Age of Amazigh

Ayam Al-Amazigh (Age of Amazigh: Lights on Islamic political history), by Noha El-Zeiny, Cairo: Shorouk Publishing House, 2012, pp. 108. A new book on the history of the Amazigh (Berber people) by Noha El-Zeiny has just been released by Shorouk Publishing House, entitled Ayam Al-Amazigh (Age of Amazigh: Lights on Islamic political history). The author examines the role of the Amazigh tribes in West Africa in the foundation of the Islamic state in Africa, especially in the Western Desert during the 5th Hijri century (11th century in the Gregorian calendar). The book explains how these tribes saved Al-Andalus (now Spain) from the Crusades. El-Zeiny notes that the name Amazigh has Phoenician roots, as the word mazis once described strong nations that overpowered the Roman Empire. El-Zeiny, an Egyptian judge and writer, holds a PhD in constitutional law from the Sorbonne and played a fundamental role in exposing fraud in Egypt's 2005 parliamentary elections.