emirate · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan

Banu Khattab emirate

918 CE – 1172 CE (approx.) · capital Zawila

A Berber Ibadi dynasty of the Fezzan, ruling the Saharan slave-trade town of Zawila for over two centuries.

Origins

Zawila, in the Fezzan of southern Libya, lay in the former lands of the Garamantian Empire. Around 918 Abd Allah ibn al-Khattab of the Hawwara Berbers established the dynasty there, controlling oases on the main caravan route between Lake Chad and the Mediterranean.

Rule and society

The Banu Khattab were Ibadi Muslims who ruled a network of oases from Zawila, which Arab geographers describe as a walled town with a mosque and markets. The emirate grew rich from the trade in enslaved people brought from Kanem and the Lake Chad region, exchanged for horses, textiles and metal goods, and from date cultivation.

Decline and legacy

In 1172 to 1176 Sharaf al-Din Qaraqush, a commander serving the Ayyubid Empire of Saladin, invaded the Fezzan and killed the last Khattabid ruler. The Fezzan later came under Kanem and local dynasties.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Garamantian Empire 1000 BCE – 700 CEBanu Khattab emirateQaraqush's Tripolitania 1172 CE – 1212 CE

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Banu Khattab emirate. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khattab-emirate
MLA
“Banu Khattab emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khattab-emirate. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Banu Khattab emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khattab-emirate.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Banu Khattab emirate’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-khattab-emirate (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