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/ 3
AH fue fea. v
[ EDIT. N. K. SINGH, A. M. KHAN, ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE WORLD MUSLIMS
s, VOL.III, 2001 DELHI. IRCICA DN. 41904. pp.
Tribes, Castes and Commu
Three sections had reached the western Maghrib
as early as the 2nd/8th century and formed there an
important bloc. These were:
1, The Matghara of Fas and the corridor of
Taza; al-Bakri observes that the source of
the Wadi Fas was on their territory in the
region where Leo Africanus still mentions
the Suk al-khamis of the Matghara ‘fiftheen
miles west of Fas’.
2. The Matghara of the Middle Atlas in the
Jabal Matghara, which Ibn Khaldun locates
to the southeast (ki6li) of Fas and which Leo
Africanus says is five miles from Taza (to
the south?). The reference then is to the
mountain region now occupied by the Ayt
Warayn; an important section of the latter,
the Ayt Jellidasen, represents the Banu
Gallidasan whom al-Bakri gives as a section
of the Matghara, settled near Tenes in
Algeria. We still find among the ayt Warayn
several sections of the Imghilen who
represent the Maghila, brethren of the old
Matghara, The name of Matghra is today
applied to all the eastern splinters of the
Ghayyatha tribe; Taza is situated in their
territory. In al-Bakris time (Sth/1 Ith century)
these two sections of the Matghara had as
neighbours in the west the Zawagha of Fazaz,
and of Taza.
3. The Matghara of the oases of the Sahara
settled in the region of the Sidilmassa and in
the town itself, in which they constitute the
‘main element of the population, in the region
of Figig, in Tuwat, Tamantit and as far away
as Wallen (Ouallen).
At the beginning of the Arab conquest, the
Matghara are represented by Ibn Khaldun as settled
and living in huts built of branches of trees (Khasas);
those of the Sahara lived in fortified villages (kusur)
and devoted themselves to growing dates. In the time
of Leo Africanus, the Matghara of the Central Atlas
occupied about fifty large villages.
Like other peoples belonging to the group of the
Banu Fatin, the Matghara took an active part in the
events at the beginning of the Arab conquest and
weakened themselves considerably in the fighting.
Cag ag ie
pay
Fas =
[paoyeMATMATa 949
uns
As soon as they had become converted to Islam, a
‘number of groups of Matghara went over to Spain
and settled there, later, like their brethren, the
Matmata they adopted the principles of the Sufriyya
one of their chiefs, Maysara, provoked the famous
sehismatic rising of 122/740, which was the beginnig
in Morocco of the Baraghawata heresy. In a list of
the tribes which adopted this heretical teaching, we
find the Matmata and Matghara of the Central Atlas,
as well the Banu Abi Nasr, the modern Ayt Bu-
Nsar, the eastern section of the Ayt Warayn.
With the rise of Idris, the chief of the Matghara,
Bahlul, declared himself at first a supporter of the
caliph of Baghadad. Harun al-Rashid, then rallied to
the new dynasty. Later and down to the 1th/17th
century, the Matghara of the Central Atlas do not
seem to have played any part in politics; but they
nevertheless retained their independence. From the
11th/17th century, they seem to have been supplanted
on their territory by invaders from the south.
As to the Matghara of the shore, settled in the
region of Nadruma, their alliance with the Kumiya
gained them considerable political importance, when
the latter became supporters of the Almohads. It was
at this period that they built the fortress of Tawunt.
‘They then rallied to the Marinids but this brought
upon them the wrath of the ruler of Tlemcen, the
celebrated Yaghmurasen, who finally crushed them.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ibn Hazm, Jamharat ansab al-'Arab, ed. Levi-Provencal,
496 and Ibn Khaldun use the form Madghara instead
of Maighara; in Moroccan texts of late date we also
find Madghara
Ibn Khaldun, Kitab a'lbr tr. de Slane, 1, PP. 237-41.
Leo Africanus, Description de l'Afrique, tt. Epaulard,
pp. 303-4, 353 and index.
Matmata i
Tribe of Algeria, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia
8. DYER
Matmata, name of a large Berber people
mentioned as early as the middle of the 3rd/9th
century in the geographical work of Ibn
Khurradadhbih as being among the thirty most 840
Fig. 2. The most popular early Arabian wind scheme,
in which the four winds strike the walls of the Ka‘ba
head-on. The rectangular base of the Ka‘ba points in
astronomically significant directions, and so the limits
of the four winds are likewise astronomically defined,
‘The rising of Canopus and the solsttial rising and
settings of the sun were widely used for finding the
Atbla in popular practice, in order to ensure that one
would be “facing” a particular wall of the Ka‘ba,
that is, standing in a direction “parallel” to the
appropriate axis of the Kaba.
