts de leur région. Le mode de vie nomade des Berbères convient très bien au tissage des kilims. Chaque tribu a son répertoire individuel de dessins. Les kilims sont des tapisseries; le tissage d’armure toile est représenté par une grande variété de bandes et plus rarement par des motifs géométriques tels les triangles et le losange. Les décorations additionnelles comme les paillettes et les franges sont typiques de tissés berbères au Maroc.[modifier] Voir aussi[modifier] [modifier] | Berbers | | | | | Total population: | c. 22 million | | Significant populations in: | Morocco:
12,000,000Algeria:
7,500,000
Tunisia:
200,000
Libya:
250,000+
Mauretania:
80,000
Egypt:
10,000
France:
1,000,000
Spain:
50,000
Israel:
50,000 | | Language: | Berber (Tamazight) | | Religion: | Islam, Judaism, Christianity, atheism, Others | | Related ethnic groups: | Afro-Asiatic Semitic |
Publié le 12/04/2006 à 08:59
Par aderwi
OriginThere is no complete certitude about the origin of the Berbers; however, various disciplines shed light on the matter.[edit] Genetic evidenceWhile population genetics is a young science still full of controversy, in general the genetic evidence appears to indicate that most northwest Africans (whether they consider themselves Berber or Arab) are predominantly of Berber origin, and that populations ancestral to the Berbers have been in the area since the Upper Paleolithic era. The genetically predominant ancestors of the Berbers appear to have come from East Africa, the Middle East, or both - but the details of this remain unclear. However, significant proportions of both the Berber and Arabized Berber gene pools derive from more recent migration of various Italic, Semitic, Germanic, and African people sub-Saharan African peoples, all of whom have left their genetic footprints in the region.The Y chromosome is passed exclusively through the paternal line. According to Bosch et al. 2001, "the historical origins of the NW African Y-chromosome pool may be summarized as follows: 75% NW African Upper Paleolithic (H35, H36, and H38), 13% Neolithic (H58 and H71), 4% historic European gene flow (group IX, H50, H52), and 8% recent sub-Saharan African (H22 and H28)". They identify the "75% NW African Upper Paleolithic" component as "an Upper Paleolithic colonization that probably had its origin in eastern Africa." The North-west African population's 75% Y chromosome genetic contribution from East Africa contrasted with a 78% contribution to the Iberian population from western Asia, suggests that the northern rim of the Mediterranean with the Straight of Gibraltar acted as a strong, albeit incomplete, barrier (Bosch et al, 2001).The interpretation of the second most frequent "Neolithic" haplotype is debated: Arredi et al. 2004, like Semino et al. 2000 and Bosch et al. 2001, argue that the H71 haplogroup and North African Y-chromosomal diversity indicate a Neolithic-era "demic diffusion of Afro-Asiatic-speaking pastoralists from the Middle East", while Nebel et al. 2002 argue that H71 rather reflects "recent gene flow caused by the migration of Arabian tribes in the first millennium of the Common Era." Bosch et al. also find little genetic distinction between Arabic and Berber-speaking populations in North Africa, which they take to support the interpretation of the Arabization and Islamization of northwestern Africa, starting during the 7th century A.D., as cultural phenomena without extensive genetic replacement. Cruciani et al. 2004 note that the E-M81 haplogroup on the Y-chromosome correlates closely with Berber populations.The mtDNA, by contrast, is inherited only from the mother. According to Macaulay et al. 1999, "one-third of Mozabite Berber mtDNAs have a Near Eastern ancestry, probably having arrived in North Africa ∼50,000 years ago, and one-eighth have an origin in sub-Saharan Africa. Europe appears to be the source of many of the remaining sequences, with the rest having arisen either in Europe or in the Near East." [Maca-Meyer et al. 2003] analyze the "autochthonous North African lineage U6" in mtDNA, concluding that:The most probable origin of the proto-U6 lineage was the Near East. Around 30,000 years ago it spread to North Africa where it represents a signature of regional continuity. Subgroup U6a reflects the first African expansion from the Maghrib returning to the east in Paleolithic times. Derivative clade U6a1 signals a posterior movement from East Africa back to the Maghrib and the Near East. This migration coincides with the probable Afroasiatic linguistic expansion. A genetic study by Fadhlaoui-Zid et al. 2004 argues concerning certain exclusively North African haplotypes that "expansion of this group of lineages took place around 10500 years ago in North Africa, and spread to neighbouring population", and apparently that a specific Northwestern African haplotype, U6, probably originated in the Near East 30,000 years ago but has not been highly preserved and accounts for 6-8% in southern Moroccan Berbers, 18% in Kabyles and 28% in Mozabites. Rando et al. 1998 (as cited by [1]) "detected female-mediated gene flow from sub-Saharan Africa to NW Africa" amounting to as much as 21.5% of the mtDNA sequences in a sample of NW African populations; the amount varied from 82% (Touaregs) to 4% (Rifains). This north-south gradient in the sub-Saharan contribution to the gene pool is supported by Esteban et al.