Abu'l-Qasim Samgu ibn Wasul al-Miknasi (died 784/5) was a Miknasa Berber leader who according to tradition founded the oasis town of

Sijilmasa , alternate_name = , image = 1886608-the ruins of Sijilmassa-Rissani.jpg , alt = , caption = Sijilmasa ruins , map_type = Morocco , map_alt = , coordinates = , location = Errachidia, Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco , region = , type = Sett ...

and became its second ruler. According to the traditional account, as narrated by the medieval sources (chiefly the 11th-century geographer

al-Bakri Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...

), Samgu (or Samgun) was a Miknasa Berber who adopted

Sufri The Sufris ( ar, الصفرية ''aṣ-Ṣufriyya'') were Khariji Muslims in the seventh and eighth centuries. They established the Midrarid state at Sijilmassa, now in Morocco. In Tlemcen, Algeria, the Banu Ifran were Sufri Berbers who opp ...

Kharijism The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the c ...

, and was a student of the famous Berber Khariji missionary

Ikrimah Mawla Ibn Abbas Ikrimah (, meaning Dove) is an Arabic name. People named Ikrimah include: *Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl, a known early Muslim leader and companion of Muhammad, *Ikrimah, one of Ali's famous partisans, praised by Shi'a Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm i ...

. He chose the site of Sijilmasa, which he used as pasture for his flocks, and with 40 followers established a town there in 757/8. The establishment of the town was part of a larger westward movement of Sufri Kharijites in the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

, fleeing the westward expansion of

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttal ...

power in Ifriqiya, and the establishment of the rival

Ibadi The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis. Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate s ...

Kharijite

Rustamid The Rustamid dynasty () (or ''Rustumids'', ''Rostemids'') was a ruling house of Ibāḍī imāms of Persian descent centered in Algeria. The dynasty governed as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from its capital Tiaret (present day Ta ...

emirate of

Tahert Tiaret ( ar, تاهرت / تيارت; Berber: Tahert or Tihert, i.e. "Lioness") is a major city in northwestern Algeria that gives its name to the wider farming region of Tiaret Province. Both the town and region lie south-west of the capital ...

. Somewhat surprisingly, as

Charles Pellat Charles Pellat (28 September 1914, in Souk Ahras – 28 October 1992, in Bourg-la-Reine) was an Algerian-born French academic, historian, translator, and scholar of Oriental studies, specialized in Arab studies and Islamic studies. He was an ed ...

comments, the community chose a

black African Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often ...

Isa ibn Mazyad al-Aswad Isa ibn Mazyad al-Aswad (died 772) was the first ruler of the oasis town of Sijilmasa, in what is now southeastern Morocco. According to the traditional account, as narrated by the medieval sources (chiefly the 11th-century geographer al-Bakri), S ...

as its leader, but he was deposed and left to die, tied to a tree, in 772, with Samgu succeeding him. Modern historians have suggested this episode as the result of ethnic or tribal rivalries, namely, that the election of Isa was due to an initial predominance of black Africans in the region, and his deposition and replacement as the result of the growth of the Kharijite Berber population over time. According to the medieval sources, Samgu reigned for 13 years and died in 784/5. He was succeeded by his son, Abu'l-Wazir al-Yas, who was deposed in 790/1 by his brother Abu'l-Muntasir al-Yasa.

References

Sources

* * {{s-end 780s deaths 8th-century rulers in Africa Kharijites Miknasa Berber rulers 8th-century Berber people