Emirate of Tlemcen | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 757–790 [1] [2] | |||||||||||||
| Status | Emirate | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Tlemcen | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Berber, Arabic | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Sufri Islam | ||||||||||||
| Government | Emirate, tribal confederacy | ||||||||||||
• Until 790 | Abu Qurra | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Establishment | c. 757 | ||||||||||||
| 790 [3] [4] | |||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Algeria | ||||||||||||
| History of Algeria |
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The Ifranid Emirate of Tlemcen [5] or Ifranid Kingdom of Tlemcen, [6] [7] [8] was a Kharijite state, [9] [7] founded by Berbers of the Banu Ifran in the eighth century, [10] with its capital at Tlemcen in modern Algeria. [10]
The Banu Ifran were a Zenata Berber tribe who originated from modern-day Yafran in Libya. [11] After the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, there were a number of Berber revolts against the Umayyad caliphate. These mid-eighth century revolts were associated with Kharijite teachings, which won over a good part of the Maghreb with their puritanism and egalitarian message. [12] As a result of one of these, the Rustamid dynasty founded a kingdom at Tahert.
Around the same time, a revolt of the Banu Ifran broke out. The rebels proclaimed their leader Abu Qurra to be the Caliph, and he established a Sufri state in Tlemcen. [12] [13] Although the founding of this city is sometimes attributed to the Ifranids, the site had already been occupied by the Roman city of Pomaria. [10] Little is known of the internal affairs of the new state, but it was of considerable military significance. [6]
Between 767 and 776 Abu Qurra began to lead expeditions against the Abbasids and became their most important enemies. Abu Qurra hunted down the Abbasid governor after reaching Tobna, Omar ibn Hafç-Hazarmard, who had hidden in Kairouan which Abu Qurra then besieged and subdued after defeating the Abbasid army. [14] [15] [16] [13] Back in Tlemcen, he allied himself with the Maghrawa and had to confront the expansionist aims of the Idrisids. [12] [13] The Abbasids sent a strong army under the new governor, Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi, who defeated the Kharijites in Ifriqiya, but the rest of the Maghreb escaped his authority. [12] [6]
The kingdom did not last long: in accordance with the strict rules of Sufrites, Abu Qurra would not allow his descendants to found a dynasty. [17] He welcomed Idris I, recognizing his kingdom and breaking with the Rustamids. Idris I negotiated the surrender of Tlemcen with the Maghrawa. One of his descendants, Muhammed Sulayman, established the Sulaymanid kingdom in the region, a state that dominated the cities and lasted until the time of the Fatimids in 931. [18] Tlemcen became a distinguished city, growing in connection with the Sunni Arab culture of Al-Andalus; in the countryside however, the Ifranids retained their heterodox faith. In 955 their leader Yala Ibn Mohamed revolted against the Fatimids. [18]
Much of the history of Algeria has taken place on the fertile coastal plain of North Africa, which is often called the Maghreb. North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East, thus, the region's inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas, including the Carthaginians, Romans, and Vandals. The region was conquered by the Muslims in the early 8th century AD, but broke off from the Umayyad Caliphate after the Berber Revolt of 740. During the Ottoman period, Algeria became an important state in the Mediterranean sea which led to many naval conflicts. The last significant events in the country's recent history have been the Algerian War and Algerian Civil War.
Year 765 (DCCLXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 765 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Medieval Muslim Algeria was a period of Muslim dominance in Algeria during the Middle Ages, spanning the millennium from the 7th century to the 17th century. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics; in large part, it would replace tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.
Tlemcen is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of 140,158, as of the 2008 census.
The Rustamid dynasty was an Ibadi Persian dynasty centered in present-day Algeria. The dynasty governed as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from its capital Tahert until the Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate defeated it. Rustamid authority extended over what is now central and western Algeria, parts of southern Tunisia, and the Jebel Nafusa and Fezzan regions in Libya as far as Zawila.
Idris (I) ibn Abd Allah, also known as Idris the Elder, was a Hasanid and the founder of the Idrisid dynasty in part of northern Morocco, after fleeing the Hejaz as a result of the Battle of Fakhkh. He ruled from 788 to 791. He is credited with founding the dynasty that established Moroccan statehood, and is regarded as the founding father of Morocco.
The Zenata are a group of Berber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
The Maghrawa or Meghrawa were a large Berber tribal confederation in North Africa. They were the largest branch of the Zenata confederation. Their traditional territories around the time of Muslim expansion into the Maghreb in the 7th century were around present-day northeastern Algeria. They ruled parts of the western Maghreb on behalf of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba at the end of the 10th century and during the first half of the 11th century.
