| Oulad Delim | |
| Local Name: | أولاد دليم |
| Type: | Hassani Arab tribe |
| Ethnicity: | Arab |
| Location: | Río de Oro |
| Descended: | Delim bin Hassan/Delim bin Oudei |
| Parent Tribe: | Beni Ḥassān |
| Language: | Arabic (Hassaniya Arabic) |
| Religion: | Sunni Islam |
The Oulad Delim also sometimes written as Oulad Dlim or Oulad Dalim are a Bedouin Sahrawi tribe of Arab descent. They come from the Banu Hassan tribe which is part of the larger Maqil.[1] [2] [3] They were formerly considered of Hassane status i.e. part of the ruling warrior stratum. The Oulad Delim speak Hassaniya Arabic, a Bedouin dialect which is very close to pure classical Arabic.[4] They traditionally live in the southern regions of Western Sahara, especially around the city of Dakhla. They are also found in Morocco in the region of Rabat, Marrakech, Sidi Kacem and El Jadida, where their ancestors received lands from the Moroccan sultans for their participation in warfare, as a Guich tribe, as well as in Mauritania in the region between Nouadhibou and Idjil.
The Oulad Delim have extensive tribal connections with northern Mauritanian tribes. They are Muslims, adhering to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam.
Their eponymous ancestor is Delim. One tradition says that Delim is the son of Oudei bin Hassan. According to this legend, Oudei had a servant who's small size caused her to be called Delima (meaning little animal skin). She had a son through him called Delim who was also of small size. Originally, he was disowned by his father fearing the jealousy of his Hilalian wife but he proved himself when a group tried to attack his father's wife while her own sons fled. This legend is taken from the Arabic novel Antar. Another tradition states that Delim was the son of Hassan himself. According to Paul Marty, the Oulad Delim are divided into the Remeithia, descendants of Remaith and the Oulad Chouikh descendants of Chouikh. Both groups numbered approximately approximately six hundred tents each at the time of 1913.[5]
Historical author and diplomatic Leo Africanus wrote about the Oulad Delim in the 16th century:[6]
Their traditional lifestyle was nomadic, based on camel herding. They were active in resisting European colonial advances during the 19th century, but after Spain consolidated its hold over Spanish Sahara, many Oulad Delim enrolled in the Tropas Nómadas and other Spanish auxiliary forces.