MARABOUT (the

See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

French

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of the Arab. murdbit, " one who pickets his

See also:

• HORSE (a word common to Teutonic languages in such forms as hors, hros, ros; cf. the Ger. ross)

horse on a hostile frontier "; cf. Portug.marabute; Span. morabito)  , in Mahommedan religion a hermit or devotee . The word is derived from ribdt, a fortified frontier station . To such stations pious men betook them to win religious merit in war against the infidel; their leisure was spent in devotion, and the habits of the convent superseded those of the camp (see M'G . De Slane in Jour . As., 1842, i . 168; Dozy, Suppl. i . 502) . Thus ribdt came to mean a religious house or hospice (zdwiya) . The great sphere of the marabouts is North Africa . There it was that the community formed by Yahya b . Ibrahim and the doctor Abdullah developed into the conquering empire of the Mutabits, or, as Christian writers call them, the ALMORAVIDES (q.v.), and there still, among the Berbers, the marabouts enjoy extraordinary influence, being esteemed as living saints and mediators . They are liberally supported by alms, direct all popular assemblies, and have a decisive voice in intertribal quarrels and all matters of consequence .

On their

death their sanctity is transferred to their tombs (also called marabouts), where chapels are erected and gifts and prayers offered . The marabouts took a prominent part in the resistance offered to the French by the Algerian Moslems; and they have been similarly active in politico-religious movements in Tunisia and Tripoli . See L .