After the Islamic conquests, the Islamic Maghreb witnessed the arrival of various doctrinal and intellectual currents that had developed in the Mashriq. These currents reached the region through the work of missionaries and through Maghrebi journeys to the East in pursuit of knowledge. As a result, the Islamic Maghreb became home to diverse intellectual currents. By the beginning of the second half of the second Hijri century, the region had lost the coherence of its earlier political and doctrinal unity. States with different political affiliations emerged. The Maghreb consequently became a mosaic of different political and theological groups, each with its own intellectual frame of reference. At first glance, this new situation may suggest that the Islamic Maghreb was a land of strife and war. The picture was different in several periods. Maghrebi society became familiar with difference in a way that opened space for a new future shaped by free intellectual competition. Such competition contributed to civilization and urban development. Political conditions stabilized at certain times, and some rulers adopted a policy of sectarian tolerance. This study focuses on the following points: • The intellectual and cultural situation of the Islamic Maghreb up to the third Hijri century. • Examples of policies of sectarian tolerance.