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lad

First Lieutenant
On Probation
Apr 3, 2018
243
4
Basic information

This is a CK2 BK AAR in 1066 start. I am a total CK2 noob, so for me, even survival is going to be difficult. I have no set goals.
I may use cheats sometimes so that the game won't end prematurely, but I will find ways to integrate those cheats in the story.

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Introduction and context
Chapter 1

To understand the Banu Khattab, we first have to understand the origins of Islam itself in Africa. The presence of Islam in Africa can be traced back right to the times of the Prophet. In 614 AD Muhammed advised many of his earliest disciples who were facing persecution from the pagan authorities in Mecca to go and seek refuge in Abyssinia. 23 Muslims complied. Later that same year, 101 more Muslims reached Abyssinia. Then, in 641 AD, Muslims troops conquered Egypt and then Libya the following year after defeating the Eastern Roman Empire and their allies. From then on, Islam spread rapidly in North Africa and among the Berbers.

Now the Banu Khattab were Berber Ibadis. The Ibadis themselves were a minor sect of Islam. They thought that Islam had been harmed and diluted when the conflict between Shia and Sunni started. They wanted to bring back Islam to a primodial state of the Prophet's times. They also have varying viewpoints of other matters. Some of them are mentioned below.
1) The Quran was created by Allah at some point unlike the Sunni belief that God and Quran exist from before time.
2)God will not show himself to Muslims on the day of judgement.
3)It is not necessary to have one man as head of the entire Islamic world(Caliph).

Due to these conflicting viewpoints, the Ibadis faced much religious persecutions in the middle east by the late 8th century and by the 9th century, there was a huge diaspora of Ibadis out from Syria, Iraq and Arabia to the faraway horizons of the Islamic world.

Muslims did not settle at Fezzan until the tenth century . In 918 a Berber Ibadita name Ibn al-Khattab Hawwarí founded the city of Zawila , which became a thriving center of caravans engaged in the slave trade. His family, the Banu Khattab, ruled the whole Fezzan. The territory prospered with numerous irrigation channels and a private military force.
Now coming to the matter of the Slave trade.

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The Arab slave trade was flowering in this region by the end of the first millennium. Islam had, for the first time, connected Africa with Arabia and the Middle East.

Slaves were either purchased or captured in Slave raids in the Tribal regions of Pagan Africa. Mostly from the areas of Kanem, Hausaland and also from West Africa. Then, the Berbers played a very important role, they transported these slaves across the Sahara after which they would be taken to Arabia or the Middle East by ships and sold in Baazars.

Now the transportation of these slaves across the Sahara was done via some important lanes. These lanes were narrow stretches of land fit for travelling. Zawila and the tribe of the Banu Khattab was located on one such lane. As a result, they grew fabulously rich from the slave trade and that is what enabled them to build their own private empire in the Sahara.

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Zawila and the 'Slave traders Lane' which connected the African Hausa and Kanem tribal kingdoms with the North African sultanates.

Below, a brief map of the Eurasian and North African world in 1066 AD is provided for a greater understanding and context of the matter. We will finally come to the matter of the Banu Khattab in detail from the next chapter onwards.
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The reign of Malik Thakiya II (1062 AD-1072 AD)
Chapter 2

The tradition of keeping written records began in Fezzan and the tribe of the Banu Khattab in the reign of High Chief Thakiya II(The word Malik will be used hereafter). A biography on his life is written by Mansur Ali, the Fezzani scribe, titled 'Maliknama'. In it, he mentions not only the life and times of Malik Thakiya, but also the state of contemporary Fezzan in general. In this paper, the 'Maliknama' shall be used as a primary source and the writer shall interpret it and supply other resources to form a compelling narrative of this hitherto overlooked part of history.

Not much is known about his reign apart from before he met Mansur Ali. He became the Malik of the Banu Khattabi Berber tribes sometime in the middle of the 11th century AD. However, in the Maliknama, Ali mentions certain legendary and romanticized legends of the Malik's rule prior to his meeting with him.

