Arubis () are an Arab subgroup referring to the rural inhabitants of the western Atlantic plains of Morocco and their descendants. They are believed to descend from Bedouin Arab tribes who migrated into the region in the 12th century. The term ʿarūbī has recently become polysemous also carrying the meaning of "ruralite" or "countryman".
Names and etymology The Arabic term ʿarūbī literally means "Bedouin" and derives from the word ʿarbī meaning Arab. According to the Moroccan scholars Ahmed Ech-charfi and Lamyae Azzouzi, the term ʿarūbī was probably coined around the time Bedouin tribes in North Africa arrived in the eleventh century. They argue that it was probably coined with a negative connotation reflecting the negative attitudes by those who coined it: early Arab settlers and their Berber allies.
In recent years, the term ʿarūbī has also adopted the meaning of "ruralite" or "countryman". Ech-charfi and Azzouzi argued that words like ʿarubī in Morocco adopted its rural meaning in Moroccan Arabic due to contact with Western language and Western colonization. They argue that in French there is a clear contrast between the city and countryside in the vocabulary and in the social attitudes communicated through the use of the terms used by the French. They also suggest that the term possibly could have acquired this rural meaning first in the major cities of the Atlantic plains like Casablanca. Although, this would need more research to substantiate.
Arubis have also been referred to simply as ʿArab and ʾAʿrāb ().
History
Origins and Almohad era
During the 10th and 11th centuries, the Banu Hilal tribal confederation migrated from Egypt to Ifriqiya. They were also joined by the Banu Sulaym. Both of these tribal confederations were part of the northern Adnanite group of Arab tribes. In the Battle of Haydaran, they defeated the Zirids decisively and also sacked Kairouan. The Zirids and the Hammadids were forced to retreat to other cities. The traditional narrative picked up by many chroniclers like Ibn Khaldun was that the Banu Hilal was sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for their insubordination. Many modern historians now reject this narrative as a piece of propaganda that the Fatimids constructed capitalising on the victories of the Banu Hilal to bolster their own image. The effect that the Hilalian migration had on North Africa is a source of controversy. The traditional view is that the Hilalian migration marked the triumph of nomadism over civilisation. However, this view has been challenged by recent studies. For example, the French historian Jean Poncet argued that the Zirids already had been weakened by internal factors before while the French Marxist historian Claude Cahen argues that the Hilalian migration was part of a wider decentralization and “bedouinisation” in the 10th and 11th centuries which affected the entire Islamic World.
When the Almohads went east, they came into contact with the Arab tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym. The Arabs felt threatened by the Almohad expansion fearing that the Almohads would expel them from the Central Maghrib so they formed a force to fight against them. However, they were defeated at the Battle of Setif and their goods, animals and families were taken to Maghrib al-Aqsa. Despite the Almohads holding their wives and children captive, the Almohads did not sell their families into slavery but instead used them to entice the Arabs to join the Almohads. The Almohads invited the Arabs to Marrakesh to reunite with their families and when they did arrive, they were showered with gifts and told to return with their families to the Eastern Maghrib. The Almohad ruler Abd al-Mumin claimed a Qaysi Arab lineage which would have included the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym (both Qaysi tribes). This was an effective propagandistic tactic used to rally them to the Almohad side.
In order to weaken Arab resistance in the east, Abd al-Mumin transferred them to Morocco specifically in the Atlantic plains of Morocco. This region was previously inhabited by the Barghawata but was depopulated by the Almohads. Without the Almohad recruitment of Arabs and resettling into the Atlantic plains, Morocco would have avoided the rural Arabisation that came with the Hilalian migrations into the Maghreb. The appearance of the Arabs added to the complexity of the ethnic population of Morocco and introduced a significant non-Berber element. The Berbers who had previously inhabited the Atlantic plains were either Arabised or displaced to nearby mountains. There was also a significant amount of Arab and Berber intermarriage which led to the spread of Arabic language and realignment of tribal structures. The Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur also transferred some Maqil tribes from the Eastern Maghrib to the Atlantic plains. Ibn Khaldun recorded the distribution of Arab tribes in Maghrib al-Aqsa after their resettlement in the Kitab al-Ibar: TribeLocationBanū RiyāḥNorthwestern Morocco in the coastal plain between Tangier and SaléJusham (Khulṭ, Banū Jābir, and )Fertile plain of TāmasnāSome clans of the AthbajFertile plain of Tāmasnā The Arab tribes became integrated into the Almohad army. One of the reasons for the recruitment of the Arabs was the need for their military service in Al-Andalus. They formed the most important contingents in the Almohad military in Ifriqiya, al-Andalus and the provinces and they were used on a regular basis in larger military expeditions within the empire. They were prized as cavalry in particular with their signature tactic being karr wa farr (attack and retreat). Due to their military value, they had a higher salary than other members of the Almohad military.
