The Story of Dihya, Queen of the Berbers

Before the Islamic conquest, Northern Africa was a province of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire. At that time it comprised Tunisia, north Algeria and some parts of Morocco. Northern Roman Africa, reconquered in 533 AD by Emperor Justinian, was an Exarchate - a single province with virtual autonomy, governed by a supreme official called the Exarch.

The Exarchate's capital was the ancient city of Carthage. After Justinian's invasion, Africa experienced many decades of peace and relative prosperity. At a time when almost the rest of the Roman world was engulfed in conflict and conflagration, the Exarchate of Carthage remained an oasis of relative stability. Peace brought economic prosperity. Its grain was exported, along with goods produced by its artisans, especially their red pottery which was renowned throughout the Empire. With luminaries such as Pristian, Corippus, Victor of Tunis and Aldhelm, Africa also rose to become one of the intellectual centers of the world.

The Roman North Africa of Dihya's youth was a melting pot, in which peoples of different races and religions openly intermixed, including Romans, Berbers, Vandal and Visigoth settlers, and tribes of black Numidians. There were Christians of various denominations - Catholics, Arians, Donatists (who rejected the ecclesiastic authority of the patriarchs) - and also numerous Jews and pagans. All these groups lived mostly in peace, marred occasionally by outbreaks of persecution against the Jews and Donatists, and other conflicts.

Very little is known about the private life of Dihya. It is hard to distinguish fact from fiction in the numerous legends which surround her. Dihya was born the daughter of Tabat, a chieftain of the Jrawa tribe, who lived in the region of the Aures mountains. Some (mostly Jewish) historians claim that Dihya professed Judaism. These point out that her Arab title, "al-Kahina", may be a corruption of the Hebrew word Kohen, which means "a person of the priest class". The surname Cohen derives from the same word.

Additionally one Arabic chronicle, by Ibn Khaldoun, written centuries after her death, calls Dihya "a Jewess". It is possible that the Berber Queen followed the Jewish religion, but there is no solid proof for this. Indeed, many Berber tribes professed Judaism at this time, but others also held Christian or traditional beliefs.

She may have been of mixed descent: Berber and Byzantine Christian, since one of her sons is described as a "yunani" or Greek. Also according to al-Maliki she was said to have been accompanied in her travels by what the Arabs called an "idol", possibly an icon of the Virgin Mary or one of the Christian saints.

The legends preserve some details of Dihya's appearance. She had very long black hair, and had large dark eyes. She was extremely tall for a woman of the time. She was said to be charismatic, and authors attribute to her the gift of foresight - most likely a reminiscence of her great intelligence and wisdom.

When she was a young woman, a chieftain who demanded to possess her as his bride terrorized her tribe. Dihya went into hiding for some time. Finally she agreed to the marriage. On the wedding night, she slew her new husband by smashing his skull with a nail. Although possibly apocryphal, like much else in her biography, the story points to her fierce will and determination.

In 646 AD, after the Muslims finally finished their conquest of Egypt, they soon turned their sights to Roman North Africa. The Exarchate of Africa found itself on the frontline of the war with the expanding Arab state. The Byzantine Empire, itself suffering defeats on almost all fronts, and further weakened by a constant civil war, could give no assistance to such a distant province. The Exarchate had to completely rely upon local, limited resources. That they managed to hold off the Muslim advance for so long speaks to the enthusiastic resistance of the local population against the Arabs.

It was not until 680 AD that the Arabs finally broke through the defenses of the Exarchate. While Romans barricaded themselves in coastal cities, a Muslim commander named Oqba led a raid along the coast that reached the Atlantic Ocean in modern Morocco. It is said in the Muslims sources that Oqba slashed the waves of the ocean with his sabre, furious that there was no more land to conquer. Upon his return in 683 however, Oqba's army was annihilated by a coalition of Berber tribes, and he himself was slain.

This victory, however, merely postponed the eventual fall of the Exarchate. In 697 AD, a new Arab army entered Africa, under the command of Hassan ibn Numan. At that point, the weakened forces of the Exarchate could not stop the Arab advance, and following a sneak attack, Carthage fell.

Surprisingly, a Byzantine fleet appeared in African waters and the capital was retaken, only to fall again the following year, after a dramatic siege. Almost all its defenders and most of its civilians perished. In retaliation for its resistance, the Muslims destroyed the city. Thus the ancient city of Carthage, and with it the last Roman presence in Africa, came to an end.

The siege of Carthage, however, had given Dihya the extra time to prepare. Soon a new power in Africa was born. One consequence of the Byzantine defeat was that the Romans had lost their interest Africa. From this point onward, only Muslim sources from far after the fact are available, and these tend to take a dim view of Dihya.

During the siege of Carthage, Dihya completed her lifetime's achievement. She consolidated all the major Berber tribes under a common purpose - driving out the invaders. Beginning with guerrilla warfare, she soon graduated to launching full-scale invasion against the Muslims. She was joined in this by the survivors of the Byzantine army, as well as the remnants of the local Visigoths.

Dihya attacked the main Muslim army, completely defeating it and pushing the invaders back to Egypt. She even reclaimed the ruins of Carthage. At that point, she was the unquestioned heroine and leader of all of Africa’s population – both nomads, Berbers and Romans. All the ethnic and religious groups united under her banner. She was also joined by some deserters from the Muslim army. One of them, most likely an apostate, became her lieutenant and adopted son. This was also the time when she gained her famous Arabic nickname.

Dihya seemed close to creating an independent state. She ruled with an iron fist. She quickly transformed the anarchic Berber tribes into a disciplined army. She showed great military and administrative skills. She managed to hold Muslims at bay for a long time, perhaps as long as for three years. She also established an administration capable of maintaining a large standing army for this time. Dihya prepared for the Arabs' return.

