BERBERS, RELIGION OF. — The present-day Berbers, whose origins scholars disagree upon (some positing an Asian origin, others an African or mixed one), are the descendants of those Libyan tribes well known to the ancients under the names of Gaetulians, Libyans, Numidians, etc., who occupied the vast stretch of territory extending from the Mediterranean to the Sudan, from the Atlantic to Egypt, never managing during their entire history to organize themselves into large political units. In examining their religion, it is advisable to distinguish a pre-Islamic period and an Islamic period.
**I. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD.** — The great particularism characteristic of the Berbers is reflected even in their religion. Individual tribes practiced naturalistic cults about which we have rather scant and fragmentary information. Herodotus (IV, 188) speaks of a cult of the sun and moon. Ibn Khaldun mentions Berbers who, even at the time of the Islamic conquest, worshipped the sun and moon, while on the other hand the Guanches of the Canary Islands, now extinct, also venerated the sun until relatively recent times. This cult seems confirmed by rock engravings showing a ram with its head surrounded by a disk: an influence of the Egyptian Amun-Ra seems probable. In addition to the cult of the stars, the documents show interesting phenomena of zoolatry. Corippus (6th century) speaks of a Gurzil, born of the god Ammon and a cow, worshipped by the Laguatan (inhabitants of present-day Tripolitania). Al-Bakri (11th century) mentions the worship of rams. Diodorus Siculus (XX, 58) refers to a “Libyan” land where monkeys were considered sacred and lived together with men. Traces of totemism are discernible in the legendary alliance, mentioned by Aelian (Nat. Anim., I, 57), of the Psylli (a people of Syrtis) with horned vipers (κεράστατ), whose venom was said to have no power over them. The cult of stones and especially of caves (still present today) and mountains (notably the Atlas) was also widespread. Magical practices were common, including rites to bring rain, still in use according to classical authors. Herodotus (IV, 172) notes the custom of the Nasamones, who slept on the tombs of their ancestors after praying and then conformed to what they had seen in their dreams (a similar custom is documented among the present-day Tuareg of the Sahara and elsewhere). Even current beliefs in genies and goblins partly have very ancient origins. Information on rituals is scarce. Herodotus (IV, 188) speaks of sacrifices that were allegedly made exclusively to the sun and moon: before the victim was killed, a piece of its ear was cut off and thrown into the air. The inhabitants of Lake Tritonis (central Tunisia) celebrated, according to the same author, an annual festival in honor of Athena (an indigenous goddess identified with the Greek Athena) during which, after a often bloody struggle between maidens, one of them was carried in procession on a chariot. Rock engravings showing people with raised arms, disguised as animals, etc., seem to allude to ritual gestures. Some caves may have served as temples.
Notable were the influences of Punic and Roman religion on the indigenous one: in some cases it is difficult to decide whether we are dealing with indigenous deities assimilated to foreign ones or vice versa.
Judaism was widespread among the Berbers: many of the present-day Jews of North Africa descend from pre-Islamic Jews.
Precise information on the very earliest preaching of Christianity among the Berbers is lacking: in any case, the new religion must have provided an excellent pretext for anti-Roman sentiment among this people so fond of independence. The Church in Africa enters history in 180 with the martyrs of Scilli and Madaura. While traditions regarding an apostolic origin of African Christianity are likely spurious, it seems certain that it penetrated Africa through Carthage and that those early Christians maintained excellent relations with Rome. Militant Donatists (v. DONATISM) and Circumcellions (v.) were recruited especially from among the Berber population; beneath these heretical movements lay tendencies of a social or national character. Dynasties of Christian Berber princes existed in western Algeria. With the Islamic invasion (7th century A.D.), African Christianity was not entirely destroyed: as late as 1076 there still existed two bishops in Africa.
**II. ISLAMIC PERIOD.** — Even after the Islamic conquest, Berber nationalism found ways to support heretical movements: significant is the fact that large Berber groups embraced diametrically opposed heresies such as the democratic Kharijism and the legitimist Shi’ism. The Almohad movement (1121 A.D.) destroyed, along with the last remnants of Christianity, almost every trace of Islamic heresy: currently the Berbers are Sunni of the Maliki rite, except for some Kharijite Ibadi groups in the Mzab, the Jebel Nefusa, and Jerba.
Two interesting attempts at religious reform arose on Berber soil: that of Salih ibn Tarif (8th century A.D.) and that of Hamim al-Muftari (10th century A.D.). Only the former seems to present any dogmatic divergence from