Khalifa al-Zanati

Khalifa al-Zanati (Arabic: خليفة الزناتي) was one of the main characters in the Bani Hilal epic, where he appears as the Berber king of Tunis.[1] The epic says that during the siege of Bani Hilal to Tunis he asked their knights for duels every day and killed many of them, not even Abu Zayd al-Hilali was able to defeat him. His destiny was to be killed by Dhieb bin Ghanim who thrust a spear into his eyes.[1] The epic also says that one of the reasons of his defeat was the betrayal of his daughter Sadaa who fell in love with Maree, a Hilalian prince held captive in her fathers prison.[1]

The historical Khalifa Al-Zanati may have been a general serving the ruler of Tlemcen in present-day Algeria.[1] Scholar Maribel Fierro suggests he may have been Abd al-Mu'min.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Dictionary of African Biography. 2012. p. 229. ISBN 0195382072.
  2. ^ Fierro, Maribel (2018-02-06). "The Genealogies of 'Abd al-Mu'min, the First Almohad Caliph". In Fierro, Maribel (ed.). The Almohad Revolution: Politics and Religion in the Islamic West during the Twelfth-Thirteenth Centuries. Translated by Rogers, Jeremy. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-21948-8.
allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalifa_al-Zanati