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{{Short description|Arab tribal confederation in North African}}
{{Infobox tribe
| name = Banu Hilal<br>بنو هلال
| type = [[Qays]]i Arab tribe
| image = 
| image_size = 255
| alt = 
| caption = 
| nisba = al-Hilālī
| location = [[Najd]] (origin), [[Maghreb]], Egypt
| descended = Hilal bin 'Amir bin Sa'sa bin Mu'awiya bin Bakr bin Hawazin
| parent_tribe = [[Banu Amir|Banu 'Amir]]
| branches = *[[Athbaj]]
*[[Riyah]]
*[[Jusham]]
*[[Zughba]]
*Adi
*Qurra
| religion = [[Shia Islam]] (originally)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sabatier |first1=Diane Himpan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjpvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=Nomads of Mauritania [Premium Color] |last2=Himpan |first2=Brigitte |date=2019-03-31 |publisher=Vernon Press |isbn=978-1-62273-410-8 |pages=110 |language=en}}</ref><br>[[Sunni Islam]] (later){{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}}
| language = Arabic
| ethnicity = [[Arabs|Arab]]
| population = 4,000,000 (1573)<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IIAfAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA330 |title=Revue d'ethnographie |page=330 |language=fr|last=Leroux|first=E.|year=1886|quote=Marmol évalue à plus d'un million le nombre d'individus que le premier flot versa en Afrique. Vers la fin du xv siècle, le nombre des Arabes répartis sur toute la surface du Maghreb s'élevait à plus de quatre millions, et l'empire du Maroc en contenait à lui seul deux fois autant que les trois autres états (Alger, Tunis et Tripoli). == Marmol estimates the number of individuals that the first flood poured into Africa at more than a million. Towards the end of the 15th century, the number of Arabs spread over the entire surface of the Maghreb amounted to more than four million, and the empire of Morocco alone contained twice as many as the three other states (Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli).}}</ref>
}}
[[File:Pre_Islamic_Arabian_Tribes_(Harold_Dixon).svg|thumb|387x387px|Arab tribes in the [[Arabian Peninsula]] in 600 AD. The [[Lakhmid kingdom|Lakhmid]] (yellow) dynasty was a client of the [[Sasanian Empire]], and the [[Ghassanid]]s (red) of the [[Roman Empire]]]]
The '''Banu Hilal''' ({{langx|ar|بنو هلال|translit=Banū Hilāl}}) was a confederation of [[Arabs|Arab]] tribes from the [[Najd]] region of the central [[Arabian Peninsula]] that [[Arab migrations to the Maghreb|emigrated]] to the [[Maghreb]] region of [[North Africa]] in the 11th century. They ruled the [[Najd]], and campaigned in the borderlands between [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]]. When the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] became the rulers of Egypt and the founders of [[Cairo]] in 969, they confined the [[Bedouin]] in the south before sending them to Central North Africa ([[Libya]], [[Tunisia]] and [[Algeria]]) and then to [[Morocco]].

Historians estimate the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century to be to 500,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=revue tunisienne |url=https://ibb.co/Y0gxFRY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115204036/https://ibb.co/Y0gxFRY |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=ImgBB |publisher=Institut de Carthage |page=314 |language=en}}</ref> to 700,000<ref name=":5" /> to 1,000,000.<ref name=":1" /> Historian [[Luis del Mármol Carvajal|Mármol Carvajal]] estimated that more than a million Hilalians migrated to the Maghreb between 1051 and 1110, and estimated that the Hilalian population in the Maghreb at his time in 1573 was at 4,000,000 individuals, excluding other Arab tribes and other Arabs already present.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IIAfAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA330 |title=Revue d'ethnographie |page=330 |language=fr|last=Leroux|first=E.|year=1886|quote=Marmol évalue à plus d'un million le nombre d'individus que le premier flot versa en Afrique. Vers la fin du xv siècle, le nombre des Arabes répartis sur toute la surface du Maghreb s'élevait à plus de quatre millions, et l'empire du Maroc en contenait à lui seul deux fois autant que les trois autres états (Alger, Tunis et Tripoli). == Marmol estimates the number of individuals that the first flood poured into Africa at more than a million. Towards the end of the 15th century, the number of Arabs spread over the entire surface of the Maghreb amounted to more than four million, and the empire of Morocco alone contained twice as many as the three other states (Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli).}}</ref>

