Amazigh, Figig

The South Oran ksour Berbers are the Zenati Berbers of some twenty fortified oasis villages (ksour) in the Ksour Mountains of the Saharan Atlas and the Saoura valley of western Algeria, between Mecheria and Béni Abbès. Their speech, which they call tacelhit (Shilha), tmazight in the northern villages and tabeldit at Igli, forms one dialect cluster with the Berber of Figuig, Iche and Aïn Chaïr just across the Moroccan border, which is why the group carries Figuig's name. Each ksar is a community of its own, with a council (tajmaat), palm grove and water rights, often beside Arabic-speaking tribes living around it. The ksour are among the oldest settlements of the region: Ibn Khaldun mentions Boussemghoun in 1370, and Tiout's ksar is said to be nine centuries old.

Life centres on the ksar, a walled village of earthen houses with a few gates, a mosque and shared basins, and on the palm grove below it watered by wells, channels and foggaras; Tiout alone grows 71 date varieties. Each ksar's council shares water by turns. Tiout and Moghrar are known for prehistoric rock engravings of antelope, gazelles and ostriches. Women keep the Berber speech most, while men also speak Arabic in the market. Carpet and blanket weaving, gardens under the palms and saints' festivals (waadas) mark the year.

Sunni Maliki Islam deeply shaped by Sufism. Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani founded the Tijaniyya order at Boussemghoun in 1782, and its zawiya there still receives visitors from across Africa. Cheikh Bouamama, who led the 1881 rising against France, had his zawiya at Moghrar. Saints' tombs, blessing-seeking visits and amulets sit beside mosque Islam.

No scripture, Jesus Film or audio recording exists in South Oran Berber; the Global Recordings Network lists the variety with no recordings. The Central Atlas Tamazight resources listed for the group are in a Moroccan language. No outreach is known.