Histories of the medieval Maghrib mention that the three dynasties (the Almoravids, Almohads, and Marinids) that ruled the region of present-day Morocco were founded by Berbers (or “Imazighen”). How this affected the dual processes of religious Islamization and cultural-linguistic Arabicization in the region is a question that has largely gone unexamined due to a dearth of documents written in the Tamazight (Berber) language. Indeed, there is little scholarship addressing the question of what it meant to “be” Berber in the pre-modern period, or whether an Amazigh (Berber) culture or Tamazight language in itself served as grounds for forging group solidarity. In July 2001, King Mohamed VI announced the creation of the Institut Royal pour la Culture Tamazight to integrate the Tamazight language into Moroccan schools. This decision came in the wake of the Kabyle uprisings in neighboring Algeria over police brutality and discrimination against Imazighen. Negotiations over the role of Tamazight in Maghribi state institutions and national sentiments date back a thousand years. Clearly, the long-established Islamicization of North Africa has not led to an uncontested Arabicization.