Moor, Beidane (White)

The Bidan (Bīḍān, 'whites'; also Beidane, Beydane), or White Moors, are the Hassaniya-speaking people of mixed Sanhaja Berber and Arab descent who ruled the western Sahara between the Atlantic, the Senegal River and the bend of the Niger. Most of them, about 1.6 million, live in Mauritania, where they make up about a third of the population; smaller communities live in northern Senegal, Mali's Timbuktu region, southern Morocco and Western Sahara, where Bidan tribes are known as Sahrawis. Their ancestors were the Sanhaja nomads (Lamtuna, Massufa, Godala) who launched the Almoravid movement in the 11th century, and the Beni Hassan, Maqil Arabs who moved south from the 14th century. The Char Bouba war (1644-1674) left Arab-descended warrior tribes (Hassan) over Berber-descended scholarly tribes (Zwaya, zawaya), spread the Hassaniya dialect of Arabic and pushed the Zenaga Berber language back to a few tribes of Trarza; in practice many 'Arab' warrior tribes have Berber names and many scholarly tribes Arab genealogies. Bidan society is ranked by birth. Below the Hassan and Zwaya stand tributary tribes (znaga, lahma), hereditary blacksmiths and artisans (maalmin) and griots (iggawen), and below them the Haratin, descendants of slaves, who share the Bidan's language and culture but whom the Bidan do not count as Bidan. Tribes and their lineages, each with a founding ancestor, remain the frame of loyalty, marriage and politics: the Reguibat of the far north, the Kunta, Tajakant, Smasside, Idaw Ali, Ahl Cheikh Sidiya, Awlad Daymane and Tendgha among the Zwaya, and the Awlad Mbarek, Awlad Ahmed Ben Daman and Idaw Aish among the warrior tribes, are only a few of them. The precolonial emirates of Trarza, Brakna, Adrar and Tagant were Bidan states. The name means 'white' and sets them apart from the Haratin and from the Black African peoples of the Senegal River; the French 'Maure' and English 'Moor' cover both Bidan and Haratin.

Bidan culture grew in the tent (khaima) of camel and goat herders, and it still shapes life in the towns where most Bidan now live. Every visit is framed by atay, three rounds of strong green tea with mint, poured from a height to raise a froth, which can take an hour; men sit on carpets and cushions in the salon, and families keep a tent for the rainy season (khrif) or the weekend in the badiya. Men wear the daraa, a wide, open-sided robe of light blue or white cotton, often with a black or indigo turban (houli); women wrap themselves in the melhfa, a long, brightly dyed veil-cloth worn over the head and body. Camel milk, mutton, rice, couscous and dates are staple foods; meat grilled on the coals (mechoui) marks feasts. Marriage is preferably within the lineage, often between cousins, and with families of the same rank; polygyny is accepted but uncommon, as Bidan women expect to be the only wife. Divorce is frequent and carries no shame: a divorced woman is welcomed home with ululation, poems and a party, and many marry several times. The force-feeding of young girls to make them heavy (leblouh, gavage), once a sign of beauty and wealth, survives in the countryside but is declining. The Bidan call their country the land of a million poets: Hassaniya poetry (leghna) and classical Arabic verse are recited at gatherings, and the griots (iggawen) play a modal music (azawan) on the tidinit lute (men) and the ardin harp (women), now often on electric guitar. Hereditary artisans (maalmin) make silver jewellery, leather cushions and saddles, wooden bowls and the low tea tables. Hospitality, generosity, eloquence and honour (sharaf) are core values.

The Bidan are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki school, and religion is bound up with rank: the scholarly (zawaya) tribes see learning as their calling, and Bidan scholars from Chinguetti, Ouadane, Tichit and Oualata were known across the Islamic world (Mauritanians in the Middle East are still called 'Shanaqita', people of Chinguetti). Children learn the Qur'an in the mahadra, often a tent or room where a teacher hears pupils recite verses written on wooden boards (lawh); advanced mahadra teach Maliki law, grammar and poetry to adults for years. Sufi orders organise much of religious life: the Qadiriyya (with its Fadiliyya branch of Cheikh Mohamed Fadel and the Sidiyya of Boutilimit), the Tijaniyya (with its Hafiziyya branch) and the Ghudfiyya. Their sheikhs and marabouts give blessing (baraka), write Qur'anic amulets (hjab) against the evil eye and the jinn, heal by recitation and settle disputes; tombs of saints draw visits. Islam is the religion of the state and of every citizen; leaving it is punishable by death in law, and Bidan identity and Islam are felt to be one. Younger urban Bidan are more exposed to Salafi preaching and, through the internet and satellite television, to secular and global ideas, but open religious dissent is very rare.

Scripture in Hassaniya is available: the New Testament, Genesis (Pioneer Bible Translators, 2024), the JESUS film, GRN audio recordings and the Kutub Hassaniya and Hassaniya Bible apps, which are mostly used online. Radio and satellite programmes in Arabic and Hassaniya reach some listeners. No Bidan church exists; the few believers of Muslim background meet in secret, if at all. In Mauritania, where most Bidan live, the law makes apostasy and blasphemy capital crimes, forbids proselytising and bars citizens from churches, which serve only foreigners; a convert risks expulsion by the family, loss of marriage and inheritance, and arrest. Tribal and family bonds, the prestige of the scholarly tribes and the sense that to be Bidan is to be Muslim are deep barriers.

Bidan society is a ranked order of tribes (qabila) and status groups, inherited through the father. The Hassan (Arab, warrior) tribes held arms and power and took tribute; the Zwaya (zawaya, scholarly) tribes held religion, learning and much of the trade; the tributaries (znaga, lahma), largely of Berber descent, paid the warrior tribes the horma tax and herded for them. Hereditary blacksmiths and artisans (maalmin) and griots (iggawen) married within their own groups; the Haratin and the enslaved ('abid) stood below all of them. Tribute ended in the 1960s and slavery was abolished in 1981, but marriage still largely follows rank, and the maalmin in particular still meet contempt and superstition. Movement between ranks happened: whole tribes took up scholarship to escape tribute, and warrior tribes such as the Idaw Aish bear Berber names. Today a person's tribe still decides where they vote, whom they marry and whom they call on for help.