The Berber tribe of Jarawa in the Aures Mountains was led by a Dahia al-Kahina. The warrior queen ruled over a vast area and achieved brilliant victories against the Arab invaders led by Caliph Abdalmelek.4 After her death in battle at the end of the 7th century, the Arabs overcame Berber resistance. About This Page:
I hope to compile the most complete resource in English on the Web for information about the seventh-century Jewish Berber warrior queen, Dihya al-Kahina. Dihya is also called Dahia, Damia, and Diah, and Kahina is frequently spelled Kahena or Cahena, or altered to A-Cahina, so if you're searching for any of those names, you have come to the right place! I base the spelling I use on a combination of contemporary Amazigh convention and common use in English, it is not necessarily the 'correct' way to romanize al-Kahina's name.
My primary interest in al-Kahina is as a Jewish woman in North African history who was a warrior, tribal leader, and religious figure. If you're looking for references to al-Kahina's significance as an icon of Amazigh culture or nationalism, some of the links below may help you find what you want.
Right, a modern Berber woman in a traditional headdress, and left, an artist's imagined portrait of al-Kahina, wearing a similar arrangement of coins and ornaments.
Who was al-Kahina?: Dihya al-Kahina was a woman born into a Jewish Berber tribe in the Aures Mountains some time during the 600s CE. During her lifetime, Arab generals began to lead armies into North Africa, preparing to conquer the area and introduce Islam to the local peoples. The Berber tribes fiercely resisted invasion, and decades of war resulted.
Very little is known about Dihya's family, or her early life. Her father's name was Tabat, or Thabitah. The name al-Kahina is a feminine form of "Cohen", and it may indicate that her family or tribe were cohanim. It could also have been a title given to her personally, meaning something like 'priestess' or 'prophetess'. Her followers, and their enemies, credited her with prophesy and magical knowledge. She married at least once, and had sons. Beyond that, almost nothing is known.
The Berbers of the seventh century were not religiously homogenous. Christian, Jewish and pagan Berbers were spread through the region that is now Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. They shared a common language and culture, however, and the invasion of the Arabs presented them with a common cause, to drive out the invaders. Al-Kahina emerged as a war-leader during this tense period, and proved amazingly successful at leading the tribes to join together against their common enemy. Her reputation as a strategist and sorceress spread, and she managed to briefly unite the tribes of Ifrikya, the Berber name for North Africa, ruling them and leading them in battle for five years before her final defeat.
Topic: Dahia al-Kahina, Jewish warrior women who resisted the Arab invaders. (Read 6950 times)