Banu Hilal
The Banu Hilal was a confederation of Arab tribes from the Najd region of the central Arabian Peninsula that emigrated to the Maghreb region of North Africa in the 11th century. They ruled the Najd and campaigned in the borderlands between Iraq and Syria. When the Fatimid Caliphate became the rulers of Egypt and the founders of Cairo in 969, they confined the Bedouin in the south before sending them to Central North Africa and then to Morocco.
Historians estimate the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century to be 500,000 to 700,000 to 1,000,000. Historian Mármol Carvajal states that more than a million Arabs migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century, an estimation that he attributes to Ibn Al-Raquiq, who died 2 decades before the migration.In the 19th century, Ernest Carette estimates that the total population of Hilalians during the 16th century was 920,250, an estimation he made using the accounts of Mármol Carvajal.
Origin
The Banu Hilal originated in Najd in the central Arabian Peninsula, sometimes travelling towards Iraq in search of pastures and oases. According to Arab genealogists, the Banu Hilal were a sub-tribe of the Mudar tribal confederation, specifically of the Amir ibn Sa'sa'a, and their progenitor was Hilal. According to traditional Arab sources, their full genealogy was the following: Hilāl ibn ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr ibn Hawāzin ibn Manṣūr ibn ʿIkrima ibn K̲h̲aṣafa ibn Qays ibn ʿAylān ibn Muḍar ibn Nizār ibn Ma'ad ibn ʿAdnān. The Banu Hilal were very numerous, effectively a nation divided into its own sub-tribes, of which the most notable were the Athbaj, Riyah, Jusham, Zughba, Adi, and Qurra.Ibn Khaldun described their genealogy, which consisted of two mother tribes: themselves and the Banu Sulaym. In Arabia, they lived on the Ghazwan near Ta'if while the Banu Sulaym attended nearby Medina, sharing a common cousin in the Al Yas branch of the Quraysh. At the time of their migration, Banu Hilal comprised six sub-tribes: Athbadj, Riyah, Jusham, Adi, Zughba, and Rabi'a.
History
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Its original abode, like that of its related tribes, was the Najd. Its history during pre-Islamic times is bound with other tribes of the Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa, especially in the and in affairs related to the rise of Islam in the region, such as that of Massacre of Bi'r Ma'una. The Banu Hilal likely did not accept Islam until after Muhammad's victory at the Battle of Hunayn in 630, but like other ʿĀmirid tribes, they also did not join in the Ridda Wars that followed Muhammad's death in 632.Migration to Egypt, Iraq and the Levant
The tribe does not appear to have played any significant role in the early Muslim conquests, and for the most part remained in the Nejd. Only in the early 8th century did some of the Banu Hilal move to Egypt. Many followed, so that the two groups became numerous in Egypt. During the Abbasid Caliphate, the Hilal were known for their unruliness. In the 9th century, Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym migrated from Najd to Iraq, and later to the Levant, before migrating to the Maghreb in the 11th century.In the 970s, the Hilal and the Sulaym joined the radical sect of the Qarmatians in their attacks on the Fatimid Caliphate, which had just conquered Egypt and was pushing into Syria. As a result, after his victory over the Qarmatians in 978, the Fatimid caliph al-Aziz forcibly relocated the two tribes to Upper Egypt. As they continued to fight among themselves and pillage the area, they were prohibited from crossing the Nile River or leaving Upper Egypt.
Migration to the Maghreb
The Banu Hilal first began migrating to the Maghreb when the Zirid dynasty of Ifriqiya proclaimed its independence from the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. In retribution against the Zirids, the Fatimids dispatched large Bedouin Arab tribes, mainly the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, to defeat the Zirids and settle in the Maghreb. These tribes followed a nomadic lifestyle and were originally from the Hejaz and Najd. To persuade the Bedouin into migrating to the Maghreb, the Fatimid caliph gave each tribesman a camel and money and helped them cross from the east to the west bank of the Nile River. The severe drought in Egypt at the time also persuaded these tribes to migrate to the Maghreb, which had a better economic situation at the time. The Fatimid caliph instructed them to rule the Maghreb instead of the Zirid emir al-Mu'izz and told them "I have given you the Maghrib and the rule of al-Mu'izz ibn Balkīn as-Sanhājī the runaway slave. You will want for nothing." and told al-Mu'izz "I have sent you horses and put brave men on them so that God might accomplish a matter already enacted".Upon arriving in Cyrenaica, the Arab nomads found the region almost empty of its inhabitants, except a few Zenata Berbers that al-Mu'izz had already mostly destroyed. The number of Hilalians who moved westward out of Egypt has been estimated as high as 200,000 families. Cyrenaica was left to be settled by Banu Sulaym while the Hilalians marched westwards. As a result of the settlement by Arab tribes, Cyrenaica became the most Arab place in the Arab world after the interior of Arabia. According to Ibn Khaldun, the Banu Hilal were accompanied by their wives and their children when they came to the Maghreb. They settled in Ifriqiya after winning battles against Berber tribes, eventually going on to coexist with them. Abu Zayd al-Hilali led between 150,000 and 300,000 Arabs into the Maghreb, who intermarried with the indigenous peoples. The Fatimids used the tribe, which began their journey as allies and vassals, to punish the particularly difficult to control Zirids after the conquest of Egypt and the founding of Cairo. As the dynasty became increasingly independent and abandoned Shia Islam, they quickly defeated the Zirids after the battle of Haydaran and deeply weakened the neighboring Hammadid dynasty and the Zenata. The Zirids abandoned Kairouan to take refuge on the coast where they survived for a century. The Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym spread on the high plains of Constantine where they gradually obstructed the Qal'at Bani Hammad as they had done to Kairouan a few decades ago. From there, they gradually gained control over the high plains of Algiers and Oran. In the second half of the 12th century, they went to the Moulouya valley and the Atlantic coast in the western Maghreb to areas such as Doukkala.
Their influx was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural and ethnic Arabization of the Maghreb and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. They had also heavily transformed the culture of the Maghreb into Arab culture, and spread nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant. It played a major role in spreading Bedouin Arabic to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near the Sahara. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.
Historians estimate the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century to be 250,000 to 700,000 to 1,000,000 when the entire population of the Maghreb at the time was estimated to be 5,000,000. Historian Mármol Carvajal states that more than a million Arabs migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century, an estimation that he attributes to Ibn Al-Raquiq.Ernest Carette estimates that the total population of Hilalians during the 16th century was 920,250.
The Banu Hilal later came under the rule of various subsequent dynasties, including the Almohad Caliphate, Hafsid dynasty, Zayyanid dynasty and Marinid dynasty. Finding their continued presence intolerable, the Almohad Caliphate defeated the Banu Hilal in the Battle of Setif and forced many of them to leave Ifriqiya and settle in Morocco. Upon the arrival of the Turks, the Banu Hilal rose against the Ottoman Empire near the Aurès region and south Algeria. In Morocco during the 17th century, the sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif created a guich army made up of Arab warriors from the Banu Hilal and the Banu Maqil which was one of the main parts of the Moroccan army. They were garrisoned in their own lands of water and pastures and served as troops and military garrisons to fight in wars and suppress rebellions.