Israelite Queen Dihyah

Israelite Queen Dihyah

 

The words of Psalms  83 that reveals the enemies of God and of the Israelites,  certainly rings true when you look into the history of the Hebrew tribes thru the eyes of western and Arabic classical and contemporary historical sources. 

On the map below you will find Numidia, in North Africa; land that has been occupied by the tribes of Joseph and Juda since the time of David and Solomon. The history of the Israelite Queen Dihyah, who fought bravely against the Arab incursions into North Africa, has been brutalized by Arabs scholars whose Muslim armies she defeated, and has been typically relegated to the sphere of myth and legend by western historians. 

Origins

Numida 1620 - Copy

Numidia 1620

Discovering the truth about Queen Dihyah [Kahena], is problematic  since the researcher int her history will encounter as many names that make reference to her as there are for the Kingdom of Judah.  The Arab Muslims named her Al-Kahena, meaning ‘the sorceress, priestess, soothsayer’, derogatory labels related to the gifts of prophecy she possessed. 

Known variously as; Damya, Daya and Dihya, the sources relating to her history and skill as a Hebrew Queen and military leader are provided primarily by the Arab Muslim  historiography of the late fourteenth century writer Ibn Khaldun whose work is cited as “of questionable validity. ” He writes:

 “This woman had three son, heirs of command of the tribe, and as she had raised in her eyes, she ran to his fancy and ruled through them, the whole tribe” (History of the Berbers, trans. From Slane, t. III, p. 193).

 

Her determination to resist Muslim incursions into her territory brought contempt from the Arab Muslim leadership because she was a woman.  After Abd al-Malik was appointed governor of Ifriqiya (Africa- meaning Libya) he appointed Hassan ibn al-Nu’man as  military leader of a large army. Having engaged in a battle with Queen Diyah  the Muslim hordes suffered a humiliating defeat. 

It is important to note that that this Queen was from the tribe of Ephraim, and therefore of the same tribe as Joshua, and her land is in close proximity to Nun. It is also notable, that during the   7th century,  the only   geographical location referred to as Africa (Ifriqiya) was Libya) so what is the name of the rest of the continent?

The defeated forces of Hassan, retired to the province of Barka where he remained for six years, between (693-94), when he was again  given orders by the western appointed governor to march against Kahena.  During the second battle Queen Dihyah and her children were defeated and killed. (Trans. Fagnan, African Journal, 1896, p. 379).

Typically, little can be found from Arab Muslim or western sources of her Hebrew origins, but once again geography leads us to the truths behind the myth. Since there is no Hebrew tribe bearing the title Berber [another historical veil] we will reject the name and refer to them as a Hebrew people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As aforementioned, the land northwest of Africa is the ancient land of Ephraim and Manasseh, with some regions such as Souda [Sudan] belonging to the tribe of Juda since the days when Jacob walked the earth.

On the northwest coast there is the city of Nun, land of  Joshua.  In central North Africa home of the tribe of Gad, traces of the supposed mythical queen were said to be everywhere and attested to by the residents of Maghreb who noted the same.

 video: The Land of Nun and the Biblical battles fought in Africa”

Most sources agree on the inexplicable Hebrew practices of the Berbers over which she ruled.    

One author citing the aforementioned Ibn Khaldun states:

“The Judaism (Hebrewism) of some Berbers and Djeraoua in particular, was for Ibn L h aldûn a reality of another time, according to the myth of their Palestinian origin often mentioned in Arab sources, they were neighbors of the Jews, themselves then at their peak.” (under David and Solomon)

These are the types of deflective comments by western scholars that the researcher can expect to find while digging for the real history of Queen Dihyah.  There is no doubt that North Africa was the land of David and Solomon and the northern tribes, a truth attested to by another Muslim; Leo Africanus, who cynically admits that residents (Berbers) in the region during the sixteenth century, claimed their heritage as the tribes of Jacob and possession of the land from antiquity.

Eiduevet David and Solomon 1634

Eitdeuet 1620

Leo Africanus in his “History of Africa” confirms the Hebrew ownership of the land long before the destruction in 70 A.D:

 “Fifteen miles from southward from Tagtess, stands another town called Eitdeuet…containing seven hundred families.  In the said town are Jews [Hebrews] of all occupations and some there affirm that the first inhabitants of this town came by natural descent from King David.” p 239

Berbers

Berbers, Ancient Libyans

Seven tribes of the people, whom historians refer to as Berbers, are in fact the descendants of Jacob, and the evidence is overwhelming.  Born during the 7th century there is no record of Queen Dihyah, but history and geography have spoken as it so often does in spite western and Arabic revisionism.  But who is willing to tell them the truth; that all stolen lands will be emptied and repossessed by Jacob at the appointed time.  I for one am playing the waiting game.

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References 

Y. Modéran “Kahina,” in Encyclopedia Berber, 27 | Kairouan – Kifan Bel-Ghomari [Online], Online since June 1, 2011, accessed July 7, 2013. URL: //encyclopedieberbere.revues.org/1306

Africanus, L., History of Africa, [1550] B. Franklin, New York, 1963, p239

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