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He first mentions that a few years after becoming the Malik, Thakiya started finding it difficult to manage his finances. If this was really the case, then this may have been due to a general decrease in the local trade and thus a decrease in the toll. But this seems highly unlikely given the context of the time. A more likely explanation is overzealous slave traders with private armies refusing to pay toll and thus a pressure on the Malik's treasury. Anyway, so according to Ali, the Malik blamed his situation on his wife Siddiqa's bad luck. So he decided to marry a second wife. Men were sent in all directions to find a woman who had that 'Midas touch'. He finally found such a woman in the ranks of the Awellimid tribe. The Awellimid was a tribe of Berbers who ruled over a majority of Hausa and other Negro-like peoples. The woman's name was Badra.

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The second story that Ali narrates is directly related to his meeting with the Malik. According to Ali, some months before his meeting with the Malik in 1067, the Malik heard a sermon given by the most learned man in the tribe, his Imam Zayed. However, Zayed stumbled and narrated, what according to the Malik was a completely wrong interpretation of the holy Quran.

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This must have been the cause of the Malik's decision to go on the Haj. It was on the route that the Malik met Mansur Ali. That is narrated in the second passage in the Malik Nama.
Sometime in April 1067 AD, the Malik, after dealing with the difficulties that may arise in his absence and after travelling to the coast of Tripoli, boarded a ship based for the holy land. Now this ship's captain was apparently a slave trader and he planned to sell every pilgrim on board into slavery. The Malik must have overheard this, because he then rallied the pilgrims aboard the ship in a general mutiny. After, what Ali narrates as a long hard fight, the Malik defeated and killed the slaver captain. In the captain's room, he found Mansur Ali, shackled and forced to slave for the captain. The Malik rescued Ali. On this, a greatfull Ali promised to be forever loyal to the Malik.

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And so, when the Malik completed his pilgrimage(Confirmed by contemporary Medina records of the time) and returned back home, he instructed Mansur Ali to keep a record of his life.

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In 1068, the Malik, having already completed one long journey to the Haj for benefiting the soul, decided to make another long journey, this time to benefit his treasury. He decided to travel to Abyssinia, to Axum. Apparently, one of his courtiers was told by his Axumite slave that the kings there were much interested in trade and business. So, the Malik organized an expedition to Axum. He also took some Ibadi Inams with his in the hopes of having a healthy discourse about religions with the local king. Here it is important to note the meaning of this tale, this means that the Berbers had some hint that Islam hadn't penetrated Abyssinia yet.

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The expedition reached Abyssinia successfully by April 1068. It must have been one heavily guarded and well supplied caravan to accommodate so many powerful and influential people across such a long distance. Mansur Ali's description of Axum also gives us a nice reference for the local condition in that era since very few Axumite references can be found for the time. According to Ali, the people in that land were black as tar, they worshiped a variety of gods and demi gods, the men wore loose white robes and the woman did not cover their faces like back home. The land was ruled by a King Dawit II. He had a rich bureaucracy full of ministers and scholars and his treasuries were overflowing with gold and silver.

The Malik decided to offer some rare herbs from Arabia to the King. According to Ali, this proved the King's greediness, because on receiving such a simple yet special gift, the King held the Malik in low regard. However, another event happened that led to the eventual failure of the expedition.

The Malik's Inams, who were expected to have debates with the local scholars, instead went straight to the local temple and began a quarrel with the local priests which eventually turned into a mob fight. Only the timely intervention of the local chieftan saved them from a massacre. This and other factors created a rift between the two rulers which eventually resulted in the Malik angrily leaving Axum for home after two weeks more.

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For the next three years, the Malik tried to maximise his own efforts to levy effective tolls on the slave raiders and other traders to increase his treasury in which he was partially successful according to the Maliknama. He also tried without success to bribe several tribal lords of Kanem to join him in his ambition to conquer the great Kanemi market of Bilma which was located directly to the south of his own realm. However, war was on the horizon.

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In November 1071, a major rebellion took place in the Zirid sultanate which ruled much of Cyrencia. The main perpetrator of this rebellion was the Sheikh Ahmed of Ajadabiya whose father had been humiliated by the then Sultan Tamim of the Zirid Sultanate.

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In order to better his chances of victory, the revolters sent a huge private army of Berber tribes and mercenaries to attack the Banu Khattab and seize the trade routes passing through Zawila and Murzuk thus gaining them a lot of finance for their revolt. They disguised the attack as a holy war against the Ibadis in general. This turned out to be a big mistake because it deprived them of any local guidance or assistance. Eventually, their armies struggled to even find the oasises of Zawila or Murzuk in the burning desert. Without supplies, their army began to dwindle and so, when the Malik led a surprise attack on them in mid March 1072, they were fully routed and surrendered. The Malik demanded a huge ransom for their leaders which was paid.