[edit] ArchaeologicalThe Neolithic Capsian culture appeared in North Africa around 9,500 BC and lasted until possibly 2700 BC. Linguists and population geneticists alike have identified this culture as a probable period for the spread of an Afro-Asiatic language (ancestral to the modern Berber languages) to the area. The origins of the Capsian culture, however, are archeologically unclear. Some have regarded this culture's population as simply a continuation of the earlier Mesolithic Ibero-Maurusian culture, which appeared around ~22,000 BC, while others argue for a population change; the former view seems to be supported by dental evidence. [2][edit] AnthropologicalPhysical anthropologists agree that Cro-Magnon is represented in modern times by the Berber and Tuareg peoples of North Africa, the recently extinct Guanches of the Canary Isles, the Basques of northern Spain, some people living in the Dordogne Valley and in Brittany in France; and, some years ago, those living on the Isle d'Oleron. All have the distinguishing Cro-Magnon skulls (Howells, 1967; Lundman, 1967, et al.). Except for some shrinkage of areas, this is the same distribution pattern for Cro-Magnon as existed in Upper Paleolithic times.[edit] LinguisticThe Berber languages form a branch of Afro-Asiatic, and thus descended from the proto-Afro-Asiatic language; on the basis of linguistic migration theory, this is most commonly believed by historical linguists (notably Igor Diakonoff and Christopher Ehret) to have originated in east Africa no earlier than 12,000 years ago, although Alexander Militarev argues instead for an origin in the Middle East. Ehret specifically suggests identifying the Capsian culture with speakers of languages ancestral to Berber and/or Chadic, and sees the Capsian culture as having been brought there from the African coast of the Red Sea. It is still disputed which branches of Afro-Asiatic are most closely related to Berber, but most linguists accept at least one of Semitic and Chadic as among its closest relatives within the family (see Afro-Asiatic languages.)The Nobiin variety of Nubian contains several Berber loanwords, according to Bechhaus-Gerst, suggesting a former geographical distribution extending further southeast than the present.[edit] The appearance and the genetic make-up of Berbers is best examined together with that of their fellow Arabic-speaking inhabitants of North Africa; both share a predominant Berber ancestry.[edit] Coastal Northwest AfricansReligions and beliefsBerbers are predominantly Sunni Muslim, most belonging to the Maliki madhhab, while the Mozabites, Djerbans, and Nafusis of the northern Sahara are Ibadi Muslim. Sufi tariqas are common in the western areas, but rarer in the east; marabout cults were traditionally important in most areas.Before their conversion to Islam, some Berber groups had converted to Christianity (often Donatist) or Judaism, while others had continued to practise traditional polytheism. Under the influence of Islamic culture, some syncretic religions briefly emerged, as among the Berghouata, only to be replaced by Islam.[edit] HistoryThe Berbers have lived in North Africa between western Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean for as far back as records of the area go. References to them occur frequently in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sources. Berber groups are first mentioned in writing by the ancient Egyptians during the Predynastic Period, and during the New Kingdom the Egyptians later fought against the Meshwesh and Lebu (Libyans) tribes on their western borders. Many Egyptologists think that from about 945 BC the Egyptians were ruled by Meshwesh immigrants who founded the Twenty-second Dynasty under Shoshenq I, beginning a long period of Berber rule in Egypt, although others posit different origins for these dynasties, including Nubian ones. They long remained the main population of the Western Desert - the Byzantine chroniclers often complained of the Mazikes (Amazigh) raiding outlying monasteries there.For many centuries the Berbers inhabited the coast of North Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. Over time, the coastal regions of North Africa saw a long parade of invaders and colonists including Phoenicians (who founded Carthage), Greeks (mainly in Libya), Romans, Vandals and Alans, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and the French and Spanish. Most if not all of these invaders have left some imprint upon the modern Berbers as have slaves brought from throughout Europe (some estimates place the number of Europeans brought to North Africa during the Ottoman period as high as 1.25 million)[3] and sub-Saharan Africa have also left impressions upon the local populations.In historical times, the Berbers expanded south into the Sahara (displacing earlier black African populations such as the Azer and Bafour), and have in turn been mainly culturally assimilated in much of North Africa by Arabs, particularly following the incursion of the Banu Hilal in the 11th century.The areas of North Africa which retained the Berber language and traditions have, in general, been those least exposed to foreign rule - in particular, the highlands of Kabylie and Morocco, most of which even in Roman and Ottoman times remained largely independent, and where the Phoenicians never even penetrated beyond the coast. However, even these areas have been affected by some of the many invasions of North Africa, most recently including the French. Another major source of foreign influence, particularly in the Sahara, was the slave trade routes from West Africa.