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Sanhaja

صنهاجة

One of the three great Berber nations alongside Lamta and Hawwara, dwelling in the Sahara and its mountains; from them came the Mulaththamun tribes Lamtuna, Guddala and Massufa who built the Almoravid state, and the Zirid and Hammadid royal houses of Ifriqiya and the Qal'a, their remnant still in the desert in Ibn Khaldun's day.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Umayyad Period · The Early Abbasid Caliphate · The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Maghreb · West Africa & Sahel
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Overview

Sanhaja is, according to Ibn Khaldun, one of the three greatest Berber peoples, with Lamta and Hawwara. It is among the Berbers. Its homeland is the desert and its mountains. 1

Their branches

Among them are the veiled ones: the tribes of Lamtuna, Jaddala and Masufa, who were the people of the Almoravid state. Among them are the Banu Ziri and the Banu Hammad, kings of Ifriqiya and al-Qal'a. Ibn Khaldun says that their remnants in the desert were still in their first condition until his time. 2

See Lamtuna and Masufa.

Connections

Explore the connections

Has member
Lamtuna
Member of
The Berbers

People and things also explored

Isma'il ibn Abdallah and Umar II's Mission to the Berbers· The Killing of Yazid ibn Abi Muslim in His Prayer-Place· Muwatta 755· Al-Kahina, Queen of the Berbers· Barqa (Cyrenaica)· The Berbers· Lamtuna

Sources

  1. Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun, p.1645
  2. Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun, p.1657
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Sanhaja”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/group/sanhaja/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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Related

Isma'il ibn Abdallah and Umar II's Mission to the Berbers

In al-Baladhuri: in Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's caliphate he gave the Maghreb to Isma'il ibn Abdallah ibn Abi al-Muhajir, mawla of Banu Makhzum, who walked the best of paths and called the Berbers to Islam — and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote them letters summoning them to it besides, which Isma'il read out to them through the districts, until Islam mastered the Maghreb.