Amazigh, Filala

The Filala (singular Filali) are the people of the Tafilalt, the largest palm oasis of south-eastern Morocco, where the Ziz and Gheris rivers spread out and die in the desert around Rissani and Erfoud. The name strictly belonged to the small oasis at the meeting of the two rivers and was later stretched to the whole lower Ziz. 'Filali' is also a family name across Morocco, and the royal Alaouite dynasty is called Filali after the oasis it came from.

The oasis people are a mix built over a thousand years. Sharifian families (shurfa), claiming descent from the Prophet, settled in the ksour around Rissani from the 13th century; one of them, Moulay Ali Cherif, founded the Alaouite line that has ruled Morocco since the 17th century, and his mausoleum stands at Rissani. Arab tribes, among them the Arab Sebbah of the Ziz and the Gheris and the Beni Mhamed (long under Ait Atta protection), farm their own ksour. Dark-skinned Haratin, descended from Saharan farmers and from people brought north in the caravan trade, were the oasis's sharecroppers and khettara diggers; former caravan guides of the Dawi Mnia settled in the Ghorfa district. Jewish families lived in the ksour until they emigrated in the 1950s and 1960s; Rabbi Israel Abuhatzeira (the Baba Sali) was born there. The Berber-speaking Ait Atta, including the Ait Khebbash of Merzouga, who dominated the oasis from the 18th century, form a group of their own.

The Tafilalt's medieval capital, Sijilmasa, founded in 757 by the Berber Banu Midrar of the Miknasa, was the northern port of the trans-Saharan gold trade; its ruins lie beside Rissani. Today almost all Filala speak Moroccan Arabic.

Oasis life turns on the date palm (the Tafilalt's Mejhoul and Bou Feggous dates are prized across Morocco), irrigated by the Ziz through the Hassan Addakhil dam and by khettara channels. Families live in fortified ksour of rammed earth, some still inhabited, others abandoned for concrete houses. Rissani's large weekly market draws traders from the whole south-east, and Erfoud holds a date festival each autumn. Food includes madfouna, a flatbread stuffed with meat, onions and spices. Lineage still ranks people: sharifian families hold prestige and religious authority, and marriage between sharifian, Arab and Haratin families is uncommon. Many Filali families have members in Casablanca, Fes, Meknes and Europe.

The Filala are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki school. The Tafilalt's sharifian heritage gives religion a strong lineage character: descendants of the Prophet and of local saints carry blessing (baraka), and the mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif at Rissani and other saints' tombs are visited at annual moussems. Zawiyas once ran schools and hostels for travellers. The Prophet's birthday (Mawlid) is celebrated with particular care. Belief in jinn and the evil eye and the use of amulets are common, alongside the scripture-centred Islam of the schools and mosques.

The complete Bible in Moroccan Arabic, with audio and app versions, the Jesus Film in Moroccan Arabic and Global Recordings Network recordings are available to the Filala. No fellowship among them is known. Morocco's Penal Code (Article 220) punishes proselytism, and the oasis's sharifian and royal associations make conversion especially costly socially.

Sijilmasa was founded in 757 by the Banu Midrar, Kharijite Berbers of the Miknasa, on the caravan route that linked the gold of the Niger bend with the Mediterranean. It became the main northern terminus of the trans-Saharan trade, minting gold coin and rivalling Fes and Marrakech, and passed through Almoravid, Almohad and Marinid hands before declining from the 14th century. Its ruins lie beside Rissani, which succeeded it as the oasis's market town.