[edit] Berbers and the Islamic conquestUnlike the conquests of previous religions and cultures, the coming of Islam, which was spread by Arabs, was to have pervasive and long-lasting effects on the Maghreb. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics, and in large part replacing tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.Nonetheless, the Islamization and Arabization of the region were complicated and lengthy processes. Whereas nomadic Berbers were quick to convert and assist the Arab conquerors, not until the twelfth century under the Almohad Dynasty did the Christian and Jewish communities become totally marginalized.The first Arab military expeditions into the Maghrib, between 642 and 669, resulted in the spread of Islam. These early forays from a base in Egypt occurred under local initiative rather than under orders from the central caliphate. When the seat of the caliphate moved from Medina to Damascus, however, the Umayyads (a Muslim dynasty ruling from 661 to 750) recognized that the strategic necessity of dominating the Mediterranean dictated a concerted military effort on the North African front. In 670, therefore, an Arab army under Uqba ibn Nafi established the town of Al Qayrawan about 160 kilometers south of present-day Tunis and used it as a base for further operations.Abu al Muhajir Dinar, Uqba's successor, pushed westward into Algeria and eventually worked out a modus vivendi with Kusayla, the ruler of an extensive confederation of Christian Berbers. Kusayla, who had been based in Tilimsan (Tlemcen), became a Muslim and moved his headquarters to Takirwan, near Al Qayrawan.This harmony was short-lived, however. Arab and Berber forces controlled the region in turn until 697. By 711 Umayyad forces helped by Berber converts to Islam had conquered all of North Africa. Governors appointed by the Umayyad caliphs ruled from Al Qayrawan, capital the new wilaya (province) of Ifriqiya, which covered Tripolitania (the western part of present-day Libya), Tunisia, and eastern Algeria.Paradoxically, the spread of Islam among the Berbers did not guarantee their support for the Arab-dominated caliphate. The ruling Arabs alienated the Berbers by taxing them heavily; treating converts as second-class Muslims; and, at worst, by enslaving them. As a result, widespread opposition took the form of open revolt in 739-40 under the banner of Kharijite Islam. The Kharijites objected to Ali, the fourth caliph, making peace with the Umayyads in 657 and left Ali's camp (khariji means "those who leave"). The Kharijites had been fighting Umayyad rule in the East, and many Berbers were attracted by the sect's egalitarian precepts. For example, according to Kharijism, any suitable Muslim candidate could be elected caliph without regard to race, station, or descent from the Prophet Muhammad.After the revolt, Kharijites established a number of theocratic tribal kingdoms, most of which had short and troubled histories. Others, however, like Sijilmasa and Tilimsan, which straddled the principal trade routes, proved more viable and prospered. In 750 the Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads as Muslim rulers, moved the caliphate to Baghdad and reestablished caliphal authority in Ifriqiya, appointing Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab as governor in Al Qayrawan. Although nominally serving at the caliph's pleasure, Al Aghlab and his successors, the Aghlabids, ruled independently until 909, presiding over a court that became a center for learning and culture.Just to the west of Aghlabid lands, Abd ar Rahman ibn Rustam ruled most of the central Maghrib from Tahert, southwest of Algiers. The rulers of the Rustamid imamate, which lasted from 761 to 909, each an Ibadi Kharijite imam, were elected by leading citizens. The imams gained a reputation for honesty, piety, and justice. The court at Tahert was noted for its support of scholarship in mathematics, astronomy, and astrology, as well as theology and law. The Rustamid imams, however, failed, by choice or by neglect, to organize a reliable standing army. This important factor, accompanied by the dynasty's eventual collapse into decadence, opened the way for Tahert's demise under the assault of the Fatimids.[edit] The Muslims who entered Iberia in 711 were mainly Berbers, and were led by a Berber, Tariq ibn Ziyad, though under the suzerainty of the Arab Caliph of Damascus Abd al-Malik and his North African Viceroy, |