One of the most bizarre episodes of Dihya’s struggle against the Muslims was the defection of her three natural sons. These joined the Muslims and converted to Islam according to the traditional sources, claiming that they did it on a peremptory order given by their mother. Some speculate that Dihya knew that in the long perspective she had no chance to stop the Muslims, and decided that it was the only way to save her beloved sons’ lives. Other authors suspect that her sons came to conduct espionage and sabotage.

Even if this second option is true, Dihya had no chance to make use of her sons’ skills. The exact cause of her downfall, and the date when this happened, is not certain.

Muslim chroniclers accuse Dihya of maintaining a "scorched earth policy" in the hope that this would make the Muslims abandon their invasion plans. For this reason they say she ordered her men to burn cities, to kill livestock and destroy all the fields. Africa, according to Islamic chronicles, turned into a desert on her orders. Muslims say these actions caused her to lose the support of the settled population, who were terrified by the destruction. Farmers and city dwellers became, from this time onwards, passive observers in the conflict. Chroniclers say proudly that such destruction could never stop them, since the main reason for Islamic conquests was enacting the rule of Allah.

Dihya soon found herself the only enemy of the Arab caliphate on the African continent. The Caliphate sent considerable forces and finally defeated her Berber warriors. Sources differ on how she died. Some say that she died a soldier’s death – with a sword in her hand. Others maintain that she poisoned herself when all was lost and defeat was near. Even the exact date of her death is unknown. It happened between the years 702 and 705. Dihya's head was mummified and sent to the Caliph, who ordered that it be nailed to the entrance of his favorite mosque.

After Dihya’s death, the fate of Africa was sealed. All large-scale organized resistance ceased to exist, though some Berber tribes continued the open fight for some time. In all treaties with the Berbers, the Muslims demanded conversion to Islam. Facing the threat of complete destruction, most of the tribes agreed to abandon their old beliefs. Those who did not accept the new religion were killed. Many Berber women were said to have committed suicide.

Conversions threatened by force rarely have initial effect. For a long time local Muslim governors sent reports to the caliphs that the ever-rebellious Berbers were Muslims in name only, apostatizing at every possible occasion and starting mutinies time and time again.

The fate of the mostly Christian settled population was initially similar to that of Syria, Spain or Egypt. However, Christians had lost most of their intellectual elites who had either died in war or emigrated (most of old Roman aristocracy had fled to Italy). This accelerated the Islamization and Arabization of the local population.

Small pockets of Christians however, survived up to 17^th century. In addition, as late as the 12^th century in some coastal cities, the Latin language could still be heard in the streets.

Despite her role in resisting the Arab conquests, modern Islamic and Arab authors refer to Dihya/Kahina as an example a strong, independent woman in women in Islamic societies.

• The Story of Umm Qirfa

• Primary chronicle: Ibn-Khaldun (a compilation of earlier accounts; very biased and written a long time after her death).
• Anonymous, Une Jeanne d'Arc Africaine: Episode de l'Invasion des Arabes en Afrique. Paris, 1890?
• Encyclopedia of African History and Culture. Vol. 2, African Kingdoms (500-1500). Edited by Willie F. Page.
• Facts on File, 2001.
• Gautier, E. F. La Passé de L'Afrique de Nord. Paris, 1937.
• Hannoum, Abdelmajid. Colonial Histories, Post-Colonial Memories: The Legend of the Kahina, a North African Heroine. Heinemann, 2001.
• Hannoum, Abdelmajid. The Legend of the Kahina: A Study in Historiography and Mythmaking in North Africa. Ph.D. thesis, Princeton, 1996.

1. Dihya appears as the titular character in Cahena: a Dream of the Past, a historical fantasy written by Manly Wade Wellman. The main protagonist is named Wulff, a Saxon from the Byzantine army who survived the massacre of Carthage. Wulff joins the ranks of Dihya’s army and becomes her loyal retainer and subsequently a lover. The Queen herself is described as a mighty sorceress able to use magic.
2. Completely fictionalized Dihya appears in one episode of Xena: Warrior Princess.
3. Female Berber leader Kahina (played by Aliston Bruce) appears in the Legacy motion picture. Plot is set in the 1^st century and Berbers fight against the Roman Empire.
4. Featured in the Canadian TV series Relic Hunter (episode 64). The relic hunters recover an artifact that had belonged to Dihya. She is seen in flashback scenes.
5. Kahina is the titular character in the following French Novels:
   - La Kahéna: Reine d'Ifrikia written by Didier Nebot.
   - La Kahéna, Reine des Aures written by Germaine Beauguitte.
   - Le Roman de la Kahena written by Magali Boisnard
6. Kahina appears in plays:
   - Al-Kahana written by Ahmed Djelloul
   - La Kahena written by Abdelmajid El Aroui
7. A fictional female character loosely based on Dihya is the main protagonist of a Moroccan comic book titled Tagllidt N Ayt Ufella (Queen of the heights). The Queen fights an evil Jinn (Genie).

The term "Berbers" is used to describe the indigenous people of North Africa though it is most likely an anachronism. Although the word comes from Greek/Latin "Barbar" which means "Barbarian", it was probably attributed to Africans by Arabs. By such it was most likely initially an insulting term.

Romans called Berbers "Moors". "Berbers" is here used for two reasons. First, it is the name most commonly attributed to that people today. Second, the term "Moor" is used today to describe the Muslim population of medieval Spain and Africa.

The Berbers call themselves "Amazigh", which means "Free men".