Kahina
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al-Kāhinat (Classical Arabic for "female seer or priest"; modern Maghreb Arabic l-Kahna, commonly romanised as Kah(i)na, also known as Dihya or Kahya) (early 7th century—690s) was a 7th century female Berber religious and military leader, who led indigenous resistance to the Arabization and Islamization of the Northwest Africa region known as the Maghreb.
[edit] Kahina's Disputed Origins
According to legend, l-Kahna was the daughter of Tabat, a chieftain of the Jrāwa tribe from the Aurès Mountains. Other accounts indicate she was a Jew or that her tribe were Judaized Berbers, though some scholars dispute this. During this period, many Jews had sought refuge from Byzantine persecution in the Aurès region, bringing their religion to the local Berber tribes. On the other hand, Punic settlements and Arab polemicists may have had some effect on how she was called.
Her title may originally have been a Punic, Hebrew or Aramaic word; it is difficult to determine how she obtained the Arabic title, al-Kāhinat. The term was used by pagan Punics and Arabs to refer to female seers and priests, by Jews to refer to someone of the priestly Kohen lineage, and perhaps by Muslim Arabs to refer to non-Muslim sorcerers and witches.
Ibn Khaldun records many legends about l-Kahna. A number of them refer to her long hair or great size, both legendary characteristics of sorcerers. She is also supposed to have had the gift of prophecy and she had three sons, which is characteristic of witches in legends. Even the fact that two were her own and one was adopted, was an alleged trait of sorcerers in tales. Her adopted son was a captured Arab officer and, before her defeat, she allegedly sent all three sons to the Muslim community, so they would not die in the fighting. Another legend claims that in her youth, she had supposedly freed her people from a tyrant by agreeing to marry him and then murdering him on their wedding night. Virtually nothing else of her personal life is known.
[edit] Kahina's Legendary Life
L-Kahna succeeded Kusaila as the war leader of the Berber tribes in the 680s and opposed the encroaching Arab armies of the Caliphate. She defeated the Arab armies once, then faced them again five years later. Realizing that the enemy was too powerful, she embarked on a scorched earth campaign, which had little impact on the mountain and desert tribes, but lost her the crucial support of the sedentary oasis-dwellers. Instead of discouraging the Arab armies, her desperate decision hastened defeat.
According to some accounts, l-Kahna died fighting the invaders, sword in hand, a warrior's death. Other accounts say she committed suicide by swallowing poison rather than be taken by the enemy. This final act occurred in the early 690s, with 693 given as the most likely year. In that year, she was, according to ancient accounts quoted by Ibn Khaldun, 127 years old, which would place the year of her birth in the 6th century, circa 566. This was probably not meant literally, as great age was often depicted with exaggerated numbers.
In later centuries, Kahina's legend was used to bolster the claims of Berbers in al-Andalūs against Arab claims of ethnic supremacy—in the early modern age, she was used by Europeans, Berbers and Arabs alike for their own didactic purposes.
[edit] References
- Hannoum, Abdelmajid. (2001). Post-Colonial Memories: The Legend of the Kahina, a North African Heroine (Studies in African Literature). ISBN 0-325-00253-3