== Origin ==
[[File:Arbre généalogique des Banou Souleim & Banou Hilal.png|thumb|Patrilineal genealogy table]]
The Banu Hilal originated in [[Najd]] in the central [[Arabian Peninsula]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pargeter |first=Alison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9fV0GjDW18C&pg=PA1861 |title=Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi |date=2012-07-31 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18489-1 |pages=1861 |language=en}}</ref> sometimes travelling towards [[Iraq]] in search of pastures and oases.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adminapprendrelarabe |date=2020-10-26 |title=DIALECTES ARABES : ORIGINE, EVOLUTIONS, DIVERSITE ET RICHESSES |url=https://dilap.com/dialectes-arabes-origine-evolutions-diversite-et-richesses/ |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=Apprendre l'arabe avec DILAP |language=fr-FR}}</ref> According to Arab genealogists, the Banu Hilal were a sub-tribe of the [[Mudar]] tribal confederation, specifically of the [[Banu Amir|Amir ibn Sa'sa'a]], and their [[progenitor]] was Hilal. According to traditional Arab sources, their full genealogy was the following: Hilāl ibn [[Banu Amir|''ʿ''Āmir]] ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr ibn [[Hawazin|Hawāzin]] ibn Manṣūr ibn ʿIkrima ibn K̲h̲aṣafa ibn [[Qays]] ibn ʿAylān ibn [[Mudar|Muḍar]] ibn [[Nizar ibn Ma'ad|Nizār]] ibn [[Ma'ad ibn Adnan|Ma'ad]] ibn [[Adnan|ʿAdnān]].{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}} The Banu Hilal were very numerous, effectively a nation divided into its own sub-tribes, of which the most notable were the [[Athbaj]], [[Riyah]], [[Jusham]], [[Zughba]], Adi, and Qurra.{{sfn|Baadj|2015|pp=24–25}}

[[Ibn Khaldun]] described their genealogy, which consisted of two mother tribes: themselves and the [[Banu Sulaym]]. In Arabia, they lived on the Ghazwan near [[Taif|Ta'if]] while the [[Banu Sulaym]] attended nearby [[Medina]], sharing a common cousin in the Al Yas branch of the [[Quraysh]]. At the time of their migration, Banu Hilal comprised six sub-tribes: Athbadj, Riyah, Jusham, Adi, Zughba, and Rabi'a.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fromherz |first=Allen James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vTcCQAAQBAJ&dq=banu+hilal+ibn+khaldun&pg=PA143 |title=Ibn Khaldun |date=2011-09-30 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-5418-5 |language=en}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Pre-Islamic Arabia ===
Its original habitat, like that of its related tribes, was the [[Najd]]. Its history during [[pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic times]] is bound with other tribes of the Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa, especially in Ayyām al-ʿArab and in affairs related to the rise of Islam in the region, such as that of [[Massacre of Bi'r Ma'una]].{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}} The Banu Hilal likely did not accept [[Islam]] until after [[Muhammad]]'s victory at the [[Battle of Hunayn]] in 630, but like other ʿĀmirid tribes, they also did not join in the [[Ridda Wars]] that followed [[Muhammad]]'s death in 632.{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}}

=== Migration to Egypt, Iraq and the Levant ===
The tribe does not appear to have played any significant role in the [[early Muslim conquests]], and for the most part remained in the Nejd.{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}} Only in the early 8th century did some of the Banu Hilal (and the [[Banu Sulaym]]) move to [[Egypt]]. Many followed, so that the two groups became numerous in Egypt.{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}} During the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], the Hilal were known for their unruliness.{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}} In the 9th century, Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym migrated from Najd to [[Iraq]], and later to the [[Levant]], before migrating to the Maghreb in the 11th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mazarib |first=Dr Tomer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2CaEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 |title=From Desert to Town: The Integration of Bedouin into Arab Fellahin Villages and Towns in the Galilee, 1700-2020 |date=2021-01-12 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-78284-763-2 |pages=29 |language=en}}</ref>

