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Allal al-Fassi
Moroccan revolutionary, politician and writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Muhammad Allal al-Fassi (Arabic: محمد علال الفاسي, romanized: Muḥammad ʿAllāl al-Fāsī; January 10, 1910 – May 13, 1974) was a Moroccan revolutionary,[3] politician, writer, poet, Pan-Arabist[4] and Islamic scholar[5] who was one of the early leaders of the Moroccan nationalist movement later becoming a leading member of the Istiqlal Party. He was a "neo-Salafist" who advocated for the synthesis of nationalism and reformist Salafism. He developed the idea of Greater Morocco which later came to influence the official policy of Morocco.
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Born into the prominent scholarly Fassi Fihri family, he became involved in the Moroccan nationalist movement at a young age during his years as a student at al-Qarawiyyin. In response to the Berber Dahir, he helped to arouse protest and began to coordinate with other nationalists leading to the formation of nationalist parties like the Moroccan Action Committee. After riots broke out in 1937, al-Fassi was exiled to Gabon for 10 years. During his exile, the Istiqlal Party was formed and he was given the honorary role of zaʿīm.
He has been described as the "Father of Moroccan Nationalism".[6][7]
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Early life and education
Muhammad Allal al-Fassi was born in Fes on 10 January 1910[3] to a prominent Andalusian family claiming descent from Uqba ibn Nafi[8] and a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which produced hundreds of Islamic scholars[3] known as the Fassi Fihri family.[9] His father, Abd al-Wahid al-Fassi,[10] was a judge,[11] grand mufti,[12] doctor of divinity at and curator of the library of Qarawiyyin.[3] Abd al-Wahid was also a merchant who founded the Nasiriyyah Free School in Fes.[13] He served as the mufti of Fes and the imam at the Royal Mosque in Fes.[14] Allal al-Fassi's mother came from a prominent mercantile family known as the Ma'safirine family[10] who held considerable influence in Northern Morocco.[3]
At the age of 5, he entered a Quranic school.[15] He memorized the Quran by the age of 7.[16] Before attending Qarawiyyin at the age of 14, Allal al-Fassi was a student in the Nasiriyyah Free School his father founded.[13] Beginning in 1924,[17] he studied at the University of al-Qarawiyyin[18][19] where he received a purely Arab education and came under the influence of the Salafiya movement.[8]
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Career
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Early nationalist activity
According to al-Fassi, he became politically conscious in 1925 when the French authorities attempted to appropriate water from the Oued Fes to divert it to French companies.[11] When he joined Qarawiyyin, he associated with the older students who started their nationalist activities in 1919.[15] In 1926, he set up a nationalist newsletter called Umm al-Banin.[13][20] In 1927, along with other students at Qarawiyyin, al-Fassi founded the Students' Union which sought the purification of Islam and aimed to alter the teaching methods of the university. It joined with another group, Supporters of Truth, a student group in Rabat led by Ahmed Balafrej, in 1929 to form The Moroccan League.[21] By 1930, al-Fassi began to lecture at mosques, Quranic schools and the Qarawiyyin on the theme of the Prophet and the Rashidun caliphs.[15] Al-Fassi graduated with a degree in Islamic law in 1930[22] or 1932.[15] He used the public lectures and course on the life of the Prophet to express his political views like his disdain for the French Protectorate. This was seen as a threat by the French administration and by 1933, the Resident-General passed a dahir forbidding al-Fassi along with two other Qarawiyyin lecturers from public speaking.[23] He along with his colleagues were removed from their position as ulama at Qarawiyyin.[24]
Beginnings of mass nationalist protest
In response to the Berber Dahir being passed, Allal al-Fassi began to coordinate alongside other nationalists like Ahmed Balafrej[25] and aroused public protest against the dahir. In al-Fassi's view, the dahir was "barbaric" and an "attempt at the annihilation of native people" by suppressing Arab and Islamic culture while replacing it with pre-Islamic Berber customs.[22] He co-founded the first political party in Morocco, the National Action Bloc (Arabic: كتلة العمل الوطني, romanized: Kutlat al-ʿAmal al-Waṭanī; or the Kutla)[11][26] or Moroccan Action Committee[25] (French: Comité d'Action Marocaine; CAM)[27] founded in 1931,[11] 1933[25] or 1934.[15][28][29] This party emerged from the protest movement against the Berber Dahir.[30] Allal al-Fassi served as its president.[31] In February 1934, al-Fassi met with Sultan Mohammed.[32][33]
