Amazigh (Berbers)

وأما لهذا العهد وهو آخر المائة الثامنة فقد انقلبت أحوال المغرب الذي نحن شاهدوه وتبدلت بالجملة واعتاض من أجيال البربر أهله على القدم بما طرأ فيه من لدن المائة الخامسة من أجيال العرب بما كسروهم وغلبوهم وانتزعوا منهم عامة الأوطان وشاركوهم فيما بقي من البلدان لملكهم هذا إلى ما نزل بالعمران شرقا وغربا في منتصف هذه المائة الثامنة من الطاعون الجارف الذي تحيف الأمم وذهب بأهل الجيل وطوى كثيرا من محاسن العمران ومحاها وجاء للدول على حين هرمها وبلوغ الغاية من مداها فقلص من ظلالها وفل من حدها وأوهن من سلطانها وتداعت إلى التلاشي والاضمحلال أموالها وانتقض عمران الأرض بانتقاض البشر فخربت الأمصار والمصانع ودرست السبل والمعالم وخلت الديار والمنازل وضعفت الدول والقبائل وتبدل الساكن وكأني بالمشرق قد نزل به مثل ما نزل بالمغرب لكن على نسبته ومقدار عمرانه وكأنما نادى لسان الكون في العالم بالخمول والانقباض فبادر بالإجابة والله وارث الأرض ومن عليها

But now, at the end of the eighth century, the state of the Maghrib, which we see before us, has been overturned and changed entirely. The Berber peoples who lived there from of old have been replaced by the Arab peoples who came in from the fifth century on. The Arabs broke them, overcame them, took most of their homelands, and shared the rest of their lands with them. On top of this came the sweeping plague that fell on civilization, east and west, in the middle of this eighth century. It ate away at the nations and carried off the people of that generation. It rolled up and wiped out many of the good things of civilization. It came upon the dynasties when they were old and had reached the limit of their life span. It shrank their shadow, blunted their edge, and weakened their power. Their wealth began to wither away. As humankind dwindled, the settled world fell apart. Cities and buildings were ruined, roads and waymarks wore away, houses and dwellings stood empty, and dynasties and tribes grew weak. The people who lived there changed. I imagine the East has suffered what the Maghrib suffered, in proportion to its own size and population. It is as if the voice of existence had called on the world to sink into dullness and shrink back, and the world had hurried to obey. God inherits the earth and all who are on it.