In the 970s, the Hilal and the Sulaym joined the radical sect of the [[Qarmatians]] in their attacks on the [[Fatimid Caliphate]], which had just [[Fatimid conquest of Egypt|conquered Egypt]] and was pushing into [[Bilad al-Sham|Syria]].{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}}{{sfn|Baadj|2015|p=24}} As a result, after his victory over the Qarmatians in 978, the Fatimid caliph [[al-Aziz Billah|al-Aziz]] ({{reign|975|996}}) forcibly relocated the two tribes to [[Upper Egypt]].{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}}{{sfn|Baadj|2015|p=24}} As they continued to fight among themselves and pillage the area, they were prohibited from crossing the [[Nile River]] or leaving Upper Egypt.{{sfn|Idris|1971|p=385}}

=== Migration to the Maghreb ===
{{Main|Arab migrations to the Maghreb}}
The Banu Hilal first began migrating to the Maghreb when the [[Zirid dynasty]] of Ifriqiya proclaimed its independence from the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] of Egypt. In retribution against the Zirids, the Fatimids dispatched large [[Bedouin]] Arab tribes, mainly the Banu Hilal and [[Banu Sulaym]], to defeat the Zirids and settle in the Maghreb. These tribes followed a [[nomad]]ic lifestyle and were originally from the [[Hejaz]] and [[Najd]].<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=el-Hasan |first=Hasan Afif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zr2XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |title=Killing the Arab Spring |date=2019-05-01 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-1-62894-349-8 |pages=82 |language=en}}</ref> To persuade the Bedouin into migrating to the Maghreb, the Fatimid caliph gave each tribesman a camel and money and helped them cross from the east to the west bank of the [[Nile|Nile River]]. The severe drought in Egypt at the time also persuaded these tribes to migrate to the Maghreb, which had a better economic situation at the time. The Fatimid caliph instructed them to rule the Maghreb instead of the Zirid emir [[Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis|Al-Mu'izz]] and told them "I have given you the Maghrib and the rule of al-Mu'izz ibn Balkīn as-Sanhājī the runaway slave. You will want for nothing." and told Al-Mu'izz "I have sent you horses and put brave men on them so that God might accomplish a matter already enacted".<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Hareir |first1=Idris El |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C |title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World |last2=Mbaye |first2=Ravane |date=2011-01-01 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-104153-2 |pages=409 |language=en}}</ref>

Upon arriving in [[Cyrenaica]], the Arab nomads found the region almost empty of its inhabitants, except a few [[Zenata]] Berbers that Al-Mu'izz had already mostly destroyed.<ref name=":22"/> The number of Hilalians who moved westward out of Egypt has been estimated as high as 200,000 families.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Studies |first=American University (Washington, D. C. ) Foreign Area |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zBlBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16 |title=Libya, a Country Study |date=1979 |publisher=The University |pages=16 |language=en}}</ref> Cyrenaica was left to be settled by Banu Sulaym while the Hilalians marched westwards. As a result of the settlement by Arab tribes, Cyrenaica became the most Arab place in the [[Arab world]] after the interior of [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]].<ref name=":3" /> According to [[Ibn Khaldun]], the Banu Hilal were accompanied by their wives and their children when they came to the [[Maghreb]]. They settled in [[Ifriqiya]] after winning battles against [[Berbers|Berber]] tribes, eventually going on to coexist with them. [[Abu Zayd al-Hilali]] led between 150,000 and 300,000 [[Arabs]] into the [[Maghreb]], who intermarried with the indigenous peoples.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|author=Idris El Hareir, Ravane Mbaye|author-link=Idris El Hareir, Ravane Mbaye|title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World|publisher=[[UNESCO]]|page=409}}</ref> The Fatimids used the tribe, which began their journey as allies and vassals, to punish the particularly difficult to control [[Zirid dynasty|Zirids]] after the conquest of [[Egypt]] and the founding of [[Cairo]]. As the dynasty became increasingly independent and abandoned [[Shia Islam]], they quickly defeated the Zirids after the [[battle of Haydaran]] and deeply weakened the neighboring [[Hammadid dynasty]] and the [[Zenata]]. The [[Zirids]] abandoned [[Kairouan]] to take refuge on the coast where they survived for a century. The Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym spread on the high plains of [[Constantine, Algeria|Constantine]] where they gradually obstructed the [[Qal'at Bani Hammad]] as they had done to [[Kairouan]] a few decades ago. From there, they gradually gained control over the [[Hautes Plaines|high plains]] of [[Algiers]] and [[Oran]]. In the second half of the 12th century, they went to the [[Moulouya River|Moulouya]] valley and the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast in the western Maghreb to areas such as [[Doukkala]].<ref name=":122">{{Cite web |last=Decret |first=François |date=September 2003 |title=Les invasions hilaliennes en Ifrîqiya |url=https://www.clio.fr/BIBLIOTHEQUE/les_invasions_hilaliennes_en_ifriqiya.asp |access-date=21 November 2015 |website=www.clio.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

