Muzni

The Banu Muzni were the ruling family of the Zab Emirate, a desert-edge state centered on Biskra in eastern Algeria. In the thirteenth century they displaced the Banu Romman at Biskra, imposed their authority on the Bedouin tribes, and with leave from the sultan of Bejaia extended their rule as far as Tozeur.

Early in the fourteenth century they allied with the Zianids of Tlemcen against Hafsid overlordship, but had to resubmit to Tunis in 1329. Their allegiance remained nominal, and Hafsid armies repeatedly besieged Biskra to force its governor to pay tribute.

When the Marinids swept into the central Maghreb in the mid-fourteenth century the Muzni briefly acknowledged their sovereignty before returning to the Hafsid orbit. Ibn Khaldun devoted a chapter to the Banu Muzni as emirs of Biskra, and the emirate fell to a Hafsid reconquest in 1402.