The Kutla published the Plan of Reforms (French: Plan de Réformes marocaines) in 1934 in both Arabic and French.[34] Allal al-Fassi was one of the ten signatories of the reform plan[30] and he took a copy to the Resident-General with Mohammed Diouri.[35] The demands of the reform plan included the abolition of the Berber Dahir, unification of legal systems under Maliki law, expansion of the education system open to Moroccans, the forming of municipal councils, the promotion of Moroccans into positions of power and making Arabic an official language.[33] The reform plan did not outright call for independence but sought reform and the restoring of confidence in the aims of the 1912 Treaty of Fes.[36][37][38] Allal al-Fassi discussing the reform plan says:
The reform program was an ingenious stratagem to reconcile the existing treaties with the interests of the country, in the economic section, for example, the Kutla advocated the open-door policy and free trade, in accordance with the resolutions of the Algeciras Conference. This platform was designed to appeal to the support of the left-wing parties in France and to the signatories of the Algeciras international conference; at the same time, it was agreeable to the best interests of Morocco under the circumstances.[39]
The plan was rejected by the French administration[40] and by 1937, the nationalist movement started to split.[41][42] The Kutla was also outlawed by the French protectorate in October 1937.[31][43] The Kutla split into the National Party (Ḥizb al-Waṭanī) which al-Fassi co-led and the Popular Movement (Ḥaraka Shaʿbiyya) later the The Party of Democracy and Independence (Ḥizb al-Shūrā wa-l-Istiqlāl) which was led by al-Fassi's former ally Mohamed Hassan Ouazzani.[11] Those that followed Allal al-Fassi in the split were often referred to as the Allaliyin or Wataniyin, while al-Fassi was referred to as "Shaykh Allal" or "Hajj Allal".[44][45] Traditionally, the split has been characterised as one between "traditionalists" and "Westernists" but this split was likely more to do with personality differences and disagreements over the structure of leadership.[43] Ideologically, al-Fassi's party was only reformist and although Ouazzani's party claimed to be more radical, the two parties were ideologically similar.[31] Out of the groups that split, al-Fassi's faction was able to garner the most success recruiting. This was due to his faction having an administrative structure, an annual national congress, a council that met quarterly and a permanent executive committee.[42]
Exile
After riots broke out throughout Morocco in 1937 in response to the French attempting to reroute the water supply of the Meknes area to irrigate French farms, Allal al-Fassi was exiled to Gabon.[31][42][46] In one document, the French justified the exile by accusing al-Fassi of conspiring to overthrow the protectorate to crown himself king. This was unlikely as al-Fassi had not made demands for independence at this point nor was he opposed to the monarchy. It is more likely he was exiled because his opposition to the French caused political instability.[46]
Despite being exiled, he still managed to maintain his influence over the nationalist movement. Scholar Ian Shaw says "His years of exile had given him the mystique of political martyrdom".[47] During his exile, Charles de Gaulle was in contact with starting from 1941. De Gaulle aimed to use him in a coup against the Vichy government in Morocco to bring it to the Free French fold but De Gaulle eventually broke off contact.[48] The Istiqlal Party was founded in January 1944 by former members of the Kutla. This party submitted their manifesto for independence[49][50] although al-Fassi did not sign it.[51] Allal al-Fassi was given the "purely honorary" role of zaʿīm of the Istiqlal.[52][53] In 1947, Allal al-Fassi alongside other nationalist leaders returned to Morocco from exile.[54][55] This ten year period of exile only increased his legitimacy as a representative of the nation.[55] His return along with the return of other nationalists was met with huge banquets and parades in Fes and Rabat and helped expand the membership of his organisation.[54][55] Al-Fassi shortly left for Cairo to self-exile due to clashes with the king and the Istiqlal leadership.[56][57]
