Amazigh, Ghomara

The Ghomara (Ghmara) are a confederation of nine tribes on the Mediterranean slope of the western Rif, between the Oued Laou and Ouringa rivers east of Chefchaouen: Beni Bouzra, Beni Mansour, Beni Selman, Beni Rezin, Beni Smih, Beni Ziat, Beni Grir, Beni Khaled and Beni Zjel. Medieval writers counted them among the Masmuda Berbers; their territory once reached further west, where the Jebala now live. Most Ghomara took up Arabic between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, helped by the trade routes from Fes to the coast and the Andalusian refugees who settled Chefchaouen. Only Beni Bouzra and the adjacent Beni Arous fraction of Beni Mansour still speak Ghomara Berber, which they call ššelḥa: about 10,000 people, the most Arabic-influenced Berber language still spoken. The other seven tribes speak a Jebli-type Arabic but keep the Ghomara name, which also names the region.

Ghomara villages sit on terraced mountainsides and, since the late twentieth century, along the coast, where small-boat fishing has become a livelihood beside wheat, barley, vegetable gardens, orchards, hemp and goats. Houses are of stone and earth. Society is patrilineal and organised by tribe and fraction, with marriage mostly inside the tribe; weddings are the largest celebrations. Local lore tells of 'people of the Souss' who settled the hills and buried treasure still sought today. A Ghomara heritage festival at Steha beach (third edition in August 2024) shows local products of the Ghomara tribe, a traditional wedding and a race of traditional fishing boats.

The Ghomara are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki school. As across the western Rif, shrines of local saints, seasonal moussems, vows, amulets and beliefs about jinn and the evil eye sit beside mosque practice; the medieval Ghomara were known for heterodox movements (the tenth-century prophet Ha-Mim), long since gone. Younger people schooled in towns follow a more standard Islam.

No Scripture exists in Ghomara Berber, and every speaker is fluent in Moroccan Arabic, in which the full Bible, the Jesus Film and audio resources are available. GRN lists recordings for Ghomara. No Christians are known among the Ghomara.