Dyhia or Damya , known as Kahina or Kahena (in Arabic, one who practices divination or magic) is a warrior queen of the 7th century, considered by some to be one of the first warrior queens.
The resistance against the Umayyads
Little information about Dyhia/Kahena has come down to us, apart from later accounts by authors and oral traditions.
Born on an unknown date, Kahena is the daughter of Tabeta Ibn Tifan, chief of the Djerawas, a Berber tribe originally from Numidia (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) and settled in the Aurès (eastern Algeria). According to historians, the Djerawas were then of Christian or Judaic faith. For the Chaouis (Berbers of the Aurès), Kahena is originally called Dyhia Tadmut, meaning beautiful gazelle , but she is best known by her nickname Kahena or Kahina, or even Yemma El Kahina (Mother Kahina). On the death of her father, she would have been elected or appointed by her father to succeed him.
Kahena lives at the time of the conquest of North Africa by the Umayyads, which the Berbers resist under the aegis of Kusayla, leader of the resistance to the Muslim Conquest of the Maghreb. When the latter died in 686, Kahena in turn took the lead in the resistance. She then undertook to unify many tribes of North Africa to resist the Umayyads, whom she managed to defeat militarily twice.
The battle of the camels
His first battle takes place at Meskiana. At night, Kahena hides his army in the mountains to ambush the enemy troops, and wins a resounding victory which will later be called "battle of the camels" (the Berbers having shot their arrows between the legs of their camels). The second battle took place at Tabarqa in 695. Following these victories, Kahena ruled over Ifriqiya (North African kingdom including Tunisia, eastern Algeria, western Libya) for five years .
While the Umayyads counterattack, Kahena alienates part of his people by practicing a scorched earth policy so that the territories conquered by the enemy do not benefit him. In 693, Kahena was defeated by Hassan Ibn in N'uman in his final battle against the Umayyads. Taken prisoner, she was executed by decapitation and Hassan then demanded 12,000 horsemen from the Berbers, whose command he entrusted to the two sons of Kahena. Ifran and Yezdia will also be assigned the government of Aurès.