fqih فقيه

Moroccan Darija · noun

“fqih” (فقيه) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning Quranic school teacher.

Meanings

1. Quranic school teacher
2. imam, religious man
3. traditional healer using the Quran

Usage

Lfqih means above all the teacher of the msid, the Quranic school where children learn to read and recite the Quran. By extension, it is also the man who leads the prayer or who is called in for recitations at funerals, births or celebrations. The word can also mean a healer who practices roqya or writes amulets. In that case, the tone is sometimes wary or ironic. The plural is fqha or tolba depending on the context. It should not be confused with the Muslim jurist of Classical Arabic: in darija, the dominant image is that of the neighborhood or village teacher.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fqih” but also “f9ih” and “fkih”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.

Type “fqih” on the Arabic keyboard

In Algerian Darja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “Quranic school teacher”; “scholar of Islamic law”: fqih in Algerian.