Introduction 10

The Jazula tribes, including those that formed part of this alliance as basic branches, allies, or followers, with a Hassani branch of Maqil representing the invading Arab element. Maqil, whether from the Shabana or Banu Hassan, provided the Moroccan tribes with a large number of mercenaries who fueled civil wars during the 14th and 15th centuries [CE]. Ibn Khaldun narrates that they provided these services for a fee. The Saguia el Hamra region at that time constituted the southernmost limit of the raids of Banu Hassan; and during this period, around 1400 [CE], they crossed it heading south to conquer it; however, this is not comparable to the disregard shown by the East in conquering North Africa in the 11th and 12th centuries [CE]. Given the possibilities of the Sahara Desert on one hand, and the small number of tribes on the other in our current times, there is reason to believe that these bands consisted of only a few families who, with their followers and servants, went in search of wealth in the south. This is what explains to us today why all Hassani camps are able to prove the lineage of their ancestors by tracing back to Hassan. However, if we assume that the ancestors of these camps were accompanied at that time by many followers, then we have the right to question the fate of the ancestors of those followers. The number of Hassani Arab factions that controlled Mauritania around the year 1400 [CE] was three, attributed to three sons of Hassan: Audi, Ham, and Dlim; and from Ham and Dlim descended the tribes of Al-Barayish and Awlad Dlim, whom we will not discuss further here, as the former graze in Arwad and the latter are found in northern Tiris. We have dedicated a separate study to each of them (9). From Audi descended the Hassani tribes that inhabit the greater part of Mauritania Al-Houd, as well as the Oudaia tribes in Morocco, and this local narrative can be confirmed thanks to the information provided by Al-Hasan al-Wazzan (Leo Africanus) at the beginning of the 16th century, who states: "Audi-Hassan are attributed to Dlim (and in other sources, Douliyan) and Audi, and Ch. Schefer misidentified these tribes, which should naturally be seen as Awlad Dlim and Awlad Audi, and which formed the Hassani tribes, or the Audi-Hassan Arabs. We also observe on map (Africa No. 1), engraved by Giulio Sanuto a few years later (1588), the territories of Tekim and Awlad Audi. (9) - Al-Barayish in the collection of the Journal of the Islamic World, 1919 (translated by Muhammad Wadadi, 1984) and "Awlad Dlim" in the Bulletin of the French Africa Committee, and the Colonial Information Journal, May 1915. Author.