tained in D. A. King, Astronomical alignments in
‘mediccal religious architecture, in Annals of the New York
Acedeny of Sciences, ecelsxx¥ (1982), 303-12, and The
Sacred geography of Ielar, in Islamic Art, ii (to appear);
G. S. Hawkins and King, Os the orientation of the
Kata, in Jual. for the History of Astronomy, xii
(1982), 102-9. For a survey of the whole problem,
see Ring, The world about thy Ka‘ba: 0 study of the
sacred dvtton in [slam (fortncorning): summaries are
given in Precedings of the Second International Qurén
Confrence, New Delhi, 1982 and_Inedisciplinary
Science Reviees. ix (1984). pp. 315-328, See also
ete (D. A. Kiso)
MATMATA, name of a large Berber people
mentioned as early as the middle of the 3rd/9th cen:
tury in the geographical work of Ibn Khurradadhbih,
as being among the thirty most important Berber
tribes of this period. According to the majority of
Berber genealogists cited by Ton Khaldin (including
Sabik al-Matmari), the Majmaga. who were brothers
of the Marghara, Sadina, Malziza, Madyina and
Lamaya, belonged to the great Berber family of the
Butr: they constitured, with the above-mentioned
tribes, the family of Fatin, son of Tamzit. However.
some other genealogists mentioned by Ibo Khaldin
hold that the Marmata belonged, along with the
Rarghawita and Azdadja. to the Berber stock of
Baranis (Branes), There is also another genealogy of
the Matmita, according to which this tribe is
regarded as belonging, along with the Barghawara
ind Azdadja. to the great Berber family of the Zansta,
being descended from Djind, ancestor of the Zanita
LTunisia. It seems that the original homeland
of the Maymija, a people who were early converts 10
AUMATLA® — MATMATA
Islam and who adopted, around the middle of the
2nd/Bth century the belies of the Ibadi sect, was the
land situated in the south-east of Tunisia and more
| exactly to the west and south of the town of Gabés,
| ancient Tacapae. Kabis of the mediaeval Arab
geographers. They were called by this name by
around 196/811, at the time when the Ibagi imam of
Tahar ‘Abd al-Wahhab b. ‘Abd al-Rabmin b
Rustam sent, on the occasion of his siege of the town
of Tripoli, the Tbagi general KatSin b. Salma al-
Zawighi to KAbis with orders to besiege it. We owe
this information to the Tbagi historian Abu ‘Abbas
| al-Shammakhi (928/152), who used in his work
Several much older sources. In speaking of Kat‘an b.
Salma (in another passage of al-Shammakhi's work
this person is called Salma b. Katfa), who was
appointed governor of Kibis in this period by the
iim ‘Abd al-Wahhab, the Ibadi historian in question
adds that under this governor's régime, the Berber
tribes of the Matmata, Zanzafa, Dammar, Zawagha
and others were stil living outside Gabés. Tt seems
that the Magmata in this period were already occupy:
ing the mountainous country called Djabal Manat,
situated about 30 or 40 km. south of Gabés. This
country was also at one time called Djabal Lawata,
coving to the Lawati population which lived there with
the Matmija, The survivors of the Matmafa and
Lawita still ive there today. Apart from this area, the
Mamata also inhabited, in times gone by, the town
of al:Hamma (ancient Aquae Tacapitanac), situated
23 km. to the west of Gabés. According co Tbn
| Khalddn's Histoire des Bebires, al-Himma was
founded by the Matmata. According to the Kiib al
Inbgér of ca. 387/191, al-Himmma was 2 very ancient
town inhabited by the Marmara. The Tunisian
scholar of the 7th-Sth/I3th-I4th century al-Tidjint
mentions, in his account of a journey from Tunis to
‘Tripoli, this place by the name of Hammat Mamata,
although in the view of this scholar, the Matmata may
already have left, ceding the place to the Zanata who
were divided into three groups: the Band Todjin,
Band Wartadiin and Awlid Yisuf,
The later history of the Tunisian Matmata (who,
apparently having adopted in the 4th/10th century the
beliefs of the Ibadi sub-sect of the Nukkiriyya [e.0.].
as had their neighbours the Bani: Dammar, estab:
| lished in the south of the area occupied by the Mat
‘ita in the Djabal Dammar) is itde known. It seems
that the Matmata living in the Djabal of chis name
recognised the authority of the last representative of
the Almoravid family of the Band Ghéniya, Yahya,
who, having his seat and base of operations in the
Bilid al-Diarid, extended his power, around 1200
AD., over the whole of Ifrkiya. In any case, the
sejxid Aba Ishak who pursued, in 603/1207, in the
rname of his brother the Almohad caliph al-Nasir, the
Almoravid rebels in Ifrkiya, subdued the country
| siuated behind Tripoli and chastised, according to
Tbn Khaldin, “*the Band Dammar, the Maymaia and
the Nafasa™, the inhabitants at that time of the vast
mountainous crescent which stretches from Gabés to
ancient Leptis Magna, on the edge of the plain of
Djefara (Djeftara). Under the domination of the
‘Turks, the inhabitants ofthe Djabal Marmara and the
Djabai Dammar who. until this period, had remained
practically independent and had not recognised the
authority of the sovereigns of Irikiya. refused to pay
taxes. The Turkish bey of Tunisia, Mukammad Bey
(1851-63 A.D.), had a fort built in the Matmaja Mts.
in arder to contain the rebels, We owe this informe
tion to the Tunisian historian Ibn Abi Dinar, who
| deale with this even in af-Mudnis ff aldbér Ufikiva wa 2su
142.