They increasingly played an important role in the politics of the Almohad Empire. Arabs became embedded in the Almohad elite to the point that they became partners in giving the bay‘a to a new caliph. One of the motives for the recruitment and resettlement of the Arabs was to counterbalance the power of the original Almohad tribes belonging to the Masmuda. Abd al-Mumin was an outsider and sought to create a hereditary caliphate. Due to the Arabs being outsiders, Abd al-Mumin could count on their loyalty to him and he used them to ensure the succession of his son. When the Almohads declined in the 1220s, the Arabs played an important part in the civil wars and succession disputes that emerged. With the decline of the Almohad army, the Arabs became the most powerful force in the Moroccan plains.
Marinid, Saadi and Alaouite era Under the Marinids, the Arabs grew in importance in Morocco. Due to the lack of Zenata supporters, they welcomed the support of Arab nomads, like the Khlut and . The Zenata were heavily assimilated into Arab culture and the Marinid makhzan (government) was composed of both Arabs and Zenata Berbers. This led to the further expansion of Arab tribes into Morocco where they settled in the plains with Berber groups increasingly Arabised. Under the Marinids, Arabic became both the common and official language. The Marinids, as Arabophiles, encouraged the spread of Arab culture by incorporating Arab cultural practices into their court and family traditions and by marrying the daughters of Arab leaders like prominent sharifs and Bedouin leaders from noble clans like the Banū Muhalhal of the Khlut. The Marinids claimed descent from the Arab tribe of Mudar. They like the Almohads also carried out tribal transfers with the most important being the transfer of the Sufyan from Tamasna to the Gharb. Furthermore, they encouraged the Bani Ahsan to leave the Ziz valley in return for the right to collect taxes over a wide region extending from Sijilmassa to Tadla. From the fifteenth century onward, they would continue migrating until they reached the Atlantic coast.
By the year 1500, Arab pastoralists made up three quarters of the population and dominated four fifths of the land area of Dukkala. The American scholar Vincent Cornell estimates the Arab pastoralist population of Dukkala at 375,000 at this time. According to the historical author Leo Africanus, by the 16th century, the Gharb was entirely populated by the Khlut.
From the 16th century, Morocco saw the rise of two Arab dynasties of Sharifian descent: the Saadis and the Alaouites. These dynasties managed to gain power through support from allied Arab tribes. The Saadis mainly received support from Maqil Arabs from the Draa valley and the Anti-Atlas. They used these tribes to counter Hilalian groups. The Alaouites got support from Arab and Berber tribes in the Tafilalt and .
Ismail ibn Sharif of the Alaouite dynasty recruited Arab tribes from the Sahara as well as using Maqil groups inherited from the Saadians for his army. The four makhzen tribes that formed the guich tribes in Morocco were the (Awlād Djamaʿ, Hawwāra, Banū ʿĀmir, Banū Snūs, Sedjʿa, Aḥlāf, Swīd, etc.), the (, Zirāra, Awlād Djarār, Ahl Sūs, Awlād Mṭāʿ, etc.), the Udāya (the Udāya proper, Mgafra etc.) and Bwākher (Black Guard). After Ismail ibn Sharif died, the guich tribes became king makers. In the span of 31 years from 1726 to 1757, they deposed, enthroned and slayed 14 sultans. This was until Moulay Ismail's grandson Muhammad ibn Abdallah managed to keep these tribes under control by reducing their power. For example, to counterbalance the power of the Sharārda in Tadla and the plain of Marrakesh, he recruited sections from local tribes into the makhzan like the Mnābeha, Rḥāmna, ʿAbda, and Harbil. Each of these tribes had to send two qaids to the guich. Muhammad ibn Abdallah weakened the Udāya and the Black Guard by reducing them to small corps (down to 15,000 for the Black 1,000 for the Udāya). This fell further by the time of Moulay Sliman. Sliman aimed to reverse this by recruiting the Sharaga and and strengthening the Udāya to counter the Black Guard. In 1808, the army was evaluated at 36,000 men. The decline of the Udāya and Black Guard meant that tribal reserves, both Arab and Berber, became more important.
Large Arab tribal confederations like the Chaouia and Beni Ahsen were able to mobilise 30,000 or 40,000 men. According to the Moroccan historian Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani, in total, the Arab tribes of the plain were able to mobilise 150,000 men. This was despite the low population density of the Atlantic plains. The Chaouia, Dukkala and Abda regions were known as the granaries of the empire and in 1813, the British ambassador William à Court described the Gharb as "perhaps the finest cornland in the world".
20th and 21st century From 1907 to 1908, due to French incursions, the Chaouia tribes attacked French settlements leading to what became known as the . Various factors led up to this. One was the growth of the new port Casablanca (9,000 in 1884 to 25,000 in 1907). Most migrants into Casablanca were from the surrounding Chaouia region. Although, some were from the Dukkala and Tadla and even the first few from the Sous. In this period, the dialects of Casablanca and the surrounding Chaouia region shared the same rural features. This expansion also transformed the relationship between the cities and the tribe. Due to a lack of a solid and cultured merchant class like in other major cities nor an influential group of ulama or sharifs able to oversee the city, European powers were able to dominate the city. In the end of 1902, Chaouia qaids were summoned by Abd al-Aziz to park in fighting the Bou Hmara rebellion. With their absence, groups of rebellious peasants, the jawqa, assembled to overthrow the local makhzan government. This began among the Oulad Bou Ziri and the Oulad Bou Said tribes then spread.