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The Ishelhayn Imazighen of Morocco

The Ishelhayn Imazighen of Morocco, numbering approximately 5,055,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Amazigh people indigenous to the Souss Valley, Anti-Atlas, and western High Atlas of southern Morocco, whose Tachelhit heritage includes longstanding traditions of oral poetry and song. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Tachelhit is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Amazigh, Ishelhayn

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Morocco
People Cluster: Amazigh-Shilha
Primary Language(s): Tachelhit (shi)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 5,055,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011858
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Pray for the Ishelhayn Imazighen of Morocco

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tachelhit
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Tachelhit Speakers

Media Resources in Tachelhit:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tachelhit:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
UBS Version✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tachelhit bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Ishelhayn Imazighen are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Ishelhayn Imazighen:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Ishelhayn Imazighen of Morocco

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
readExodus 2:23-24

As the lost among them labor, groan, and cry out under false religions and sin, pray God will have mercy on them and hear their cries, that He will be their Rescuer from the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."
readIsaiah 1:18

Pray that God will make a way for the gospel to reach many through means they can understand and access, that they will receive the good news with joy, and that they will experience complete forgiveness and cleansing from their sin that Jesus offers through His sacrifice.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
readRomans 10:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be eager to proclaim the good news of peace, knowing that the Lord has called them to this task.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

Amazigh, Tachelhit Across Countries (ROP3 - 108945) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
Ishelhayn ImazighenPG011858Ishelhayn ImazighenMorocco5,055,000Engaged yet UnreachedTachelhitSunni Islam
Ishilhayn ImazighenPG011680Ishilhayn ImazighenFrance147,000Engaged yet UnreachedTachelhitSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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