Bedouin, Sidi

The Ouled Sidi Cheikh (Awlad Sidi Shaykh, 'sons of Sidi Cheikh') are an Arab tribal confederation of Algeria's southwest, the people JP and IMB list as 'Bedouin, Sidi'. They descend from Sidi Cheikh, Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhammad (1544-1615), a Sufi saint claimed as a descendant of the caliph Abu Bakr, who founded a zawiya at what is now El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh; the historian A. G. P. Martin dates the confederation to 1651. His eighteen children founded lineages that split into two branches, the Cheraga (eastern), centred on El Abiodh and El Bayadh, and the Gharaba (western), along the Moroccan border towards Figuig. As a holy lineage (marabouts) they held authority over client tribes, the Zenata Berber ksour of the Ksour Range and Khenafsa groups as far as the Gourara, and nomadised between the Saharan Atlas, the Oued Seggueur and Oued Gharbi pastures, with caravan links to Timbuktu, Agadez and Ghadames. They led the great revolt of 1864-65 that stopped France's advance south of Oran, joined the destruction of the Flatters expedition in 1881, and gave Algeria Cheikh Bouamama, of the Gharaba branch, whose resistance lasted until 1904. Descendants commonly carry the surname Bousheikhi.

Ouled Sidi Cheikh life grew around the saint's zawiya and the herd. The mother zawiya and mausoleum at El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh were a centre of teaching, alms and arbitration between tribes. Families were sheep and camel herders who wintered in the pre-Saharan pastures and summered on the Saharan Atlas, with palm gardens in the ksour; most are now settled in El Bayadh, El Abiodh and the steppe towns, though many still keep flocks. The yearly pilgrimage to the saint's tomb, inscribed by UNESCO in 2013, opens on the last Thursday of June for three days: a choral recital of the Koran, a dawn ceremony renewing the tribes' ties to the brotherhood, praise songs to Sidi Cheikh, men's and women's dances, and fantasia with more than 300 riders. Hospitality, horsemanship, Bedouin poetry and lineage pride (genealogies are still compiled and published) carry the identity.

Sunni Muslims of the Maliki school whose faith is bound to the Sidi Cheikh order. Baraka (blessing) is held to pass through the saint's line, giving its marabouts a standing above ordinary tribes; their zawiyas collected alms and mediated disputes. The annual pilgrimage renews loyalty to the brotherhood, which reaches across the border from El Abiodh to Figuig in Morocco. Saints' tombs, vows and protective practices sit alongside mosque practice. No study describes how far reformist Islam, which rejects shrine visits, has reached the younger generation here.

Portions of Scripture exist in Algerian Saharan Arabic, and the Jesus Film and Global Recordings audio are available in Algerian Arabic. No outreach to the Ouled Sidi Cheikh is known.

The Ouled Sidi Cheikh revolt of 1864-1865 was one of the most significant anti-colonial uprisings in 19th-century Algeria. Led by Si Slimane ben Hamza, the revolt halted French southward expansion near Oran and united multiple tribes under the Ouled Sidi Cheikh banner. The confederation later participated in destroying the Flatters expedition in 1880-81, when 600 warriors ambushed a French-led exploring party in the Sahara. They subsequently supported Cheikh Bouamama's rebellion in 1881-1883. These revolts are commemorated in Algerian national history as key episodes of resistance.