Amazigh, Southern Shilha

The Shilha (Ishelhin, singular Ashelhi; in French Chleuh) are the Amazigh people of south-western Morocco who speak Tachelhit (Tashelhiyt), the largest Amazigh language of Morocco and among the largest in North Africa. Their country runs from the Atlantic coast north of Essaouira and the Souss plain around Agadir up into the western High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas and Jbel Siroua, and south to the pre-Saharan valleys of the Bani and the Oued Noun. They descend largely from the medieval Masmuda Berbers: the Almohad movement (1121-1269) began among the Masmuda of the High Atlas at Tinmel. The name Shilha is of disputed origin; speakers call themselves Ishelhin and their language Tashelhiyt, and Moroccans call the people of the Souss 'Soussi'. Shilha society is made of tribes and tribal confederations (Haha, Ida Ou Tanane, Chtouka, Ait Baamrane, Ammeln, Ida Ou Semlal, Mtouga, Glaoua, Ait Ouaouzguite and many others), each a set of villages with its own council (jmaat). Since the 1920s, large-scale migration to Casablanca and the other cities, and to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, has made Soussi shopkeepers and workers part of every Moroccan city; many of their children now speak only Darija.

Shilha villages cling to terraced valley sides and are built of rammed earth or stone around a mosque and, in the Anti-Atlas, a fortified collective granary (agadir, plural igudar) where each family kept grain, documents and valuables in its own locked cell. Barley, almonds, olives and argan sustain the mountains, and the Souss plain grows citrus and vegetables. Women of the Souss crack argan nuts and press the oil, now mostly through cooperatives. Music and dance are communal: ahwash, a village dance of lines of men and women answering one another to frame drums, and the rways, travelling poet-musicians with the one-stringed ribab. Weddings last several days; the bride of the Anti-Atlas wears silver jewellery from Tiznit. Yennayer, the Amazigh New Year, became a national holiday in 2023. Village solidarity (tiwizi, shared work) and the councils that run water and pasture remain strong, and emigrants send money home to build mosques, schools and roads.

Sunni Islam of the Maliki school with prominent Sufi orders (Tijaniyya, Nasiriyya). The Souss has been a center of Islamic scholarship for centuries. Zawiyas serve as religious education and social service centers. Maraboutism is deeply embedded, with annual moussems honoring saints. Folk practices include jinn beliefs, protective amulets, and pre-Islamic agricultural rituals. Yennayer (Amazigh New Year) is widely celebrated. The High Atlas and Anti-Atlas retain more traditional practices than urban areas. Sources describe many Moroccan converts to Christianity as Amazigh, but none counts Tachelhit speakers among them.

The New Testament exists in Tachelhit in Latin and Arabic script, with selected Old Testament books, on Bible.com and the 'Awal n rbbi' app; the JESUS film, the Magdalena film and gospel films (Mark, Matthew, John) are on Bible.is, and Global Recordings Network has audio in several Tachelhit varieties. A Tachelhit story app (Agharas, 'The Way') is also available. Sources describe many Moroccan converts as Amazigh, but no count of Tachelhit-speaking believers exists; believers meet privately, and outreach runs mostly through radio, satellite television, the internet and the diaspora in Europe.

The argan tree (Argania spinosa) grows almost exclusively in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco across approximately 800,000 hectares. Shilha women have extracted oil from argan nuts for centuries using labor-intensive traditional methods. Since the 1990s, the establishment of women's argan oil cooperatives has transformed this practice into a globally recognized industry. These cooperatives provide income, literacy training, and social empowerment for rural Shilha women. UNESCO designated the argan forest as a Biosphere Reserve in 1998. The Imourane festival celebrates the harvest with communal rituals, shared meals, and songs connecting the argan to Amazigh identity.

On September 8, 2023, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the High Atlas Mountains with its epicenter in Al Haouz province, devastating predominantly Shilha Amazigh communities. The earthquake killed at least 2,960 people, displaced over 500,000, and damaged or destroyed 40,759 houses. Traditional earthen (pisé) construction, which defines Shilha mountain architecture, proved catastrophically vulnerable to seismic forces. Villages like Amizmiz, Asni, and Imlil were severely damaged. The disaster exposed decades of underinvestment in rural mountain infrastructure and prompted one of Morocco's largest reconstruction efforts.