Istiqlal party and post-independence
He broke with the party in the mid-1950s, siding with armed revolutionaries and urban guerrillas who waged a violent campaign against French rule, whereas most of the nationalist mainstream preferred a diplomatic solution. In 1956, as Morocco gained independence, he reentered the party, and famously presented his case for reclaiming territories that have once been Moroccan in the newspaper al-Alam. In 1959, after the left-wing UNFP split off from Istiqlal, he became head of the party.[58]
From 1961 to 1963, he served briefly as Morocco's Minister of Islamic Affairs.[59] He was elected to the Parliament of Morocco in 1963, and served there as an Istiqlal deputy. He then went on to become a main leader within the opposition during the 1960s and the start of the 1970s, campaigning against King Hassan II's constitutional reforms that ended parliamentary government. He died of a heart attack on 13 May 1974,[60] on a visit to Romania where he was scheduled to meet with Nicolae Ceaușescu.[3]
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Arabism
Allal al-Fassi wanted an independent Morocco that was closely linked to Arab culture and the Middle East[61] and he promoted a greater Arab identity.[62] He proposed that the phrase "Arab kingdom" be added to the 1962 constitution but this request was declined by the king.[63] He supported the Arab League.[64]
Salafism
Allal al-Fassi was one of the most prominent Salafists in Morocco[65] and he became influenced by Salafism during his time at al-Qarawiyyin.[8] He advocated for what he called neo-Salafiyya (al-salafiyya al-jadida)[66][67] and belonged to a liberal trend of Salafism.[17] According to scholars Frederic Wehrey and Anouar Boukhars, al-Fassi saw Salafism as "a constructive force that fostered progress and kindled nationalistic revolutionary consciousness".[65] According to al-Fassi, Salafism "was synonymous with nationalism".[17][68]
Al-Fassi differed greatly from "purist Salafis" who were more similar to Wahhabists from Saudi Arabia and disapproved of his conception of Salafism.[69] Al-Fassi saw Salafism as a movement that meant Islamic revival and his definition of it was so broad that it could include any reformer since the 9th century as long as they affirmed tawhid, advocated for Islamic law, attempted to prevent the decline of the ummah or opposed despotism. This meant, for al-Fassi, that both Ibn Rushd and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab could be considered Salafis. He wanted students to read the Salafi writings of Rashid Rida and Muhammad Abduh who he claimed influenced the Salafist program of Morocco.[70] Allal al-Fassi has been associated with Islamic modernism.[71][72]
Sharia
Al-Fassi advocated for Sharia to serve as the basis for the Moroccan legal system.[73] He sought the reactivation of ijtihad[74] and was hostile to Maliki law.[65][75] Allal al-Fassi opposed customary law in Morocco which he labelled as jahili, a "pre-Islamic custom" that had to be abolished. He thought it was equally "horrific" to the customs of some African tribes and he believed customary law deprived women of rights that were granted to them by the Sharia like inheritance.[76] In the context of Islamic law, scholar of Islamic studies, Wael Hallaq, places Allal al-Fassi in the camp of legal reformers that he calls the utilitarianists who aimed to stay within limits of traditional Islamic legal theories and methodologies whilst also considering the need to modernise the legal system.[77]
Greater Morocco
Allal al-Fassi was the thinker behind Greater Morocco[80] which he believed was the territories that were historically a part of Morocco[81] before colonialism truncated Morocco's borders. In July 1956, he put forward a map in the Istiqlal newspaper, Al-Alam, which included all of Mauritania, parts of Western Algeria and a section of Northern Mali and all of the Spanish Sahara.[79][80] He did not think the independence of Morocco would be complete without these territories:
... so long as Tangier is not liberated from its international status, so long as the Spanish deserts of the south, the Sahara from Tindouf and Atar and the Algerian-Moroccan borderlands are not liberated from their trusteeship, our independence will remain incomplete and our first duty will be to carry on action to liberate the country and to unify it.[78]
