Banu Ma'qil

The Banu Ma'qil (Arabic: بنو معقل, romanized: Banū Maʿqil) is an Arab nomadic tribe that originated in South Arabia. The tribe emigrated to the Maghreb region of North Africa with the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes in the 11th century. They mainly settled in and around the Saharan wolds and oases of Morocco; in Tafilalt, Wad Nun (near Guelmim), Draa and Taourirt. With the Ma'qil being a Bedouin tribe that originated in the Arabian Peninsula, like Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, they adapted perfectly to the climatic desert conditions of the Maghreb, discovering the same way of life as in the Arabian Peninsula. The Ma'qil branch of Beni Hassan which came to dominate all of Mauritania, Western Sahara, south Morocco, and south-west Algeria, spread the Hassaniya Arabic dialect, which is very close to classical Arabic.

The Ma'qil became especially prominent in the military organisation of the Saadian state. By the middle of the sixteenth century, Ma'qil tribes including the Rahamna, Udaya and Oulad Delim supplied the heavy cavalry of the Saadian army. Under Ahmad al-Mansur, the Ma'qil and the Jazula constituted what historian Nabil Mouline describes as the army's “hard core”, even as the sultan expanded his forces.