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marabout
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Also known as Marabouts

In the Muslim world, the marabout () is a descendant of Muhammad (Arabic: سـيّد, romanized: sayyid and sidi in the Maghreb) and a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Sahara region, in West Africa, and historically in the Maghreb.

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Marabouts (Islam)
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17 sections
Contents
  • West Africa
  • Muslim religious teachers
  • Syncretic spiritualists
  • Political influence
  • Pre-French colonization
  • Post-French colonization
  • Post-independence
  • Maghreb
  • Some Zāwiyas linked with specific marabouts
  • Morocco
  • Algeria
  • Tunisia
  • France
  • See also
  • External links
  • References
  • Articles connexes

In the Muslim world, the marabout () is a descendant of Muhammad (Arabic: سـيّد, romanized: sayyid and sidi in the Maghreb) and a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Sahara region, in West Africa, and historically in the Maghreb.

The marabout is often a scholar of the Quran, or religious teacher. Others may be wandering holy men who survive on alms or as spiritual directors of Muslim religious communities, often as muršid ('guide') of Sufi orders. The term marabout is also used for the mausolea of such religious leaders (cf. maqām, mazār, in Palestine also walī/velī).

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