Initially, only a few were interested in Greater Morocco but in part because of Allal al-Fassi's charisma it gradually won over the support of the rest of the Moroccan government.[65]
Women's rights
Allal al-Fassi supported the emancipation of women.[65][82] He called for the ban of polygamy.[83][84] Although, he only opposed polygamy because he thought it tarnished the image of modern Islam rather than it harming women.[85][86] Al-Fassi viewed the liberation of women as part of the liberation of the entire nation from colonialism rather than the domestic patriarchy. He supported women's education and employment because he believed it would positively impact Morocco's economic development while showing Morocco was part of the civilised and developed world. Despite this, he still maintained patriarchal ideas about women's and men's roles in society.[87] Al-Fassi's views on women were discussed in the last section of his book Self Criticism called "Social Thought" where he promoted the nuclear family as the basic unit of the nation, discussed the threats of prostitution, supported Islamic law's treatment of women as opposed to Berber customary law and discussed reforms related to polygamy and divorce.[88] Allal al-Fassi was part of the codification commission of the Mudawana[89] and served as its head.[90][91] Despite this, his liberal ideas on women were not integrated into the Mudawana.[92] In the eyes of many contemporary Moroccan feminists, al-Fassi is hailed as the champion of Moroccan women's liberation.[87]
On Jews and Zionism
Allal al-Fassi opposed the migration of Moroccan Jews into Israel saying "This would be to offer hundreds of rich and healthy Zionists to Israel in order to inhabit an Arab land and make war against our Arab brothers: our indulgence has its limits!"[93]
Al-Fassi while he was a government minister denied the Moroccan identity of Jews in Morocco:[94]
He who says Moroccan, says Muslim. Moroccan nationality was created by the French Protectorate. All Moroccans are Muslim: the 'Moroccan' Jew is only a dhimmi.[95]
Two years later, critiquing the Moroccan government's rapprochement with Israel,[96] he said "Morocco is a Jewish State. It is led by Jews and foreigners."[97]
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Literature
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
In 1925, Al-Fassi published his first book of poems.[3] Some of Allal al-Fassi's works include:
- “Munāqashat al-mīzāniyya al-farʿiyya li-wizārat al-ʿadl.” In al-Adāʾ al-barlamānī lil-zaʿīm ʿAllāl al-Fāsī. Rabat: Muʾassasat ʿAllāl al-Fāsī, 2010.[98]
- Rasāʾil tashhad ʿalā l-tarīkh. Rabat: Muʾassasat ʿAllāl al-Fāsī, 2006.[98]
- Al-Ḥarakāt al-Istiqlāliyya fī l-Maghrib al-ʿArabī. Sixth Edition. Casablanca: Muʾassasat ʿAllāl al-Fāsī, 2003.[98]
- Al-Taqrīb: Sharḥ Mudawwanat al-Aḥwāl al-Shakhṣiyya al-kitābān al-awwal wa-l-thānī. Rabat: Muʾassasat ʿAllāl al-Fāsī, 2000.[98]
- Difāʿan ʿan al-Sharīʿa. Second Edition. Beirut: Manshūrāt al-ʿAṣr al-Ḥadīth, 1972.[98]
- “al-Ḥaraka al-Salafiyya fī l-Maghrib.” In Ḥadīth al-Maghrib fī l-Mashriq. Cairo: al-Maṭbaʿa al-ʿĀlamiyya, 1956.[98]
- al-Naqd al-dhati Rabat: Matba'at al-Risala, 1979 (Self Criticism).[100]
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Personal life
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The extended al-Fassi family are found throughout prominent positions in government, the economy, and media in Morocco. The al-Fassi family is specifically very influential in the Istiqlal Party.[101] His cousins were also involved in the nationalist movement and post-independence politics. Mohamed El Fassi for example was the Minster of Education[102] and played a key role in the North African Muslim Students Association.[28] He was married to another cousin Malika al-Fassi, a prominent nationalist spokeswoman[103] who was the only female signatory of the Independence Manifesto.[104] Another cousin, Abd al-Kabir al-Fassi, was a leader of the Moroccan Army of Liberation.[105]
Allal al-Fassi had 5 children:[106]
- Um al-Mabneen al-Fassi; She married Secretary-General of the Istiqlal, Abbas El Fassi.
- Awatif al-Fassi; She married member of the Istiqlal until his expulsion in 2013, Mohamed El Ouafa.
- Hani al-Fassi.
- Leila al-Fassi; She is the mother of minister Nizar Baraka.
- Abdelouahed al-Fassi; he was a candidate for leadership in 2012.
Despite his support for Arabization and Islam, he educated his children in francophone secular schools. His first-born son became a cardiologist.[107]
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