Through a legacy of colonisation, French studies of Berber language literature underestimate the Arab-Islamic influence on this literature. However, this influence is important. This is assessed here in a case study. National audience The half-legendary figure of the ancient Islamic poet Imrû’l-Qays is not unknown to the Sahelian Tuaregs. They cite it in their poems, as well as in stories where he appears as a cultural hero, an inventor of poetry and touareg alphabet. He is opposed to a character who can recognise a Sahel version of another ancient Islamic poet: ‘Antara. The article proposes to find in some medieval Arab documents the sources of these Tuaregs stories.