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Shilha people
Berber subgroup From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Shilha people (Berber languages: ⵉⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵏ, romanized: išelḥiyen, Arabic: الشلوح, romanized: aš-šlūḥ), or Schleuh or Ishelhien, are a Berber ethnic group that Inhabit and are Indigenous to the Anti-Atlas, High Atlas, Sous valley, and Soussi coastal regions of Morocco.[5][6]
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Overview
The Shilha people traditionally call themselves ishelhien. This endonym is rendered as les Chleuh in French.[7] The Ishelhien are also known as Shluh and Schlöh.[5] Among Arabic speakers, Chleuh serves as an appellation for Berbers generally, although Imazighen is the proper Berber self-name for Berbers as a whole.[8]
The Shilha people live mainly in Morocco's southern Atlantic coast, the High Atlas Mountains, the Anti Atlas mountains, and the Sous Valley.[5] They are of Berber origin, which also includes other ethnic subgroups such as the Tuareg, Rif, Kabyle, and Shawia.[9] The Shilha people are a part of Morocco's Berber-speaking community, and the southernmost residing Berber population.[10][11]
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History
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In antiquity, Berbers traded with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians in commercial entrepots and colonies along the northwestern littoral. They established the ancient kingdom of Mauretania, which fell under Roman rule in 33 CE, before eventually being reunited under Berber sovereignty.[12] During the 7th century, the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate invaded the Berber and Byzantine strongholds in the Northwest Africa, seizing Carthage in 698 AD. Although the Umayyads nominally controlled Morocco over the following years, their rule was tenuous due to Berber resistance. Shortly in 739 AD, Umayyad Arabs were defeated by the Berbers at the battle of Nobles and Bagdoura. Morocco remained under the rule of Berber kingdoms such as Barghawata and Midrar... etc. In 789 AD, with the approval of the locals, a former Umayyad courtier established the Idrisid dynasty that ruled in Fez. It lasted until 970 AD, as various petty states vied for control over the ensuing centuries.
After 1053, Morocco was ruled by a succession of Muslim dynasties founded by Berber tribes. Among these were the Almoravid dynasty (1053–1147) who spread Islam in Morocco, the Almohad dynasty (1147–1275), and the Marinid dynasty (1213–1524). In 1668, a sharifan family from the east assumed control and established the incumbent Alawite dynasty.[13]
The French and Spanish colonial empires partitioned Morocco in 1904, and the southern part of the territory was declared a French protectorate in 1912. Arabization remained an official state policy under both the colonial and succeeding post-independence governments. With the spread of the Berber Spring in Algeria to Berber territory during the 1980s, the Berbers sought to reaffirm their Berber roots.
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Culture
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Society
The Ishelhien mainly live in Morocco's Atlas Mountains and Sous Valley. Traditionally, they are farmers who also keep herds.[14] Some are semi-nomadic, growing crops during the season when water is available, and moving with their herds during the dry season.[5]
The Ishelhien communities in the southwestern mountains of Morocco cooperated with each other in terms of providing reciprocal grazing rights as seasons changed, as well as during periods of war. These alliances were re-affirmed by annual festive gatherings, where one Shilha community would invite nearby and distant Shilha communities.[15]
Traditional clothing
Shilha tribes in Morocco, especially in the Souss region, are distinguished by their women and girls wearing a specific dress for each tribe and village, in a way that makes people in the region recognize the woman's tribe by her dress, whether it is everyday wear or occasional wear. [16]
Shilha women wear an Asmal or Achayt Caftan, a long red shirt embroidered with unique patterns based on wool threads colored in red, yellow and green, they then places the ssayah, a long skirt in white or black, embroidered with patterns. It is worn over the Asmal caftan, paired with colorful shoes known as Iddukan.[17]
On their head, women wear the Qatib, a popular red silk scarf with which the woman covers her hair, its also worn with or in different colors. It is also sometimes replaced by the Addal, a long white robe that reaches to the feet, similar to the Haik, with which the Shilha woman covers her body and head.
The most important feature of the traditional costume of the women is their silver adornment, called, which differs from one tribe to another. In every traditional outfit, you can expect a Tawnza, a crown made of silver and coral, this often distinguishes between tribes. Women also wear Taẓeṛẓit, they're silver Amazigh fibula adorning the chest and abdomen, along with Tanbalt, which are a pair of silver hinged bracelets.
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Language
The Ishelhien speak Tashelhit, a Berber language. It belongs to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family.[8][18] Their language is sometimes referred to as Sous-Berber.[19][20] Tashelhit differs considerably from some other Berber languages, such as those spoken by the Tuareg.[21]
As of 2014, there were around 4.7 million Shilha speakers, constituting 14.1% of the Moroccan population.[22]
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Naming
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Shilha speakers usually refer to their language as Taclḥit,[23] (in Tifinagh script: ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵜ);.[24] This name is morphologically a feminine noun, derived from masculine Aclḥiy "male speaker of Shilha".[25]
The origin of the names Aclḥiy and Taclḥiyt is still unknown. The first appearance of this name in a western printed source is found in Mármol's Descripcion general de Affrica (1573, part I, book I, chapter XXXIII):
...y entre los Numidas, y Getulos dela parte occidental de Affrica se habla Berberisco cerrado, y alli llaman esta lengua, Xilha, y Tamazegt, q̃ son nõbres muy antiguos.