[[File:Rare Arabic manuscript of the orally transmitted epic poem about the Bedouin Banu Hilal, by Hussein Al-Ulaimi, 1849 CE, origin unknown.jpg|thumb|A rare Arabic manuscript of the orally-transmitted epic poem about the Banu Hilal, by Hussein Al-Ulaimi, 1849 CE, origin unknown]] Their influx was a major factor in the linguistic, cultural and ethnic [[Arabization]] of the [[Maghreb]] and in the spread of [[nomad]]ism in areas where [[agriculture]] had previously been dominant.<ref name=":4">[http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=461 The Great Mosque of Tlemcen], MuslimHeritage.com</ref> They had also heavily transformed the culture of the Maghreb into [[Arab culture]], and spread nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant.<ref name=":13"/> It played a major role in spreading [[Bedouin Arabic]] to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near the [[Sahara]]. [[Ibn Khaldun]] noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.<ref>[http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9603/PopCrises3.htm ''Populations Crises and Population Cycles''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527170154/http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9603/PopCrises3.htm |date=May 27, 2013 }}, Claire Russell and W. M. S. Russell</ref>

Historians estimate the total number of Arab nomads who migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century to be 250,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shillington |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxtHEAAAQBAJ |title=History of Africa |date=2018-08-28 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-137-52481-2 |pages=206 |language=en}}</ref> (only the first few decades) to 700,000<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=John |first=Ronald Bruce St |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIrOAwAAQBAJ |title=Historical Dictionary of Libya |date=2014-06-04 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7876-1 |pages=44 |language=en}}</ref> to 1,000,000<ref name=":1" /> when the entire population of the Maghreb at the time was 5,000,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shatzmiller |first=Maya |url= |title=Labour in the Medieval Islamic World |date=1993-12-31 |publisher= BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-09896-1 |pages=58 |language=en}}</ref> Historian [[Luis del Mármol Carvajal|Mármol Carvajal]] estimated that more than a million Hilalians migrated to the Maghreb between 1051 and 1110, and estimated that the Hilalian population at his time in 1573 at 4,000,000 individuals, excluding other Arab tribes and other Arabs already present.<ref name=":6" />

The Banu Hilal later came under the rule of various subsequent dynasties, including the [[Almohad Caliphate]], [[Hafsid dynasty]], [[Zayyanid dynasty]] and [[Marinid dynasty]]. Finding their continued presence intolerable, the Almohad Caliphate defeated the Banu Hilal in the [[Battle of Sétif|Battle of Setif]] and forced many of them to leave Ifriqiya and settle in Morocco. Upon the arrival of the [[Turkish people|Turks]], the Banu Hilal rose against the [[Ottoman Empire]] near the [[Aurès Mountains|Aurès]] region and south [[Algeria]]. In [[Morocco]] during the 17th century, the sultan [[Ismail Ibn Sharif]] created a [[guich]] army made up of Arab warriors from the Banu Hilal and the [[Maqil|Banu Maqil]] which was one of the main parts of the Moroccan army. They were garrisoned in their own lands of water and pastures and served as troops and military garrisons to fight in wars and suppress rebellions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hamet |first=Ismaël |date=1932 |title=Notice sur les Arabes hilaliens |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/outre_0399-1385_1932_num_20_87_2836 |journal=Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire |volume=20 |issue=87 |pages=241–264 |doi=10.3406/outre.1932.2836}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coulet |first=Louise |date=1967 |title=J. le Coz, Les tribus Guichs au Maroc. Essai de Géographie agraire. Extrait de la revue de Géographie du Maroc |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/medit_0025-8296_1967_num_8_3_1247 |journal=Méditerranée |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=256–258}}</ref>