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This turned out to be a momentous event for the Malik. Now he finally had the finances to attack and capture the oasis of Bilma. Kanem at that time was ruled by a leader called Suleiman, who despite his name was not Muslim but pagan(The name having been given to him by his Muslim mother). The Malik rallied the entire tribe against the Kanemis and also paid a major Berber mercenary tribe to fight with him. Then, with a renewed vigour, the Malik led his men into the oasis of Bilma where the chief of Kanem waited. Here, the battle of Bilma took place on about 2 November 1072.

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Here, Mansur Ali narrates the last tale of the Maliknama. The battle began at dawn when the Malik, who had hitherto refused to attack the oasis, preffering to wait for the Kanemi chief to make the first move finally tired and attacked the oasis head on. The two sides were equally matched and the lightly clad berbers fought the Black Kanemi soldiers with great bravery and courage.

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The Oasis settlement of Bilma

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Berber soldiers, 10th and 11th century AD.

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A Kanemi warrior.

Finally, the Malik saw Suleiman himself, alone and vulnerable and attacked. A duel insued between the two opponents for about half an hour. By the time the duel was over, the battle around them had already been decided in favour of the Berbers. However, the duel itself was lost and the great Malik Thakiya II was no more !

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His death came as a blow to the victorious Berber troops who chased after the retreating Kanemis with a tang of revenge and killed most of them. A few weeks later, the chief of Kanem sent a white robe as a sign of peace and the war was over. However, so was the Malik's reign. He was succeeded by his son Malik Hiba, a minor.

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Below is a map of borders after the annexation of Bilma.

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It's an interesting place to play.
 
Description of domestic life and the trans-Saharan trade in the period.
Chapter 3

The famous Arab explorer Fahim Arabi traveled to Fezzan in 1073, just a few weeks after the death of the Malik Thakiya. His memoirs are a very rich source of information about the overall domestic situation in the lands of the Banu Khattab tribe although he provides very little description of the Political situation. The writer has used his memoirs and other sources to sketch together a description of life under the Banu Khattab and in the Sahara in general.

Now the Fezzan and the Sahara in general depended solely on trade and toll. This Sahara trade connected two completely different civilizations, the Black tribes of Sub-Saharan Africa from Ghana to Kanem and the Muslim Arabs. The Berbers like the Banu Khattab functioned as essential middlemen, thus they played the role of connecting these two civilizations. Commodities like Alum, perfumes, wines, falcons, glass, writing paper, wool, dried fruit, olive oil, saltfish, hides, carpets, corals, incense, horses and weapons changed hands regularly in the markets on both sides of the desert. But the biggest commodities were of course Grains and slaves. The former was needed on both sides of the Sahara in varying degrees depending on the quality of the harvest. The latter was the main commodity from the south to the north of the Sahara and vice versa. All this trade was heavily tolled by the local Berber chiefs(Banu Khattab) and the toll was mostly paid. No one wanted to take so high a risk in the middle of the Sahara. To understand the trade in general, we should first see a description of the oasis settlements in the Fezzan described by Arabi.

Arabi travelled from Tripoli, reaching Murzuk, then he skipped Zawila because he couldn't find it and instead went south all the way to Bilma. It is possible that he traveled even south of Bilma to the wild Kanemi areas, but he makes no explicit mentions of the same. Arabi says that the settlements like Murzuk were completely based around the oasis. To the traveller who had just traversed the nothingness of the hot desert, Murzuk was like heaven itself. He describes that Murzuk was a very small settlement compared to Cairo or Alexandria. It was nothing more than a hamlet. He further describes that the local tribal chief was a young boy(He must be referring to Malik Thakiya's son Hiba who was 14 at the time). The chief's palace was a big stone structure. It looked like the grandest structure in the town and was situated right by the oasis. In pure construction, it was only a bigger version of the common people's houses, however, what distinguished it was its lush green garden. So contrasting to the hotness of the desert beyond the oasis.

