Abu Zayd al-Hilali

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Abu Zayd Ibn Rizq Al-Hilali listen (Arabic: أبو زيد ابن رزق الهلالي‎, transliteration: Ābu Zayd al-Hilalī) was the 10th century Arab leader and hero of the 'Amirid tribe of Banu Hilal. On the orders of the Ismaili Fatimid caliph, Abu Zayd moved his tribe to Tunisia via Egypt to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. The Banu Hilali bedouins weakened largely the Zirid state and sacked Qayrawan. The event was fictionalized in the epic Taghribat Bani Hilal. In the epic it is said that he was murdered by his rival Dhieb bin Ghanim.