The Migration of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym: Their Settlement in Barqa and Tripoli and the Hostile Campaign Against Them

Abstract

This research aims to study the migration of the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes to North Africa in the fifth century AH (11th century AD), focusing on the perspectives of historians who documented them, such as Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Adhari al-Marrakushi, and Ibn Khaldun. Ibn Khaldun is considered the most important historian who dealt with the Hilali migration, and the most influential on subsequent historians (Orientalists and Arabs). The research concluded by refuting the prevailing view adopted by the writings of some Orientalists and modern historians, which holds the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes responsible for the political, economic, and social devastation and destruction of the region. Furthermore, the motives for the migration (political and economic) and the civilizational impact of the Hilali tribes were clarified, along with detailing the events of their control over Kairouan in 449 AH (1057 AD).