Beyond the chief's residence were some 12 to 15 smaller stone residences. These belonged to the local gentry. From the chief's inams and generals to important tribal leaders. Beyond that were the houses of the common people. According to Arabi, the people here were a mixture of Berbers and Blacks. The former were mostly rich and the latter were poor and served the Berbers. As said before, this part of the world depended on trade and agriculture was next to negligible. But what little agriculture did take place, took place in these oasises. The people grew everything from grain to dates right inside the village. Droughts and famines occured regularly amd sometimes, even in fertile periods, desert sandstorms destroyed the local agriculture. The common people lived in small thatched huts or the slightly better off people lived in stone houses.

Arabi mentions that Murzuk had only one madrasa which was sufficient for its size. Here, half the township came in regularly for Namaz. Most Muslims here were Ibadis. However, the other half, especially the blacks, were pagan and they worshipped certain hideous animal-like gods of unknown names and origins.

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The Oasis settlement of Murzuk.

The final and most important part of the city was its market. The previous chief had built a new stone market where all kinds of merchants plied their wares. It was here that Arabi noticed many Arabs and even 3 men from Al-Andalus. Apart from shops, the market had taverns and a few lodges which became meeting places for deals of all kinds. There was also a special closed stone building dedicated to the slave market. Here, all kinds of Slave deals were made and slaves were sold. Arabi mentions that he also saw a white blonde Pisan girl here being auctioned and sold to a local tribal chief who won the auction against his own son. Later. he agreed to share her with his son after he was done with her.

Slave raids were a staple occupation for many in the region from Arabs to Berbers and blacks. A huge band of armed men would be assembled for the same. Slave trading was a very essential part of economy here. After all, in what other way could this naturally arid wasteland survive with the richer agrarian world beyond. But that is too limiting a judgement, after all, who can discount the adventure of slave raiding for a young man. A chance to get rich, a chance to make a name and possibly get a few good slaves for himself.

In the wild Sudanic world to the south, Slave capturing was a much more organised business. Many black tribes demanded a regular tribute of slaves from weaker ones in exchange for their survival. Kanemi chiefs could also enslave all family members of anyone accused of witchcraft by pagan law. Child kidnapping was also a regular thing in the region and child slaves were a precious commodity.

Arabi also saw many slave merchants here who were 'In waiting'. You see, many Arab merchants struck a kind of deal with the wild black chiefs on the other side of the Sahara. They would give military equipment and weapons to these chiefs who in turn would use them to lead attacks on other tribes and enslave them. War was simply used as a means of getting slaves. After the chief got his slaves, he would sell them to the Arabs at a discount. It was an easy way to maintain a steady stream of commodities in an otherwise unsteady market. However, sometimes these deals did not go as planned. The black chief could lose his war, or his slaves might escape. Or he might refuse to sell them altogether or if not that, then could be late ! There could also be communication failure, after all, it is not easy for some chief to communicate with some merchant over such long distances filled with nothing but sand and sun.
Arabi mentions one merchant in the market lodge of Murzuk who had already waited more than a year for 'His chief' to report back.

But all in all, despite the occasional issues, the trade went on pretty well. The traders waited patiently and why would they not? Upto 10 such trips to and fro the Sahara and one could get filthy rich and buy his way into the nobility back home. It was a risk to reward scenario.
Arabi also describes the conditions of the slaves. The slaves were all black(With the exception of some females) and were mostly people who had been captured in a slave raid in the wild unknown lands south of the land of the Berbers. Once captured, they could look forward to a miserable life in chains. Many slaves simply died during the journey northwards through the desert. Even in the caravans, they were not given any kind of shelter like their buyers and sellers. They had to walk behind the camels in chains. However, the slavers knew about these deaths and buyed more slaves than they needed. The profit margin was very high too, so a few deaths hardly mattered. Most males were castrated in advance while a few would be sold as males though they would probably be castrated later by their buyers in the Muslim world.

Below is a gallery of various images associated with this trade.

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A white female being sold. A very luxurious commodity, mostly captured by Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean. She would probably be purchased by some tribal chief or rich Sheikh and live the rest of her life in a harem.

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Slaves being marched across the desert

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Typical scene at a slave market.


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A buyer inspects his slaves.

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Trade caravans through the Sahara. They would often be huge and well guarded with private armies. After all, in the desert, unity is always better. They were mostly made up of 100s of traders and commanded by a Khobir(Leader).


All in all, Arabi's descriptions provide a great insight in this part of history.
 
