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At this point, Berbers were superficially Islamized and hung onto their traditions with varying degrees of religious assimilation to Islam. [18] Berbers stationed in Galacia may have converted to Chrisitanity. [15] These joined in the Berber revolt in 740-742). [15]
The traditional Berber religion is the sum of ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the Berbers.Originally, the Berbers seem to have believed in worship of the sun and moon, animism and in the afterlife, but interactions with the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans influenced religious practice and melted traditional faiths with new ones.
Consequently, the Berbers went on to stations in Galicia (possibly including Asturias) and the Upper Marches (Ebro basin), but these lands remained unpleasant, humid and cold. The grievances resented by the Berbers under Arab rulers (attempts to impose a tax on Muslim Berbers, etc.) sparked rebellions in north Africa that expanded into Iberia.
Berbers are not an entirely homogeneous ethnicity, and they include a range of societies, ancestries, and lifestyles. The unifying forces for the Berber people may be their shared language or a collective identification with Berber heritage and history. As a legacy of the spread of Islam, the Berbers are now mostly Sunni Muslim.
739 – Berbers revolt in North Africa, thereafter expanding to Iberia. Rebels in North Africa defeat a Syrian force and kill its commander Kulthum. Revolt drives Muslim army out of Galicia. 740 – Berbers rebel against the ethnically exclusive Arab Umayyad Caliphate and refuse to support them with tax revenues.
Also inducing the Berbers to convert was the early lack of rigor in religious obligations, as well as the prospect of inclusion as warriors in the armies of conquest, with a corresponding share in booty and tribute. A few years later, in 711, the Berber Tariq ibn Ziyad would lead the Muslim invasion of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania. [51]
In the 11th century, Berbers of the Sahara began a jihad to reform Islam in North Africa to impose what they saw as a more rigorously orthodox Maliki version of Islam. They were initially inspired by the teachings of Ibn Yasin and nominally recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphs.
The Berber people were thought of as inferior and made to convert to Islam and join the Arab army, receiving less pay than an Arab would have. [21] This led to much dissatisfaction and ultimately the death of Maghreb Arab governor, Yazid ibn Abi Muslim at the hands of one of his bodyguards after ordering them to tattoo his name on their arms to ...