Les gnaouas sont, dès la fin du XIXe siècle, identifiés comme une confrérie religieuse populaire dont les pratiques thérapeutiques seraient l'héritage de cultes mystiques Subsahariens transmis par des générations de Subsahariens musulmans installés au Maghreb.
Gnawa music and rituals have originated the cult adorcisme (possession accepted and embraced) Sahelian rehabilitated by the descendants of sub-Saharans Sanhadja Muslims in the Maghreb. These practices origins Fulani, Hausa, Barma, Bambara, Wolof, Mandinka, Bozo ... had to transform to survive and adopt Islam as a religion in order to ensure their continuity (the same for African Americans and West Indians who had to adopt Christianity in America). In some regions of Morocco, these practices will be tinged with Judaism Moses and highlighting some of the Baraka Moroccans Jews Saints.Gnaouas are from the late nineteenth century, identified as a popular religious brotherhood whose therapeutic practices are the legacy of mystical cults sub-Saharans transmitted by generations of Muslims settled in the Maghreb sub-Saharans.