Amazigh studies with Driss Iwzalene

THE MUQADDIMAH ‒ IBN KHALDUN

First edition, 1967 First Princeton/Bollingen Paperback printing, 1969 New
introduction by Bruce B. Lawrence, 2005 First Princeton Classics edition, 2015.
United States of America
Introduction
The history of the Tubba's, the Tubba's used to raid Ifriqiyah and the Amazighs of
Tamazgha. Afriqus Qays Sayfi caused a great slaughter among the Amazighs. P14
The Amazigh genealogists do not admit that the Sinhajah and the Kutamah belong
to the Himyar, and they are right. P14-P15
The Byzantines were succeeded later by the Arabs. The old institutions changed and
former customs were transformed into something distinct and altogether different.
Then, there came Islam. Again, all institutions underwent another change. The days
of Arab rule were over. The early generations who had cemented Arab might and
founded the realm of the Arabs were gone. Power was seized by others non-Arab
nations, the Turks, the European Christians and the Amazighs, the institutions and
customs changed again. P25
At the present time, weak-minded Spaniards are especially given to errors in this
respect. The group feeling has been lost in their country for many years, as the
result of the annihilation of the Arab dynasty in Spain and the emancipation of the
Spaniards from the control of Amazigh group feeling.
The Arab descent has been remembered, but the ability to gain power through
group feeling and mutual co-operation has been lost. In fact, the (Spaniards) came
to be like (passive) subjects, without any feeling for the obligation of mutual
support. They were enslaved by tyranny and had become fond of humiliation,
thinking that their descent, together with their share in the ruling dynasty, was the
source of power and authority. P28
The Amazighs, the original population of the Tamazgha, they have been largely
replaced by an influx of Arabs that began since the eleventh century. The Arabs
outnumbered and overpowered the Amazighs, stripped them of most of their lands,
and also obtained a share of those that remained in their possession. P29-30
Not all nations have the same sounds in their speech. One nation has sounds
different from those of another. The same applies to the European Christians, the
Turks, the Amazighs, and other non-Arabs. P31
Chapter 1: Human civilization in general
This sea is called the Chinese, Indian, or Abyssinian Sea (Indian Ocean). It is
bordered on the south by the country of the Negroes and the country of Tamazgha
which Imru'ul-Qays mentioned in his poem. These 'Amazighs' do not belong to the
Amazighs who make up the tribes in the Tamazgha. P51
It is too lengthy a subject, and our main concern is with the Tamazgha, the home of
the Amazighs, and the Arab home countries in the East. P53
The inhabitants have a very hard time. Instances of such people as Sinhajah who
live in the desert of Tamazgha on the fringes of the sandy wastes which lie between
the Amazighs and the Sudanese Negroes. All of them lack grain and seasonings.
Their nourishment and food consist of milk and meat. P65
This is attested by experience in all these groups. There is a great difference in this
respect between the Arabs and Amazighs (on the one hand), and the Veiled
(Amazighs) and the inhabitants of the hills (on the other). This fact is known to
those who have investigated the matter. P65
The same observations apply to human beings. We find that the inhabitants of
fertile zones where the products of agriculture and animal husbandry as well as
seasonings and fruits are plentiful, are, as a rule, described as stupid in mind and
coarse in body. This is the case with those Amazighs who have plenty of seasonings
and wheat, as compared with those who lead a frugal life and are restricted to
barley or durra, such as the Masmudah Amazighs and the inhabitants of as-Sus and
the Ghumarah. P66
It can also be noted that those people who, whether they inhabit the desert or
settled areas and cities, live a life of abundance and have all the good things to eat,
die more quickly than others when a drought or famine comes upon them. This is
the case, for instance, with the Amazighs. P77
Chapter 2: Bedouin civilization, savage nations and tribes and their conditions of life,
including several basic and explanatory statements.
For those who make their living through the cultivation of grain and through
agriculture, it is better to be stationary than to travel around. Such, therefore, are
the inhabitants of small communities, villages, and mountain regions. These people
make up the large mass of the Amazighs and non-Bedouins. Those who make their
living from animals requiring pasturage, such as sheep and cattle, usually travel
around in order to find pasture and water for their animals, since it is better for
them to move around in the land. They are called 'sheepmen', that is, men who live
on sheep and cattle. They do not go deep into the desert, because they would not
find good pastures there. Such people include the Amazighs. P92
In the West, the nomadic Amazighs and the Zanatah are their counterparts, and in
the East, the Kurds, the Turkomans, and the Turks. P93
Chapter 3: On dynasties, royal authority, the caliphate, government ranks.
The same happened to the Umayyad dynasty in Spain. When its Arab group feeling
was destroyed, small princes seized power and divided the territory among
themselves. In competition with each other, they distributed among themselves the
realm of the Umayyad dynasty. Each one of them seized the territory under his
control and aggrandized himself. (These rulers) learned of the relations that existed
between the non-Arabs (in the East) and the 'Abbasids. (Imitating them), they
adopted royal surnames and used royal trappings. There was no danger that
anyone would take (the prerogatives they claimed) away from them or alter (the
situation in this respect), because Spain was no longer the home of groups and
tribes. They tried to maintain their power with the help of clients and followers and
with that of the Zanatah and other Amazigh tribes which infiltrated Spain from the
(African) shore. P124-125
They were allowed (to take possession of) the realms of the Persians and the
Byzantines who were the greatest dynasties in the world at that time, (as well as
the realms) of the Turks in the East, of the European Christians and Amazighs in the
Western Tamazgha, and of the Goths in Spain. They went from the Hijaz to as-Sus in
the far west, and from the Yemen to the Turks in the farthest north. They gained
possession of all seven zones. P130
The inhabitants of those lands are Amazigh tribes and groups. The first Muslim
victory over them and the European Christians in the Tamazgha was of no avail.
