The Shilha people traditionally call themselvesishelhien. This endonym is rendered asles Chleuh in French.[7] The Ishelhien are also known asShluh andSchlöh.[5] Among Arabic speakers,Chleuh serves as an appellation for Berbers generally, althoughImazighen is the proper Berber self-name for Berbers as a whole.[8]
The Shilha people live mainly inMorocco's southern Atlantic coast, the HighAtlas Mountains, theAnti Atlas mountains, and theSous Valley.[5] They are ofBerber origin, which also includes other ethnic subgroups such as theTuareg,Rif,Kabyle, andShawia.[9] The Shilha people are a part of Morocco's Berber-speaking community, and the southernmost residing Berber population.[10][11]
In antiquity, Berbers traded with thePhoenicians andCarthaginians in commercial entrepots and colonies along the northwestern littoral. They established the ancient kingdom ofMauretania, which fell underRoman rule in 33 CE, before eventually being reunited under Berber sovereignty.[12] During the 7th century, the IslamicUmayyad Caliphate invaded the Berber andByzantine strongholds in the Northwest Africa, seizingCarthage 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 asBarghawata andMidrar... etc. In 789 AD, with the approval of the locals, a former Umayyad courtier established theIdrisid 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 theAlmoravid dynasty (1053–1147) who spread Islam in Morocco, theAlmohad dynasty (1147–1275), and theMarinid dynasty (1213–1524). In 1668, a sharifan family from the east assumed control and established the incumbentAlawite 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 theBerber Spring in Algeria to Berber territory during the 1980s, the Berbers sought to reaffirm their Berber roots.
The Ishelhien mainly live in Morocco's Atlas Mountains andSous 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]
Shilha tribes in Morocco, especially in theSouss 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 woman in her traditional outfit
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 theQatib, 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 theHaik, 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 silverAmazigh fibula adorning the chest and abdomen, along with Tanbalt, which are a pair of silver hinged bracelets.
The Ishelhien speakTashelhit, a Berber language. It belongs to theBerber branch of theAfro-Asiatic family.[8][18] Their language is sometimes referred to asSous-Berber.[19][20] Tashelhit differs considerably from some other Berber languages, such as those spoken by the Tuareg.[21]
Tashelhit-speaking areas
Shilha is spoken in an area covering around 100,000 square kilometres. The area comprises the western part of theHigh Atlas mountains and the regions to the south up to theDraa River, including theAnti-Atlas and the alluvial basin of theSous River.
As of 2014, there were around 4.7 million Shilha speakers, constituting 14.1% of the Moroccan population.[22]
Shilha speakers usually refer to their language asTaclḥit,[23] (inTifinagh script:ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵜ);.[24] This name is morphologically a feminine noun, derived from masculineAclḥiy "male speaker of Shilha".[25]
The origin of the namesAclḥiy andTaclḥiyt is still unknown. The first appearance of this name in a western printed source is found inMármol'sDescripcion 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 anendonym among Shilha speakers. Some people and sources say that it isexonymic in origin, as the nominal stemšlḥ goes back to the Arabic nounšilḥ "bandit" (pluralšulūḥ).[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 nameShluh, in fact, is the original name given by the original inhabitants of Morocco, Masmouda in theHigh Atlas and the possessions ofMarrakesh,Souss and theAnti-Atlas On themselves. In Shilha, the verbIshlh means "to settle down, reside and live", which indicates that the nameShluh 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 wordshalh andshluh 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]
Abdallah ibn Yasin (?-1059 C.E), was an Islamic theologian, spiritual leader and the founder of theAlmoravid movement.
Ibn Tumart (ca. 1080–1130), was a Muslim religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from theSous in southern present-day Morocco. He found and served as the spiritual and first military leader of theAlmohad movement.
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.
Mohammed Awzal (1680–1749) is the most prolific and the most important author in the literary tradition of theTachelhit language, producing hundreds of works in his lifetime.
Mririda n Ayt Atiq (c. 1900 – c. 1940s) was a Tashelhit-speaking Moroccan Shilha poet whose poetry dealt with topics tabu at the time (particularly coming from a woman poet), such as divorce, love between women, household problems, and unrequited love, and who openly voiced her inner thoughts as a means of rebellion and resistance against a culture of patriarchy.[30][31][32]
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 ofMohammed V.
Saïd Taghmaoui (born 1973), is a prominent French-Moroccan actor. One of his major screen roles was that of Saïd in the 1995 French filmLa Haine. Taghmaoui has also appeared in a number of Hollywood films.
Loreen (born 1983), is a prominent singer and songwriter. Representing Sweden, she won theEurovision Song Contest twice, in 2012 and 2023 with the songs "Euphoria" and "Tattoo" respectively. She is the second performer inEurovision history to have won the contest twice, and the first woman to do so.
Fayçal 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 withGlory 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, nearAgadir, 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 forAS 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.
^Joseph R. Applegate (1957),Berber Studies I: Shilha, Middle East Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer, 1957), pages 324-327
^Haut commissariat au Plan, Moroccan Kingdom, Haut commissariat au Plan."Recensement général de la Maroc".HCP (in French). Haut commissariat du Plan. Retrieved16 August 2016.
^In most of its usages,Aclḥiy simply means "a speaker of Shilha". It is not known whether children of Shilha speakers in the migrant communities who have not acquired an active knowledge of the language still identify themselves asAclḥiy. There is also an ethnic (racial) dimension to the term: white native speakers of Shilha generally refer to black native speakers (the modern descendants of liberated slaves) with the termasuqqiy, a pejorative term derived from Arabicsuq "market" (where slaves were bought and sold). The literature offers no information on the self-designation of black speakers.[citation needed].
^Cerrado:Dicho del acento o de la pronunciación: Que presenta rasgos locales muy marcadosDiccionario de la lengua española, Real Academia Española.
^Stumme (1899:3); see also Dozy, R. (1881),Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes, Leyde: Brill, p. I:781,shilḥ, pluralshulūḥ "voleur, brigand".
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