Re-Reading the Bargawata

Scholars have long relied on a limited set of Arabic sources, particularly geographies, to reconstruct the history and beliefs of the Bargawata, a Berber group of the Atlantic coast with an indigenous prophetic legacy and a `Qur'an' in the local language. The present article revisits these texts, arguing that they must be understood as two distinct veins of tradition: an early account by Ibn Hawqal and a separate presentation by al-Bakri that became hegemonic. It then builds on the work of Allaoua Amara, who first noted the promise of legal compendia in studying the Bargawata, presenting a set of previously neglected legal rulings from Abd al-Malik Ibn Habib that are the earliest known source on the Bargawata and cast a critical, independent light on the movement's origins and practices. Finally, it reconsiders the historiography of the Bargawatan faith, arguing that it was an early indigenous conversation with the new religious grammar of Islam rather than a later `decolonial' rejection of the conqueror's faith.