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Humans can be really horrible to other humans
 
Intresting AAR. I like how you add information about history and society of Berber tribes of Sahara. Good luck in building a trade empire. Also, good luck in defending against Zirids and their vassals. Playing as Ibadi is quite a challenge.
 
I love this! I'm definitely going to be keeping a close eye on this, you certainly did a surprising amount of research on something as mundane as the south Libyan slave trade. I'm looking forward to more updates


Tbh it's the first AAR I have read and might do one of my own some day.
 
Really neat AAR, I love all the research you've done and also the pictures - your efforts have given the whole piece a unique feeling I can't get enough of. Owning the entire passage through the Sahara so as to really squeeze every last coin out of the slave trade in the region was a natural first step, but I'm curious where you are headed next. To be frank, the little details you provide are so fascinating that even if you chose to sit still for a while just amassing currency I have every reason to believe you'd still make the wait intriguing! And as we all know, CK2 likes to keep players on their toes no matter what they plan... Fantastic work, I look forward to reading more!
 
Intresting AAR. I like how you add information about history and society of Berber tribes of Sahara. Good luck in building a trade empire. Also, good luck in defending against Zirids and their vassals. Playing as Ibadi is quite a challenge.
True, however, I managed to get a Zirid wife as you will see in the next chapter !
The lucky man !
Thanks so much for commenting. I read all your comments and I love them.

I love this! I'm definitely going to be keeping a close eye on this, you certainly did a surprising amount of research on something as mundane as the south Libyan slave trade. I'm looking forward to more updates


Tbh it's the first AAR I have read and might do one of my own some day.

Thanks so much for commenting !
Yeah, I love reading about the Arab Slave Trade .
Please keep reading and commenting.

Really neat AAR, I love all the research you've done and also the pictures - your efforts have given the whole piece a unique feeling I can't get enough of. Owning the entire passage through the Sahara so as to really squeeze every last coin out of the slave trade in the region was a natural first step, but I'm curious where you are headed next. To be frank, the little details you provide are so fascinating that even if you chose to sit still for a while just amassing currency I have every reason to believe you'd still make the wait intriguing! And as we all know, CK2 likes to keep players on their toes no matter what they plan... Fantastic work, I look forward to reading more!

Thanks so much for commenting.
Your comment is like fuel for me, it helps me to write more, write better and stay motivated !
Yup, I am imagining this Banu Khattab like some Mafia gang. We are gonna get the whole Slave trading racket under our control. Control the source and the customers too !
Thanks again for commenting.
 
The Reign of Malik Hiba (1073 AD to 1089 AD)
Chapter 4

The next ruler in line was Malik Hiba. He came to the throne as a young lad of 13 in 1072 AD. Information about his rule is known from a second version of the Maliknama, this time written by local historians. It is not known what caused Mansur Ali to leave Fezzan after the death of Malik Thakiya and embark upon his now famous exploration of Hindoostan. However, it is safe to assume that his Maliknama inspired later versions of the same.

Malik Hiba's reign is filled with constant rebellions, droughts but also conquests. His reign was dominated by Malikaa Daura.

Badra and Hiba had always been close allies in Thakiya's court. The former had found no love and had no child from the old Malik, while the latter found no love from his mother Siddiqua due to his several other siblings. Immediately after his coronation, Badra appointed herself as Hiba's tutor. She appears to be a brilliant woman because a few months after Hiba's coronation, in February 1073 she uncovered a plot to separate Bilma hatched by Chief Hummay of Bilma. Now to understand the circumstances of Hummay's rebellion, we first have to understand the method of conquest and subjugation in this part of the world.

After the Banu Khattab had conquered Bilma oasis from the Kanemis, they had not killed off all the locals.In fact, the locals hadn't even supported their Kanemi overlords in the war, why would they ? They had nothing to gain by doing so. After the battle had been won, the local tribe had simply sworn fealty to Malik Thakiya and lived and traded peacefully for some time. The local tribe here was not Berber but black. The chief himself was a pagan who had converted to Sunni Islam through the teachings of some slave trader.

Upon hearing of Thakiya's death, the local tribe had assumed that his successor won't even bother crossing the desert paths to take back this small oasis.
They were wrong.

