Oulad Zyan

A map of the historical Chaouia province and the territories of Chaouia tribes.

Oulad Zyan (Arabic: أولاد زيان) is a Moroccan tribe of Zughba Arab descent, belonging to the Chaouia tribal confederacy.

The special feature of this tribe is that its lands are separated into two parts by a distance of 30 km.: Oulad Zyan Moualine el Oued, which is southeast of Casablanca, and Oulad Zyan Soualem, which is south-west of the same city.

Geography

The tribe is bordered by the Ziaida tribe northeast, by the Mdakra tribe southeast, by the Oulad Hariz tribe south-west by the Mediouna tribe northwest, and by the Zenata tribe in the north. On his land, the river flows Oued el Maleh, it is also characterized by its many water sources (Ain Sbaa, Hlilifa Ain, Ain Zahra Ain Ghassalat, etc). Its territory stretches for 12 km along the Atlantic coast and separates Mediouna (Chaouia) and Chiadma (Doukkala).

Origin

According to Ibn Khaldun, the origin of Oulad Zyan is Arab, being the descendants of Oulad Khalifa. Their great grandfather is Zyan bin Khalifa bin Askar (which she kept the name) bin Nadir bin Urwa bin Zughba bin bin Abi Rabi bin Nahik of Banu Hilal, Arab tribe originating of Nejd (now a province of present Saudi Arabia). It therefore descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad.