The Ghomara are an originally Berber group in northern Morocco, between the rivers Laou and Ouringa, north of Chechaouen and south of Tetouan, just east of the Rif. The river Tiguisas runs through the middle of their territory. While most have shifted to speaking Arabic, a minority continue to speak the BerberGhomara language. The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ... Tétouan (Arabic: Titwan or Tittawen) is the capital and cultural centre of the region Tanga (Tangiers) in the north of Morocco. ... This is about a region in Morocco: RIF is also an acronym/initialism. ... Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Afro-Asiatic - Berber The Berber languages (or Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Algeria and Morocco. ... The language of the Ghomara is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken on the eastern edge of the Rif in Morocco. ...
In medieval times, the self-proclaimed prophet Ha-Mim briefly rose up among them. Ha-Mim, after the beginning of a Quranic surah, or chapter, is the short form of the name Ha-Mim ibn Mann-Allah ibn Harir ibn Umar ibn Rahfu ibn Azerwal ibn Majkasa, also known as Abu Muhammad; he was a member of the Majkasa sub-tribe of the Ghomara...
The language of the Ghomara is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken on the western edge of the Rif in Morocco.
Contrary to the Ethnologue, it is not extinct; Peter Behnstedt reports that it is spoken in at least the douar of Amtiqan and its immediate neighborhood, just west of Oued Ouringa.
However, it is spoken by only a small minority of the Ghomara; even in 1931, according to Carleton Coon, only one of their eight tribes, the Beni Bu Zra, continued to speak it.
As one moves westward along the northern Berber zone of Morocco, one encounters the Ghomara, on the Mediterranean slope of the curving ridge of mountains.
Both the Senhaja Sghir and Ghomara, however, are in recent years tending to lose their Berber speech in favor of Arabic, since all or nearly all are bilingual.
West of the Senhaja Sghir and Ghomara, and covering the entire mountain zone of the western third of Spanish Morocco, is the Jebala country, the home of numerous religious brotherhoods, and inhabited by tribes very different culturally from the Riffians.
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