Athbaj

The Athbaj is a sub-tribe of the Banu Hilal, a large confederation of Arab tribes that migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to North Africa in the 11th century.

History

The Athbaj were one of the three main divisions of the Banu Hilal along with the Riyah and Zughba. According to Ibn Khaldun, the Athbaj, which was one of the most important tribes of the Banu Hilal at the time of the Hilalian invasion, was composed of the Garfa and the. In the 12th century, the Athbaj inhabited areas to the south and east of the Zughba who inhabited an area stretching from Tlemcen in the west and Algiers to the east.
Leo Africanus writes concerning the Athbaj:
With the defeat of the Banu Hilal by the Almohads, the Banu Hilal tribes were resettled around the Maghreb al-Aqsa on a large scale during the region of Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min after his conquest of the Central Maghreb and Ifriqya. This policy continued under other Almohad rulers like Yaqub al-Mansur. Ibn Khaldun recorded the distribution of resettled Arab tribes in his Kitab al-Ibar and says that some clans of the Athbaj were settled in the plains of Tamasna.

The Athbaj are divided into the following tribes: