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Berber revolt

Berber Revolt
Date 739–743
Location The Maghreb and Al-Andalus
Result Berber victory in Morocco and West-Algeria. Expulsion of the Umayyads from that area.
Territorial
changes
Establishment of several independent Berber states
Belligerents
Berber insurgents Umayyad Caliphate
Commanders and leaders
Maysara al-Matghari
Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati
Salim Abu Yusuf al-Azdi
Oqasha ibn Ayub al-Fezari
Abd al-Wahid ibn Yazid al-Hawwari
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Ubayd Allah ibn al-Habhab
Khalid ibn Abi Habib al-Fihri
Oqba ibn al-Hajjaj al-Saluli
Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi
Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri
Abd al-Rahman ibn Oqba al-Ghaffari
Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi
Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri
Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri
Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri
Thalaba ibn Salama al-Amili
Abu al-Khattar ibn Darar al-Kalbi

The Great Berber Revolt of 739/740–743 AD (122–125 AH in the Muslim calendar) took place during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and marked the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate (ruled from Damascus). Fired up by Kharijite puritan preachers, the Berber revolt against their Umayyad Arab rulers began in Tangiers in 740, and was led initially by Maysara al-Matghari. The revolt soon spread through the rest of the Maghreb (North Africa) and across the straits to al-Andalus.

The Umayyads scrambled and managed to prevent the core of Ifriqiya (Tunisia, East-Algeria and West-Libya) and al-Andalus (Spain and Portugal) from falling into rebel hands. But the rest of the Maghreb was never recovered. After failing to capture the Umayyad provincial capital of Kairouan, the Berber rebel armies dissolved, and the western Maghreb fragmented into a series of small Berber statelets, ruled by tribal chieftains and Kharijite imams.

The Berber revolt was probably the largest military setback in the reign of Caliph Hisham. From it, emerged some of the first Muslim states outside the Caliphate. It is sometimes also regarded as the beginning of Moroccan independence, as Morocco would never again come under the rule of an eastern Caliph or any other foreign power until the 20th century.

The underlying causes of the revolt were the policies of the Umayyad governors in Kairouan, Ifriqiya, who had authority over the Maghreb (all of North Africa west of Egypt) and al-Andalus.

From the early days of the Muslim conquest of North Africa, Arab commanders had treated non-Arab (notably Berber) auxiliaries inconsistently, and often rather shabbily. When they arrived in North Africa the Umayyads had to face a Christian-majority population in Africa Proconsularis (which became Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia) and pagans in the Maghreb al-Aqsa (now Morocco) with Jewish minorities. Some Berbers of the Maghreb quickly converted and participated in the growth of Islam in the region but, the Arab authorities continued to treat them as second-class people.


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