They continued to rebel and apostatized time after time. P131
The Amazigh tribes in the West are innumerable. All of them are Bedouins and
members of groups and families. Whenever one tribe is destroyed, another takes
its place and is as refractory and rebellious as the former one had been. P131
The Arabs later on lost all control of the government. Royal authority fell to Turkish
and Amazigh nations. P176
The Almoravid ruler Yusuf b. Tashfin made his appearance among the Amazigh
tribes in Tamazgha. P182
Along its southern shore the lands of the Amazighs extend from Geuta to Alexandria
and on to Syria. P208
The Byzantines (coveted) the Tamazgha, they crossed over in their fleets and took
possession of it. Thus, they achieved superiority over the Amazighs and deprived
them of their power. P208
The advance in closed formation has been the technique of all the non-Arabs
throughout their entire existence. The technique of attack and withdrawal has been
that of the Amazighs. P224
However, the rulers employ (such European Christians) only in wars against
Amazigh nations, in order to force them into submission. P227-228
Then, the Idrisids seceded in North East of Tamazgha. The Amazighs there
supported them, in obedience to their group feeling. Also, they were secure from
capture by the soldiers or militiamen of the dynasty. P248
Chapter 4: Countries and cities, and all other forms of sedentary civilization, the
conditions occurring there. primary and secondary considerations in this connection.
The reason for this is that these regions belonged to the Amazighs for thousands of
years before Islam. P270
No sedentary culture existed among the Amazighs long enough to reach any degree
of perfection. P270
Furthermore, crafts were unfamiliar to the Amazighs, because they were firmly
rooted in desert life. P270
And the crafts result from sedentary culture. Now, buildings can materialize only
with the help of (the crafts). One needs skill to learn them, and since the Amazighs
did not practice them. P270
The reason for this is the very same thing that we mentioned concerning the
Amazighs. P271
Western Tamazgha had no great royal authority before Islam. The Romans and
European Christians had crossed the sea to Western Tamazgha and had taken
possession of the coast. The allegiance the Amazighs who lived there paid them was
not firmly grounded. They were there only temporarily. No dynasty was close to the
people of Western Tamazgha. They were there only temporarily. No dynasty was
close to the people of Western Tamazgha. From time to time, they offered their
obedience to the Goths across the sea. When the Arabs took possession of Eastern
Tamazgha and Western Tamazgha, Arab rule lasted for only a short while at the
beginning of Islam. At that time, they were in the stage of Bedouin life. Those who
stayed in Eastern Tamazgha and Western Tamazgha did not find there any old
tradition of sedentary culture, because the original population had been Amazighs
immersed in Bedouin life. Very soon, the Amazighs of Morocco revolted and never
again later reverted to Arab rule. They were independent. If they rendered the oath
of allegiance to Idris, his rule over them cannot be considered an Arab rule, because
the Amazighs were in charge of it, and there were not many Arabs in it. Eastern
Tamazgha remained in the possession of the Aghlabids and the Arabs who were
with them. They had some sedentary culture as the result of the luxury and
prosperity of the royal authority and the large civilization of al-Qayrawan that were
theirs. The Kutamah and then the Sinhajah after them inherited it from the
Aghlabids. But all that was brief and lasted less than four hundred years. Their
dynasty ended, and the stamp of sedentary culture changed, as it had not been
firmly established. The Hilal, who were Arab Bedouins, gained power over the
country and ruined it. P283-284
The Amazighs in Tamazgha reverted to their Bedouin ways and Bedouin toughness.
But, at any rate, the traces of sedentary culture are more numerous in Eastern
Tamazgha than in the Western Tamazgha. The old dynasties had lasted longer in
Western Tamazgha than in the Eastern Tamazgha, and the customs of the people of
Ifriqiyah had been close to the customs of the Egyptians because of the great
amount of intercourse between them. P284
The non-Arabs in the West, the Amazighs, are like the Arabs in this respect, because
for a very long period they remained firmly rooted in desert life. This is attested by
the small number of cities in the Amazigh region. The crafts in Tamazgha, therefore,
are few in number and are not well established. Exceptions are the weaving of wool
and the tanning and stitching of leather. P317
The non-Arab Muslim who studies to become a scholar learns his subject in a
language other than his native one and from a writing other than the one whose
habit he has mastered. This, then, becomes an impediment to him. This applies
quite generally to all kinds of speakers of non-Arab languages, such as the Persians,
the Turks, the Amazighs, the European Christians, and all others whose language is
not Arabic. P433
If this is clear, it will make one realize that non-Arabs, such as Persians, Byzantines,
and Turks in the East, and Amazighs in the West, who are strangers to the Arabic
language and adopt it and are forced to speak it as the result of contact with the
Arabs, do not possess such taste. P440