3, ISAM DN
Encyclopedie Berbere, c. 8%, Leuven 20 ss, 4632.
4682 | Magghara
Moouas Y, «Des Manes ane Bebe: Meno ei indies en
‘After dans BB V. Gen, Ye Modan (ls) Mi er ci
ps chiara, compl (Vee), As done de
Cae de 2008 uae CRAB, Caco, 2008, 91-134
¥. Montean
Mé6i, MATGHARA,
Les Marghata font pattie de la grande confédération des Bote™ Ils sont
‘comme les Maghila ct les Matmaca", descendants de Fatan Ibn Tamsit Ibn
Di
clon les généalogstes qui les appellent aussi Madghara. Meme si cee-
is généalogistes diflérenciene les deux noms, ils fone référence aux
:mémes cerrtoires. Malgeé lear nombre, on ne connate pas de fraction por-
tant un autre nom. Ibn Hawa les range avec d'autres historiens parmi les
tribus Zenata mais il les appelle Matara
Leki les situe dans plusieurs ertitoires: sue la route qui méne de
“Tents & Chief; dans la zone d’Oujda et de son port Tabaheit, débouché des
‘routes caravaniéres qui viennent de Sijimassa; dans la zone
Qala Gormat ec Fes: au sud, sur la route qui méne d’Aghmat
Tho Khaldun nous apprend qu’ils vivaiene dans des cabanes fates de
broussailles er sirue une partie d’enere eux dans les Traras prés de Nédroma
ex vivaiene aux eBtés des Maghila. C’éaienc des sfdentaies, Tribu sceur des
Matmata, on suppose que primicivement, avant la venue de Fislam en
“Alfique da Nord, ls vivant en Tripolitaine. On ne sit pas & quel moment
ils Sinstallzrent dans la région de Miliana (Miliana, Bani Djallidasan, El
Khadea (Ain Defla), la plaine de Sirat et le Wansharish (Ouarsenis) et dans
la région comprise entre Fes et Taza. Dans la ségion de Nédroma, ils occ
paient le chateau de Tawune (Ghazawat) et le port de de Tabaheit, les
tavitoas de Djerawa Iba Abi L'Aysh. A Tpoque almobade, ils étaient en
confédération avec les Kumiya, la tibu de ‘Abd El-Mumin, le fondaceur de
li dynasti, descendanes comme eux de Temzt.
En fai ils éaient stationnés aux alentours de la Moulouya entre Taza et
Fes, Des montanes portaent lear nom 3 Vest des monts de Médiouna. De
hnombreuses fractions vivaient dans le désere dans le pays de Sijilmassa ct
dans le Touae oft ils pratiquaient la culeure du dattier. On les trouvait éga-
lement dans les bourgades autour de Figuig, commandés par les Beni Cid
el Moulouk, famille margharienne.
‘Au XIV? stele, des vestes de cette grande wibu vivaient dans te Maghreb
cencral e¢ Fifigiya et était cributaite des dfférences dynasties cégnantes
Penxlant la conquéte de PEspagne, un grand nombre d’entre eux passa le
Déxcoie et se fiza dans Al-Andalus, Par la suite ils époustrent les doctrines
Ikhacédjes (sufrites) et paricipérent & la grande révolre des Berbéres au
Marmata ! $683
baie (12 HT) dig par Maya 2: Marha priu es,
peaclement dans la zone comprise ene Tlemcen e Tanger. A sa mor
Pann eaertmcne pas ent es mains de Yahya Ton Hareth. La venue
des Idrissides affaiblic la puissance des Marghara qui furene leurs allies
BIBLIOGRAPHIE
Bt-Bexsu, Description de LAfiique rptenrionale, ead. De Slane, Paris, 1965.
EL Ions, Le Maghrib au XIP sel, cad. Hadj Sado, Alger, 1983.
Taw KHALDUN Ay Histoire det Berbores er des dynasties musulmanes de CAfrique
septentronale a. De Slane, Pars, 1978, come { eH
438430 AL Kaen
Mabria te CJeble )
M65. MATMATA [Mamata] (Tribu)
autect~ Ai Khel
“Grande uibu Bott, qui deséendraic selon les géntalogistes médigvau, de
Fatan ln Tamait Ibn Dat ls font patie des Banu Fatan. ls sone fides des
Maghila ct des Matghara*, Ce sont esentillement des trbus sédencazes
TLours fractions étaient nombreuses ot leurs ceritoiresétendus. Lensemble
de Afrique du Nord Gait parsemé de fiefs Maumate, de Gabts& Vesta
TTamesna Fouest. Selon le généalogiste berbire Sabeq