The Banu Hilal (Arabic: بنو هلال) were a confederation of bedouin[1] tribes that migrated from Upper Egypt[2] into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism.[citation needed] Other authors suggest that the tribes left the grasslands on the upper Nile because of environmental degradation accompanying the Medieval Warm Period.[3] The Banu Hilal quickly defeated the Zirids and deeply weakened the neighboring Hammadids. Their influx was a major factor in the linguistic and cultural Arabization of the Maghreb, and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant.[4] Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.[5]
They were led by Abu Zayd al-Hilali. Their story is recounted in fictionalized form in Taghribat Bani Hilal.
Their "saga" is still recounted in form of poetry in Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt: Djezia and Dhieb bin Ghanim opposed to the Zenati Khalifa.
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