The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid dynasty descended from Muhammad through his grandson Hasan. The Idrisids are traditionally considered to be the founders of the first Moroccan state, setting the stage for subsequent dynasties and states centered in this region. Their reign played an important role in the early Islamization of Morocco and also presided over an increase in Arab immigration and Arabization in major urban centers.
The Berber Revolt or the Kharijite Revolt of 740–743 AD took place during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and marked the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate. Fired up by Kharijite puritan preachers, the Berber revolt against their Umayyad Arab rulers began in Tangier in 740, and was led initially by Maysara al-Matghari. The revolt soon spread through the rest of the Maghreb and across the straits to al-Andalus.
The Banu Ifran or Ifranids, were a Zenata Berber tribe prominent in the history of pre-Islamic and early Islamic North Africa. In the 8th century, they established a kingdom in the central Maghreb, with Tlemcen as its capital.
Abu Qurra a member of the Sufrite tribe Banu Ifran of Tlemcen, was the founder of the indigenous Berber Muslim movement with Kharijite tendencies in North Africa after the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty. Between 767 and 776, Abu Qurra organised an army of more than 350,000 riders in the north of Africa. He was the first head of state of the Berber Muslim Maghreb. Ibn Khaldun described him in his book Kitab El Ibar. Abu Qurra is known as the founder of Tlemcen during his reign on the Sufri kingdom (776-778).
The Midrarid dynasty was a Berber dynasty that ruled the Sijilmasa region in Morocco from their capital of Sijilmasa, starting in the late 8th or early 9th century to 976/7.
The Sulaymanid dynasty was an Arab Muslim dynasty in present-day western Algeria, ruling from 814 to 922. The dynasty is named after the founder, Sulyaman I, who was the brother of Idris I, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty based in Fez. Both Sulayman and Idris, as great grandchildren of Hasan ibn Ali, were sharifs descended from Muhammad.
The Zirids conquered the western Maghreb in 979 when Buluggin Ibn Ziri led a campaign to expand his territory. He captured most of present-day Morocco by 980, which remained briefly under Zirid control until his death in 984.
The Abbasid conquest of Ifriqiya was an armed campaign in 761 against Kharijite Ibadites in Ifriqiya led by Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate. By the end of the campaign, the Abbasids brought the political domination of the Ibadites in Ifriqiya to an end, and recovered Abbasid authority in the Maghreb as far as eastern Algeria.
The Malikization of the Maghreb was the process of encouraging the adoption of the Maliki school of Sunni Islam in the Maghreb, especially in the 11th and 12th centuries, to the detriment of Shia and Kharijite inhabitants of the Maghreb. The process occurred as Maliki scholars increasingly gained influence, resulting in the widespread acceptance of the Maliki legal school and the subsequent marginalization of other forms of Islam. Malikism was considered a more conservative and mainstream variant of Sunni Islam.
The Talkata or Telkata constitute a branch of the sedentary faction of the Sanhaja in central Maghreb, with their stronghold being Titteri, during the Middle Ages. They played a prominent role in the history of the Muslim Maghreb and are the progenitors of the Zirid dynasties that ruled over central Maghreb, Ifriqiya, and Al-Andalus. The Telkata tribe went extinct during the French Invasion of Algeria.
The Zayyanid-Almohad wars (1236–1248), also known as the Tlemcen-Almohad wars, were a series of conflicts that occurred between the Zayyanid dynasty, rulers of the Kingdom of Tlemcen in present-day Algeria, and the Almohad Caliphate, a North African Berber-Muslim empire that existed from the 12th to the 13th centuries. These wars took place during the Almohad period and were primarily fought over territorial control and influence in the Maghreb region of North Africa.
Central Maghreb, or even Central Berberia is a territorial zone of the Maghreb, between the 7th and 16th centuries, whose fixed limits are difficult to designate. Arab historiographers see it as the territory of rural Berber communities in revolt against the central power before integrating the Fatimid economic and political space. It is bordered by the Extreme Maghreb to the west and Ifriqiya to the east. The Central Maghreb is seen in Arab historiography as the territory of dissident Berber communities before the advent of the Fatimid political and economic order.
