PEOPLE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD: Kahina (Berber Warrior-Queen)
KAHINA (7th century CE) was a Berber (Imazighen) warrior-queen and seer who led her people against the Arab Invasion of North Africa in the 7th century CE. She is also known as al-Kahina, Dihya al-Kahina, Dahlia, Daya, and Dahia-al-Kahina. Her birth name was Dihya, or some variant thereof (“the beautiful gazelle” in the Tamazight language of the Imazighen) while “Kahina” is an Arabic title meaning “prophetess” or “seer” or “witch”. She is said to have had supernatural powers which enabled her to foretell the future. Although she is a champion of the native North African Imazighen people, she is best known by the title given her by her Arab enemies: al-Kahina.
She was the daughter (or niece) of the Berber king Aksel (died c. 688 CE, also known as Kusaila, Caecilius, Kusiela) who was a famous freedom fighter of the Imazighen people (also known as the Amazigh, “the Free People”, the indigenous name of the Berbers). Little is known of her life outside of her conflict with the Muslim Arab leader Hasan ibn al Nu’man (died c. 710 CE) whose Umayyad armies campaigned across North Africa.
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