The most comprehensive Berber
history in English is The Berbers by
Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress.
The authors leave no stone carving
unturned, providing archaeological
evidence to back up their historical
insights.Queen Al-Kahina had one distinct
advantage over the Umayyads:
second sight. The downside? She
foretold her own death at the hands of
her enemy.Moroccan industries still vital today: olive-oil production from the region of Volubilis (near
Meknès), fishing along the coasts, and vineyards on the Atlantic plains.
The Roman foothold in Mauretania slipped in the centuries
after Juba II died, due to increasingly organised Berber
rebellions inland and attacks on the Atlantic and Mediterranean
coasts by the Vandals, Byzantines and Visigoths. But this new
crop of marauding Europeans couldn’t manage Mauretania, and
neither could Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Justinian’s attempt
to extend his Holy Roman Empire turned out to be an unholy
mess of treaties with various Berber kingdoms, who played
their imperial Byzantine connections like face cards in high-
stakes games. The history of Morocco would be defined by such strategic gamesmanship
among the Berbers, whose savvy, competing alliances helped make foreign dominion over
Morocco a near-impossible enterprise for more than a millennium.
ISLAM ARRIVES IN MOROCCO
By the early 7th century, the Berbers of Morocco were mostly worshipping their own indigenous
deities, alongside Jewish Berbers and a smattering of local Christian converts. History might
have continued thus, but for a middle-aged man thousands of miles away who’d had the good
fortune to marry a wealthy widow, and yet found himself increasingly at odds with the elites of
his Arabian Peninsula town of Mecca. Mohammed bin Abu Talib was his given name, but he
would soon be recognised as the Prophet Mohammed for his revelation that there was only one
God, and that believers shared a common duty to submit to God’s will. The polytheist ruling
class of Mecca did not take kindly to this new religion that assigned them shared
responsibilities and took away their minor-deity status, and kicked the Prophet out of town on
16 July AD 622.
This Hejira (exile) only served to spread the Prophet Mohammed’s message more widely. By
the Prophet’s death in 632, Arab caliphs – religious leaders inspired and emboldened by his
teachings – were carrying Islam east to Central Asia and west to North Africa. But infighting
limited their reach in North Africa, and it took Umayyad Arab leader Uqba bin Nafi until 682 to
reach the Atlantic shores of Morocco. According to legend, Uqba announced he would charge
into the ocean, if God would only give him the signal. But the legendary Algerian Berber warrior
Queen Al-Kahina would have none of Uqba’s grandstanding, and with her warriors soon forced
Uqba to retreat back to Tunisia.
Although an armed force failed to win the Berbers over to
Islam, force of conviction gradually began to succeed. The
egalitarian premise of Islam and its emphasis on duty, courage
and the greater good were compatible with many Berber
beliefs, including clan loyalty broadly defined to include almost
anyone descended from the Berber equivalent of Adam and
Eve. Many Berbers willingly converted to Islam – and not
incidentally, reaped the benefits of Umayyad overland trading
routes that brought business their way. So although Uqba was killed by his Berber foes before
he was able to establish a solid base in Morocco, by the 8th century his successors were able
to pull off this feat largely through diplomatic means.