Algerian, Arabic-speaking

Algerian Arabs are the Arabic-speaking majority of Algeria: people whose mother tongue is Algerian Arabic (Darja, also called Dziriya), the Maghrebi Arabic of the coast, the high plateaus and the northern Sahara. Most descend from the Amazigh (Berber) population of North Africa, which took up Arabic over many centuries: first in the towns and their hinterland after the Islamic conquest of the 7th century, then in the plains and steppes after the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym Arab tribes arrived from the 11th century. 'Arab' therefore names a language and culture more than an origin, and many Algerians describe themselves simply as Algerians, Muslims and, increasingly, of Amazigh roots. Algerian Arabic has two layers: older town and village dialects (Algiers, Tlemcen, Constantine, Jijel, the Traras) and the Bedouin-type Hilalian dialects that underlie today's spoken koine; it carries Berber words (about 8-9% of the vocabulary), many French loans and a few hundred Ottoman Turkish ones. Regional identities are strong: Algérois, Oranais, Constantinois, the people of the high plateaus and the Arabic-speaking tribes of the steppe and the Sahara, some of which are listed as their own groups. The group also holds the descendants of other peoples who have taken up Arabic and the majority's name: Arabised Berbers, Andalusian (Morisco) families of Tlemcen, Algiers and Blida, and the Kouloughlis, families descended from Ottoman soldiers and local women (see the section on them).

Daily life follows the rhythm of the prayer times, the Friday prayer and the month of Ramadan, when families break the fast together over chorba frik (a soup of green wheat), bourek and sweets such as zlabia and qalb el louz. Couscous (seksu, or tâam) is the dish of Fridays and family occasions, with regional forms; chakhchoukha, rechta, chtitha and mhadjeb are everyday staples. The extended family remains the centre of life. Weddings run over several days, with a henna night, the display of the bride's trousseau, the karakou velvet jacket of Algiers or the blouza of Oran, and the qafla procession of cars. Men gather in cafés and at the mosque; women's social life runs through family visits and the hammam. Music marks each region: raï from Oran, chaâbi from the Casbah of Algiers, Arab-Andalusian malouf and hawzi in Constantine and Tlemcen, and the Bedouin song of the steppe with gasba flute and bendir drum. Football is a national passion. Women now outnumber men at university, but few work outside the home. Young people face high unemployment, and emigration (harga, the crossing to Europe by boat) is a constant theme of songs and social media.

Algerian Arabs are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki school, which has shaped North African Islam for a thousand years. Popular piety centres on the saints: almost every town and village has the domed tomb (qubba) of a holy man, visited for healing, fertility and blessing, with yearly gatherings (waada, ziyara) at the larger shrines. Sufi orders (Rahmaniyya, Tijaniyya, Qadiriyya, Alawiyya) and their lodges (zawiya) are respected and promoted by the state as part of an 'Algerian authority of religion' against Salafism. Belief in the evil eye, jinn and sorcery is widespread; healing by Qur'an recitation (ruqya) has become popular with the Salafi movement, which grew from the 1980s and remains strong among urban youth. The memory of the 1990s civil war (the 'Black Decade') makes many wary of political Islam. A minority, mostly young and urban, practise little. A few old families of Ottoman descent and some historic mosques keep the Hanafi rite. Arabic-speaking Christians are few, mostly in Oran and Algiers.

Scripture in Algerian Arabic is available as a New Testament with Old Testament portions (Algerian Arabic Bible app, YouVersion, eBible), and the complete Bible in Standard Arabic is understood by readers. The JESUS film, the Magdalena film, Gospel films of Luke and John, and Global Recordings Network audio exist in Algerian Arabic. Satellite television and online ministries in Darja reach many homes. Algeria's Christian believers, estimated from about 20,000 to over 100,000, are mostly Kabyles; Arabic-speaking believers are few and scattered, often meeting in homes, and many have been reached through media.

Arabic-speaking Black Algerians of the Saharan oases and the northern cities, descendants of Haratin sharecroppers and of enslaved Africans, are kept apart by colour and descent (rare intermarriage, slurs, a ceiling in jobs) and form their own group, Afro-Algerians (research file afro-algerian). No source counts them, so this group's figure still includes them.

During three centuries of Ottoman rule (1516-1830) Turkish and other Ottoman soldiers (janissaries) married local women; their sons, the Kouloughlis (from Turkish kul oğlu, 'son of a servant [of the Sultan]'), formed an urban class between the Turkish rulers and the Arab and Berber population, held garrisons such as Tlemcen's Mechouar and Zouaoua posts, and followed the Hanafi rite of the Ottomans. After 1830 many Turks were expelled; the Kouloughli families stayed, spoke Arabic and married into the majority. Their heritage today is in family names (Stambouli, Torki, Benturki, Khodja, Bach Tarzi and others), a few Hanafi mosques in Algiers, Constantine and Tlemcen, Ottoman-era dishes and crafts, and some 600 Turkish words in Algerian Arabic. No community that still calls itself Kouloughli or speaks Turkish has been documented, and 'Kouloughli' is now used as an insult; they are counted in this group. Descent claims range from 3-5% of Algerians (about 1.4-2.4 million today; Oxford Business Group, 2008) to the Turkish embassy's 5-20%: these are descent figures, not a community.