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After all, this was the desert, there was always some opportunistic camel rider willing to make a quick buck via treason. It appears that someone alerted Badra of this fact and she then uncovered the plot. However it was too late. The tribes of Bilma had already rebelled and killed the one Ibadi Inam kept by the Malik Thakiya there as a sort of Viceroy. This happened in late February 1073. The rebellion was however short lived. Badra skillfully gathered all the loyalists among the tribe and sent a small force of slave traders to take back Bilma with the promise that all the slaves that they would capture would be theirs with no taxes attached. By the end of March, the Chief Hummay was defeated, captured and brought at the Malik's feet. Badra had intended to have him cut open there and then, but the Malik was more kind-hearted according to the Maliknama. He agreed to free Hummay if he converted to the Ibadi sect of Islam which he did. It hardly would have mattered to Hummay anyway, people like him adopted Islam to have an easier time dealing with the Trans-Saharan traders.

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The next two years went by peacefully and the skillfull Badra managed to make trade routes safer again and crush all opposition part by part. The Malik was indebted to her. But perhaps he also felt something else. Maybe his love for her hadn't been motherly all along. The regency ended in 1075 .

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Just a few weeks later, the Malik Hiba married Badra, his second mother and his true love. In any other part of the Islamic world, this would have been a death sentence for both of them, but here in the Sahara, nobody really cared. That same year, the chief Hummay, now a defeated old man tried to rebel again, but his own tribe betrayed him, they were tired of the constant unrest in Bilma which was disrupting the primitive life in the oasis and he was captured and sent to Murzuk where he would rot in a hole covered with iron bars, open to the blazing hot Sahara sun, yet kept alive with regular meals of food and water.

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Right from birth, the Malik Hiba had been a very studious individual according to the Maliknama. He must indeed have been so because he actually knew the history of the Roman empire or atleast the Byzantine empire. In 1076, he invited a Christian man of unknown origin and held a discourse with him. After the meeting, the Malik paid him 25 healthy slaves and money too. From then on, the Malik embarked on an epic quest. The quest to fly.

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But just as he was about to make his dream of flying like a bird come true, he got some interesting news from the Malikaa Badra. She had been told by her brother in the Awellimid tribe that there had been huge droughts, rebellions and unrest in the tribe and the local chief Jibril was sick with an unknown disease. What better moment to invade ?
She promptly relayed the news to her husband. But he refused at first. Now his refusal must have been correct. Conquest in any other part of the world gave someone security, prestige, power or atleast money. But what could one get by attacking a desert oasis, even smaller than Murzuk and populated by no more than a thousand people ?

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But according to the Maliknama, the Malik changed his mind when an Arab caravan trader advised him to conquer the Awellimid oasis of Fachi which could be an ideal strongpoint to influence the wild Hausa tribes to the south and force them to lower the prices of slaves. So on 22 November 1076, the Malik declared war on the Awellimid and demanded the oasis of Fachi.

Unfortunately, there was a major problem, the Malik didn't know the exact location of Fachi. Badra too couldn't pinpoint it because being a woman, she had always lived behind the veil in the Awellimid tribe. Finding an unknown oasis in a desert full of mirages was almost impossible. Fortunately, his Berber mercenaries headed by a man called Arabi knew the location because they had once raided it.

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A Sahara Desert Mirage.

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The Banu Khattab and their allies easily marched to Fachi after that and occupied it. The locals put up no resistance because more than half the population had left the oasis due to drought.

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Then another problem came up. Out of the blue, the Arabi chief suddenly betrayed and left the Banu Khattab in the middle of the desert on account of failure of payment. He was never heard from again.

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That was no problem however and the rest of the war was simply a question of killing scattered bands of Awellimid Berbers and massacring desert caravans loyal to that tribe. On 31 January 1078, the Awellimids surrendered.

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After one and a half year of war, the Malik could finally return to his beloved Badra having conquered her homeland. The drough in Fachi however continued and the oasis was all but abonded a few months later leaving only some vagabonds and old date planters there.

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Then in February 1080, the love between the Malik and his mother cum wife was finally proved. A healthy son Abdullah was born to them. The first of many.

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Now with all worldy matters resolved, the Malik turned to the otherworldy.

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Now the Maliknama provides some explicit details about the Malik's crazy ideas about flying like a bird. In September 1080, he defied many Islamic laws and actually built a strange bird like contraption from camel hide and wool. Then, against the wishes of his inams, he ordered a poor cook to fly in it promising 10 gold coins as a reward for success.

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But the contraption failed miserably and all the Malik achieved was another crash in the desert sands. The cook fortunately was spared by Allah and he returned to his duties.

