LIBYA
Where Berbers Meet the Bedouins

How do you think it would affect you to live in a land that was overrun by foreigners over and over again? Libya was colonized by six different peoples before the Arab conquest in AD 643! The Arabs brought Islam, and the already weak Church crumbled. After being ruled by Arab dynasties, they were colonized by three different groups before Italy forcefully made them a colony in the early 20th century. Under Italian rule, over half of the indigenous population had been either killed or forced to flee. Sanusi leaders went into exile, but not for long. They fought alongside the Allies in WWII to drive the Italians and Germans out of Libya. Unfortunately for the Libyans, this was still not the end of colonial rule. Their land was divided between the French and the British. Finally in 1947 Libya became the first nation to be granted independence by the efforts of the United Nations.

Libya as an Independent Nation
The Sanusi leader, Sayid Idris, became the newly–independent nation’s first king. In April of 1959, Esso–Libya discovered the Zletin oil field, beginning Libya’s era of oil wealth. Libya went from being one of the poorest nations in the world to potentially one of the wealthiest. Today, 95 percent of Libya’s exports are petroleum products.

Life in Libya changed drastically in 1969. Moammar Al–Gadhafi and a group of army officers overthrew the king’s government. Pan–Arabism has been one of Gadhafi’s main goals. Having failed in several attempts to merge with Egypt and other Arab nations, Gadhafi has more recently been trying to gain prominence among Subsaharan African nations. In late May of this year, Libya sent helicopters and troops to back a Congolese rebel leader. He may gain influence with a few African leaders, but Libya’s track record of mistreating Subsaharan Africans has left them unpopular with many black leaders.

ETHNIC LIBYA
Though the Arabs are the majority, Libya is one country that has both Berbers and Bedouins. Let’s begin with the Berber peoples, the original inhabitants of North Africa.

Berbers
Until the 8th century, Libya’s long list of conquerors was defeating Berber peoples. To this day, the Berbers do not have an identity as a people, which has made them much easier to defeat than the relatively unified Arabs. The Berbers do not even have a name for themselves. The name Berber came either from the Greek or Roman conquerors. Instead of a national identity, the Berber peoples identify with their families, clans, and local tribes.

The Berbers are separated from the Arabs primarily by language. However, most Berbers in Libya are acculturated to both Arab language and culture. In general, the more urbanized the Berber, the more “Arabized.” There is one group of Berbers, those who live in the Jabal Nafusa, who have managed to keep their culture intact. The Berbers in this area revolted against the Arab invaders in AD 896. Today this group of Berbers is least likely to intermarry with the Arabs. With a population of 170,000, the Nafusa are by far the largest of Libya’s non–Arabic Berber populations.

Before the Arabs brought Islam to Libya, the Berbers were marginally Christian. In AD256 there were developing Christian communities along the Libyan coast. During the sixth century AD, Berber subgroups were coming to the Christian faith. Unfortunately, the Berbers did not have the Scriptures in their own language. There was bitter division within the Church. When the Arabs began to bring Islam in the 600s, the Berbers initially resisted the new faith. But within 100 years, the Berbers became Muslim. However, most of them belong to a sect of Islam that sets them apart from their Arab neighbors.

Today, there are at least six Berber populations in Libya if you count the Tamacheq people of the south. Most of them are “Arabized,” and non Arabic–speaking Berbers made up only five percent of Libya’s population as of the 1980s. The Berbers in Libya are weaker and fewer in number than their cousins in Algeria and Morocco. Things do not look good for the future of Berber cultures in Libya, especially since the government policy has been pro–Arab ever since 1969.

Arabs
It did not take long for the Arab armies to sweep through North Africa after the advent of Islam in AD622. Berbers initially scattered to avoid the invaders. Though the Berbers were still in the majority for hundreds of years, there were a number of Arab invasions that weakened Berber influence. Complete Arab acculturation did not occur until the Hilalian invasions around AD1050.

Today the Arabs dominate the prosperous oil industry, the government, and educational institutions of Libya. There are five major Arab peoples in Libya, and they make up the majority. Most of these Arabs consider themselves part of the numerically superior Sunni branch of Islam. There are few if any Arab Christians in Libya.

Bedouins
Bedouins in Libya are descendants of Arab invaders and the native Berbers. They speak Arabic–based dialects. The name “Bedouin” comes from the French word for “desert dwellers,” or “nomads.” Their Semitic ancestors are referred to in the book of Genesis as the children of Shem, son of Noah, who were herders. We now call the descendents of Shem “Semitic” peoples, like the Jews. After the Arab invasion of the 7th century, the Bedouins were allowed to take grazing land from the more sedentary Berbers. As they did, their livestock overgrazed the land, causing it to become desert. It’s amazing what the Bedouins can do given the harsh climate. When they are traveling, Bedouins often log 12-40 miles a day, in temperatures up to 125ºF, and 40ºF at night.

The Bedouins must move from one place to another in search of rainfall and sufficient grasslands for their livestock. Like other nomadic peoples, the five Bedouin tribes of Libya take up a disproportionate amount of land. They avoid farming and any other kind of settled occupation. However, some Libyan Bedouins have given up the nomadic life to pursue the lucrative petroleum business. Others divide their time between herding livestock and growing wheat and barley on Libya’s limited arable land. These Bedouins migrate into the desert during the rainy season and move back to cultivate the land during the dry months.

Traditional Bedouins can be classified by the animal species for which they care. First in prestige are the camel herders, who occupy great territories and are organized into large tribes. Beneath them are the sheep and goat nomads, and lastly, the cattle herders. Generally, they travel in extended family units which are headed by a sheik.

Because they freely cross international boundaries, the Bedouins are known to practice smuggling of drugs, firearms, and contraband electrical goods.

Berbers, Arabs, Bedouins, and the other smaller groups of Libya all share a common faith in Islam. There are few efforts to reach them with the gospel.

Pray
. . . that copies of Bibles, the JESUS Film, and gospel recordings will find their way into this Christ–less country. Pray for Christian radio to reach the hearts of the Libyan peoples. Pray that by the end of this decade, God will raise up a strong, indigenous church among every Berber, Arab, and Bedouin subgroup.