(; sometimes rendered Filali Sharifs), rose from the settlement of Sijilmassa in the eastern oasis of Tafilalt. Little is known of their history prior to the 17th century, but by this century they had become the main leaders of the Tafilalt.

The Alawis are believed to have been descendants of immigrants from Yanbu in the Hejaz who settled in North Africa during a drought that affected the region in the 13th