| Abstract | The subject of this study is Tribe, Islam and State in Libya. It is an analytical research of the roots of the Libyan tribal society and the interaction of tribe, Islam and State up to the Qaramänli rule (1711-1835).
The study deals with the acclaimed blood lineage and the genealogical descent, which compels all Libyans to feel related to each other. It focused on the events culminating in the composition of the tribal groupings and the relation between tribes and the Qaramänli State, which is considered as the first Libyan State with Islam playing an instrumental role, a State built and destroyed by the tribes.
This study endeavours to explain the major synthesising components of Libyan society, namely Berbero-Arab, Muräbitin and Karäghla who established Libya with its three strong dimensions: Islam, Arabism, and Libyan identity in the
18th Century. The inference is an original contribution to the field of Libyan, Arabic and Islamic societal and anthropological studies since the topic has never been tackled in such specificity.
The aims of the study were to examine the origins of tribes, and the links with Islam and State, and in doing so the methodological approaches of comparative, analytical and chronological were employed. The study found that Libya is a tribalistic society of multitude of races and backgrounds and
based on Islam and Arabism despite the fact that some of its people are not ethnically Arabs. There was, also, a bond between Tribes, Islam and State.
Moreover, there was an alignment between Islam and tribes to either aide or diminish the power and authority of the State.
The study is divided into seven chapters preceded by an introduction and followed by the conclusion. Likewise, every chapter has its own prelude and ending, and supported by detailed demographical (tribal) maps for Libya's three provinces in addition to family tress and tables of diverse tribes' names. |
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