"...and among the Numidians and Getulians of the western part of Afri-ca, they speak Berber with marked local features,[26] and there they call this language Xilha [ʃilħa] and Tamazegt [tamaziɣt], which are very old names."
Now it is used as an endonym among Shilha speakers. Some people and sources say that it is exonymic in origin, as the nominal stem šlḥ goes back to the Arabic noun šilḥ "bandit" (plural šulūḥ).[27] But this meaning is only present in the eastern dialects of Arabic; it does not exist in Maghreb dialects, and this is the weakness of this thesis. Also, the majority of those who tried to search for the etymology of the word used foreign-language dictionaries, rather it was supposed to search for the relevant language first. This is mainly due to the fact that the proponents of this hypothesis were not Shilha speakers.[28]
There are a lot of attempts to explain this name based on the language of Tachelhit. The most logical one of them is by the writer Mohammed Akdim, who emphasized in one of his contributions, that the name Shluh, in fact, is the original name given by the original inhabitants of Morocco, Masmouda in the High Atlas and the possessions of Marrakesh, Souss and the Anti-Atlas On themselves. In Shilha, the verb Ishlh means "to settle down, reside and live", which indicates that the name Shluh means "settled and settled residents or settled residents".[29] He also added that there is no meaning and no use in resorting to searching for the significance of the word shalh and shluh in other languages, which is not crippling. As for going to its interpretation and explanation in the Arabic language, this is the height of linguistic prejudice in the right of the Amazigh.[28]
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People of Shilha descent
- Abdallah ibn Yasin (?-1059 C.E), was an Islamic theologian, spiritual leader and the founder of the Almoravid movement.
- Ibn Tumart (ca. 1080–1130), was a Muslim religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern present-day Morocco. He found and served as the spiritual and first military leader of the Almohad movement.
- Yusuf ibn Tashfin (?-1106), was a noble Sanhaja leader of the Almoravid Empire. He cofounded the city of Marrakesh and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Sagrajas, which lead to Almoravid rule over Al Andalus.
- Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs (?-1221), was the Almohad governor of Ifriqiya from 1207 to 1221 and the father of the first Hafsid sultan Abu Zakariya Yahya.
- Abu Zakariya Yahya (1203 – 1249), was the founder and first sultan of the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiya
- Mohammed Awzal (1680–1749) is the most prolific and the most important author in the literary tradition of the Tachelhit language, producing hundreds of works in his lifetime.
- Mohammed al-Mokhtar Soussi (1900-1963), was a scholar, politician and writer who, from 1956 to 1963, was the Minister of Religious Affairs and member of the Crown Council in the government of Mohammed V.
- Aziz Akhannouch (born 1961), is a politician, businessman and billionaire. He is the current Prime Minister of Morocco.
- Saadeddine Othmani (born 1956), is a Moroccan politician and psychiatrist who served as the Prime Minister of Morocco from 2017 to 2021.
- Saïd Taghmaoui (born 1973), is a prominent French-Moroccan actor. One of his major screen roles was that of Saïd in the 1995 French film La Haine. Taghmaoui has also appeared in a number of Hollywood films.
- Loreen (born 1983), is a prominent singer and songwriter. Representing Sweden, she won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 2012 and 2023 with the songs "Euphoria" and "Tattoo" respectively. She is the second performer in Eurovision history to have won the contest twice, and the first woman to do so.
- Faycal Fajr (born 1988), is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al-Taawoun. He also plays for the Moroccan national team.
- Mehdi Ait El Hadj (born 1998) is an upcoming kickboxer who has been under contract with Glory since 2024, hes been noted for his aggressive approach in kickboxing, having close to 35 wins with only 4 losses.
- Oudaden is a popular musical group that plays traditional Shilha music. The band was formed in 1978 in Ben Sergao, near Agadir, in the Sous region.
- Ammouri Mbarek (1954-2015), was a Shilha musician widely known for changing the traditional music scene in Morocco.
- Youssouf Hadji (born 1980), is a former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He served as the team captain for AS Nancy and also used to represent the Moroccan national team.
- Mustapha Hadji (born 1971), is a football coach and former player. He was named the 50th greatest African player of all time by the African football expert Ed Dove.
- Chemsdine Talbi (born 2005) is an upcoming professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Sunderland. Internationally, Talbi also proudly represented the Moroccan national team.
- Yunis Abdelhamid (born 1987), is a professional footballer who plays for the Moroccan national team.
- Youssef Aït Bennasser (born 1996) is a professional footballer who plays for Samsunspor. He also represents Morocco at international level.
- Mbark Boussoufa (born 1984), is a retired professional footballer.
- Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine (1941-1995), was a Moroccan poet and writer. He was among the most famous Moroccan Amazigh literary figures, leaving a permanent mark in Indigenous Moroccan literature.
- Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder (1925-2024), was a Moroccan politician and activist. Ait Idder started his activism first against the French Protectorate of Morocco, and was one of the founders and leaders of the Moroccan Army of Liberation. After Morocco's independence, Ait Idder directly opposed the regime in place, particularly King Hassan II.
- Issam Chebake (born 1989) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays for the Moroccan national team.
- Walid Azaro (born 1995) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ajman and the Moroccan national team
- Hicham El Majhad (born 1991) is a professional footballer.
- Saadia Himi (born 1984) is a model and beauty queen.
- Hassan Arsmouk (born in 1963) is a popular Berber singer.
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See also
Further reading
- "Ishelhiyen", Encyclopædia Britannica online, 2008, webpage: EB-Ishelhiyen.
References
External links
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