The Īfranid tribes which emigrated to the central Mag̲h̲rib towards the middle of the 2nd/8th century and remained under the command of Abū Ḳurra al-Īfranī al-Mag̲h̲īlī founded a Ṣufrī state, probably between 140/757-8 and 148/765-6, whose capital became the town of Tlemcen, built by the newcomers on the site of an ancient Roman town. (...) He conducted a long war with ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, probably relying mainly on the Banū Īfran; in the end he died in battle, killed by Aflaḥ, son of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, in about 188/803-4 or shortly afterwards. At that time, the Īfranid state of Abū Ḳurra had already ceased to exist for some years. It seems moreover that control of Tlemcen, which was then inhabited by the Banū Īfran and the Mag̲h̲rāwa, had passed after the death of Abū Ḳurra into the hands of Mag̲h̲rāwa leaders belonging to the dynasty of the Banū K̲h̲azar, this dynasty being destined to play a considerable part in the history of the Mag̲h̲rib. In 173/789-90 (or according to certain historians, in 174/790-1), at the time of the conquest of that country by Idrīs I [q.v.], the founder of the dynasty of the Idrīsids, Muḥammad Ibn K̲h̲azar b. Ṣūlāt, the ruler of the town of Tlemcen, came before the conqueror and, thanks to his prompt submission, obtained security for himself and for all the Zanāta tribes of the central Mag̲h̲rib. It was Sulaymān, brother of Idrīs I and later hereditary ruler of that town, who became the Idrīsid governor of Tlemcen; it seems however that, save for this fact, conditions in the central Mag̲h̲rib were little changed. The Zanāta tribes in the country continued to recognize the supremacy of the Mag̲h̲rāwa, which had long replaced the supremacy of the Banū Īfran.
From the early 770s, however, they lost their leading position amongst the Kharijite tribes in Algeria. Although they retained control of Tilimsan until its conquest in 790 by the Idrisid rulers of Morocco, their authority was eclipsed by that of 'AbdulRahman b. Rustam, the leader whom the Ibadite tribes in Algeria proclaimed as their imam in 776 or 777 (A.H. 160). Thereafter the Banu Ifran, to whom 'AbdulRahman b. Rustam was related through marriage, figured more as allies of the Rustamid rulers than as a politically dominant group.
The Īfranid tribes which emigrated to the central Mag̲h̲rib towards the middle of the 2nd/8th century and remained under the command of Abū Ḳurra al-Īfranī al-Mag̲h̲īlī founded a Ṣufrī state, probably between 140/757-8 and 148/765-6, whose capital became the town of Tlemcen, built by the newcomers on the site of an ancient Roman town. (...) He conducted a long war with ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, probably relying mainly on the Banū Īfran; in the end he died in battle, killed by Aflaḥ, son of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, in about 188/803-4 or shortly afterwards. At that time, the Īfranid state of Abū Ḳurra had already ceased to exist for some years. It seems moreover that control of Tlemcen, which was then inhabited by the Banū Īfran and the Mag̲h̲rāwa, had passed after the death of Abū Ḳurra into the hands of Mag̲h̲rāwa leaders belonging to the dynasty of the Banū K̲h̲azar, this dynasty being destined to play a considerable part in the history of the Mag̲h̲rib. In 173/789-90 (or according to certain historians, in 174/790-1), at the time of the conquest of that country by Idrīs I [q.v.], the founder of the dynasty of the Idrīsids, Muḥammad Ibn K̲h̲azar b. Ṣūlāt, the ruler of the town of Tlemcen, came before the conqueror and, thanks to his prompt submission, obtained security for himself and for all the Zanāta tribes of the central Mag̲h̲rib. It was Sulaymān, brother of Idrīs I and later hereditary ruler of that town, who became the Idrīsid governor of Tlemcen; it seems however that, save for this fact, conditions in the central Mag̲h̲rib were little changed. The Zanāta tribes in the country continued to recognize the supremacy of the Mag̲h̲rāwa, which had long replaced the supremacy of the Banū Īfran.
From the early 770s, however, they lost their leading position amongst the Kharijite tribes in Algeria. Although they retained control of Tilimsan until its conquest in 790 by the Idrisid rulers of Morocco, their authority was eclipsed by that of 'AbdulRahman b. Rustam, the leader whom the Ibadite tribes in Algeria proclaimed as their imam in 776 or 777 (A.H. 160). Thereafter the Banu Ifran, to whom 'AbdulRahman b. Rustam was related through marriage, figured more as allies of the Rustamid rulers than as a politically dominant group.