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But not the Malik, this time, he decided to test out his camel hair wings himself. Against the wishes of Malikaa Badra and hundreds of his subjects among the tribe, he tried flying in his machine again, this time plummenting off a steep cliff.

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It proved to be a disaster, the Malik was fortunately not injured due to the soft Waadi sand, but a piece of rock embedded in his right eye which the local Mullahs and physicians could not remove. Nevertheless, the Malik came out of the experience a learned man and thereafter he became a more devout Ibadi accepting the traditions and rules set up by his ancestors. He never tried crazy ideas again. He also sent 20 gold coins to Mecca as retribution for his act.

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In November 1082, the Chief Suleiman of Bilma, the son of Hummay(Who died parched and shrunken by the desert sun in his prison) enslaved some Arab slave traders in Bilma and demanded a ransom. It was paid, but the Arabs asked the Malik to punish Suleiman. The latter reacted by declaring war, but once again, a distant uncle of Suleiman betryaed him and just 5 days later, Suleiman was already on his way to Murzuk bound in chains and destined for the same fate as his traitorous father.

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The next four years were the high point of Malik Hiba's reign. He stabilized finally the realm that had destabilized so much in his regency, all the tribes were happy and even the Fachi drought did not return. The Fachi Oasis was now filled by an increasing number of Ibadi Berbers from Murzuk, an early form of Colonization. A second son, Wahab was born to the couple in 1086.

In March 1087, the good time ended, the piece of stone that embedded in the Malik's right eye 6 years before finally gave way and became septic. The court Physician Zigza tried many cures, but none had the desired effect. Finally, the Malik's right eye had to be cut out to avoid further infection and death. The Malik agreed to this and his eye was gouged out after the which the infection apparently stopped. But this new change made the Malik more over-excited and hungry for power.

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In late 1087, the Berbers had a major quarrel with the Hausas of Daura over ownership of a grazing savannah. The Malik, who had been rational in his youth reacted irrationally, he declared war on the entire Daura tribe. This plunged him and the Banu Khattab into an year long war with the Hausas. Hausaland took shape as a political and cultural region during the first millennium CE as a result of the westward expansion of Hausa peoples. They arrived to Hausaland when the terrain was converting from woodlands to savannah. They started cultivating grains, which led to a denser peasant population. They had a common language, laws, and customs. The Hausa were known for fishing, hunting, agriculture, salt-mining, and blacksmithing.
Now the Daura, the Gobir, the Katsina and the other chiefdoms were just bands of wild black tribes who built small villages in the savannahs south of the Sahara desert and near Lake Chad.According to the Girgam papers, the Daura tribe was established in 2000 BC and had survived as one of the wildest and bravest of Hausa chiefdoms for several centuries.

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The only known picture of Daura.

The fact that they were brave and loyal was undoubtely true because despite being ruled by a small girl, they managed to unify as a single entity and attack Fachi and Bilma in a surprising show of offense.

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The Hausas under their child queen.

But by 1087, the Banu Khattab were too strong and more importantly.....................rich. The Malik not only banded together his own soldiers, but also as many slave traders and landless Berber tribes that he could find as a mercenary force.
The Malik's forces clashed with them, first in Bilma and then in Fachi.

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The Hausas fought different from the Kanemis, they were much more hardened fighters and they also used better tactics. However, they were too outnumbered and were killed to almost the last man.
On 6 May, 1088, after more than a year of Desert and Savnnah fighting, the young queen of the Hausas surrendered. She was allowed to rule Daura in the Malik's name.

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Map after the Hausa war.

Then, in August 1088, a whole storm of good news rained upon the Malik. Another son was born to him and Badra called Thakiya after his father. He also received a surprising marraige proposal from the Zirid Sultan !

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He proposed that his eldest daughter Setara be married to the Malik. The Malik must have been surprised. The real reason however must have been that the Zirid sultan had observed how the Banu Khattab had virtually became masters of the whole trade route and he must have wanted to be friendly with them. Badra approved of this strategic marraige knowing well that there would be no love between her husband and his second wife. The Malik however did not live to love Settera at all. Less than a month after her arrival at court, his empty right eye socket began to suddenly bleed one day. Before the doctors could be called, he suddenly ceased breathing.
His craziness with flying had finally killed him.

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The lands of the lake beckon