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{{Short description|Berber tribal confederation of Morocco}}
{{for|the town and commune|Masmouda, Morocco}}
{{Infobox tribe
| name = Masmuda
| type = Group of Berber tribes.
| ethnicity = [[Shilha people|Schleuh]]
| location = Western [[High Atlas]]
| parent_tribe = 
| branches = 
| language = [[Shilha language|Tashelhit]]
| religion = [[Islam]] (predominantly)
}}
{{History of Morocco}}
The '''Masmuda''' ({{langx|ar|المصمودة|Maṣmūda}}, [[Berber languages|Berber]]: ⵉⵎⵙⵎⵓⴷⵏ<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R1RBEAAAQBAJ | title=Gramàtica amaziga: Estàndard del diasistema amazic septentrional | isbn=9788491686583 | last1=Múrcia | first1=Carles | last2=Sànchez | first2=Carles Múrcia | year=2021 }}</ref>) is a [[Berbers|Berber]] tribal [[confederation]] , one of the largest in the [[Maghreb]], along with the [[Zenata]] and the [[Sanhaja]].<ref name=locmorocco>{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Harold D.|title=Morocco, a country study|series=Area handbook series |year=1985|publisher=The American University|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=14|url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001298165}}</ref> Today, the Masmuda confederacy largely corresponds to the speakers of the [[Shilha language|Tashelhit]] language. The Masmuda are related to the [[Shilha people|Schleuh people]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Almohades en arabe al-Muwaḥḥidūn |url=https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/groupe-personnage/Almohades/104942#:~:text=Les%20Almohades%20sont%20des%20Berb%C3%A8res,le%20Maghreb%20et%20l'Andalousie. |language=fr |quote="Berbères du groupe des Masmoudas, apparentés aux Chleuhs " |trans-quote="Berbers of the Masmuda group, related to the Schleuhs"}}</ref> and are also considered to be one of the ancestors of the Schleuhs<ref>{{Cite web |title=Les 50 Afriques (1): Maghreb, Afrique du Nord-Est, Corne de l'Afrique, Afrique sahélo-soudanienne, golfe du Bénin |url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=Nb7_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90&hl=fr&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false |page=100 |language=fr |quote="Le prédicateur Ibn Toumert, installé dans le Haut Atlas au milieu des tribus berbères des Masmuda (ancêtres des Chleuh)" |trans-quote="The preacher Ibn Tumart, settled in the High Atlas among the Berber tribes of the Masmuda (ancestors of the Schleuh)"}}</ref>

==History==
The Masmuda settled large parts of [[Morocco]], and were largely sedentary and practised agriculture. The residence of the Masmuda aristocracy was [[Aghmat]] in the [[High Atlas]] mountains. From the 10th century, the Berber tribes of the [[Sanhaja]] and [[Zenata|Zanata]] groups invaded the lands of the Masmuda, followed from the 12th century onwards by Arab [[Bedouins]] (see [[Banu Hilal]]).

[[Ibn Tumart]] united the Masmuda tribes at the beginning of the 12th century and founded the [[Almohad]] movement, which subsequently unified the whole of the Maghreb and [[Andalusia]].<ref name="locmorocco20">Nelson 19-20</ref> After the downfall of the Almohads, however, the particularism of the Masmuda peoples prevailed once more, as a result of which they lost their political significance.

By the 16th century, due to the occupation of many of their former lands by the [[Banu Hilal]] and the [[Banu Ma'qil]], the Masmuda were mostly restricted to the more mountainous regions of their former domains.<ref name=":0" />

==Sub-tribes==
Before the arrival of the Banu Hilal in the late 12th century, the Masmuda were divided largely into three groups: the [[Ghumara]] in the north, the [[Barghawata]] in the central part of Morocco, and the Masmuda proper in the south.<ref name=":0">{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=6|article=Maṣmūda|first=G.S.|last=Colin|pages=741–744}}</ref>

The anonymous author of the ''Kitāb Mafāk̲h̲ir al-Barbar'' (roughly translates as "The Book of the Glories of the Berbers"), a work compiled in 1312 ''<ref name=":052">{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition |publisher=Brill |year=2012 |isbn=9789004161214 |editor-last=Bearman |editor-first=P. |edition=online |location= |pages= |chapter=Kitāb Mafāk̲h̲ir al-Barbar |editor-last2=Bianquis |editor-first2=Th. |editor-last3=Bosworth |editor-first3=C.E. |editor-last4=van Donzel |editor-first4=E. |editor-last5=Heinrichs |editor-first5=W.P.}}</ref>'' lists the sub-tribes of the Masmuda as: [[Haha (tribe)|Haha]], [[Regraga]], Warika (Ourika), Hazmira, Gadmiwa, Henfisa, Hezerga, [[Doukkala]], [[Hintata]], Maghous, and Tehlawa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=unknown |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nZyAAAAMAAJ&q=%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A9+%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A9 |title=مفاخر البربر |publisher=دار أبي رقراق للطباعة والنشر |year=2005 |isbn=978-9954-423-46-2 |location=Morocco |pages=172 |language=ar |trans-title=The Glories of the Berbers |orig-date=1312}}</ref>

In the north, the Masmuda were generally part of the Ghumara, along with two smaller tribes mentioned by the 11th-century writer [[al-Bakri]]: the Aṣṣada, settled between [[Ksar el-Kebir]] and [[Ouazzane]], and another tribe settled near [[Ceuta]].<ref name=":0" />

In the south, they were divided widely into two groups: the Masmuda of the plains (north of the Atlas mountains) and the Masmuda of the mountains. In the plains, the main groups were: the Dukkala, the Banu Magir, the Hazmira, the Ragraga, and the Haḥa.<ref name=":0" /> The Masmuda of the mountains occupied the High Atlas and the [[Anti-Atlas]] mountain regions. In the High Atlas mountains, from east to west, the main groups were: the Glawa, the Haylana (or Aylana), the Warika (or Ourika), the Hazraja, the Aṣṣadan (including the Maṣfiwa, the Maghous, and the Dughagha or Banu Daghugh tribes), the Hintata (including the Ghayghaya tribe), the people of Tinmal, the Ṣawda (or Zawda), the Gadmiwa, and the Ganfīsa (including the Saksawa or Saksiwa), Banu Wawazgit (tifnoute).<ref name=":0" /> In the Anti-Atlas and [[Sous]] regions, the Masmuda tribes included: the Saktana and the Hargha. Other tribes are mentioned by the 12th-century writer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|al-Idrisi]], but their names are difficult to decipher in existing manuscripts.<ref name=":0" />

According to [[Ibn Khaldun]], the Haskura, or Hasakira group—originally of Sanhaja descent and later settled in the Atlas Mountains—were frequently linked with the Masmuda because of their support for the Almohad cause. Their main tribes were the Zamrawa, the Mughrana, the Garnana, the Ghujdama, the Faṭwaka, the Maṣṭawa, the Hultana, and the Hantifa.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*

==See also==
*[[Banu Dānis]] (Masmuda clan in al-Andalus)
*[[Hintata]]

{{Berber tribes of Morocco}}
{{Ethnic groups in Morocco}}
{{Berber}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Masmuda| ]]
[[Category:Berber peoples and tribes]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Morocco]]
[[Category:Moroccan tribes]]
[[Category:Berbers in Morocco]]
[[Category:Former confederations]]