== Social organization ==
Originally, the Banu Hilal embraced a nomadic lifestyle, rearing cattle and sheep. Despite several tribes living in arid and desert areas, they became experts in the field of agriculture. The Banu Hilal were conservative and patriarchal, and were tolerant [[Shia Islam|Shi'ites]].<ref name=":7" /> They were initially [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] Shia, but after their conquest of the Sunni [[Maghreb]], the vast majority of Banu Hilal progressively adopted the [[Maliki school]] of [[Sunni Islam]], following the [[Malikization of the Maghreb]] in the twelfth century and later centuries.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last1=Sabatier |first1=Diane Himpan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjpvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=Nomads of Mauritania |last2=Himpan |first2=Brigitte |date=2019-03-31 |publisher=Vernon Press |isbn=978-1-62273-410-8 |pages=110 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morrow |first=John Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWQOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA105 |title=Shi'ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus, Volume One: History |date=2020-11-26 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-5275-6284-4 |pages=105 |language=en}}</ref>

== Taghribat Banu Hilal ==
{{Main|Sirat Bani Hilal}}
The accounts and records that the folk poet [[Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi|Abdul Rahman al-Abnudi]] gathered from the bards of Upper Egypt culminated in the [[Taghribat Bani Hilal]], an Arab epic describing the journey of the tribe from Arabia to the Maghreb.  The tale is divided into three main cycles. The first two bring together unfolding events in Arabia and other countries of the east, while the third, called ''Taghriba'' (march west), recounts the migration of the Banu Hilal to North Africa.<ref name=":0">Musique et spectacle: Le théâtre lyrique arabe - Esquisse d'un itinéraire... Par Mohamed Garfi, {{p.|38}}.</ref> Until the early 20th century, the story of Banu Hilal was performed in a variety of forms across the [[Arab world]] from [[Morocco]] to [[Iraq]], as folktale or local legend recounted in poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Dwight |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNGBAAAAMAAJ |title=Arab Folklore: A Handbook |date=2007-09-30 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-313-33311-8 |pages=53 |language=en}}</ref>
<div align="center">
<gallery perrow="2" widths="200">
File:Abouzid-al-hileli.png|{{center|Egyptian engraving<br />Abu Zeyd beheads Hijazi bin Rafa}}
File:Zanati-khalifa.png|{{center|Egyptian engraving<br />Dhiab bin Ghanim against Al-Zanati Khalifa}}|alt=Egyptian engravingDhiab bin Ghanim against Al Muiz bin Badis
</gallery></div>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last1=Baadj|first1=Amar S.|title=Saladin, the Almohads and the Banū Ghāniya: The Contest for North Africa (12th and 13th centuries)|date=2015|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden and Boston|isbn=978-90-04-29620-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvTjCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA24}}
* {{EI2 | last = Idris | first = H. R. | title = Hilāl | volume = 3 | pages = 385–387 | url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0287}}
* {{EI2 | last = Schleifer | first = J. | title = Hilāl – The Saga of the Banū Hilāl | volume = 3 | page = 387 | url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0287}}
* {{cite book | last = Schuster | first = Georg | title = Die Beduinen in der Vorgeschichte Tunesiens. Die "Invasion" der Banū Hilāl und ihre Folgen | language = German | publisher = Klaus Schwarz | location = Berlin | year = 2006 | isbn = 3-87997-330-X }}

{{Historical Arab tribes}}{{Arab tribes in Algeria}}{{Arab tribes of Morocco}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tribes of Arabia]]
[[Category:Tribes of Saudi Arabia]]
[[Category:Arab tribes in Morocco]]
[[Category:Arab tribes in Algeria]]
[[Category:Former confederations]]
[[Category:People from Ifriqiya]]