Anticolonial Resistance in Morocco

To explore the role of Islam in Moroccan anti-colonial resistance, a postsecular approach can be implemented. There is no doubt that anti-colonial/postcolonial narratives relied on the Eurocentric secular nature of historical interpretive devices, and accordingly they failed to address the fact that historical events are driven by a certain particular religious heritage. Indeed, history continues to be informed by theological narratives that mediate between the sacred and the secular, the temporal and the divine, the religious and the political. In this sense, postsecular history involves and invokes the complex confluence of theological and political ideas. In their 2019 introduction to The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity, Justin Beaumont and Klaus Elder use the term ‘postsecular’ in a similar way, suggesting that it names both a ‘complementarity of discourses’ and a ‘confrontation of normativities’. Based on this, postsecular history revisits and revises the secularisation of concepts in the philosophy of history and highlights the confluence of theopolitical forces that characterise historical studies. Using postsecularism in analysing historical events is a new approach in historical studies. We can find traces of it in works by scholars who published work around the 2010s, including Dominick LaCapra, Allan Megill, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Ananda Abeysekara. In his book published in 2021 and titled Postsecular History: Political Theology and the Politics of Time, Maxwell Kennel claims secular ideas have a religious provenance, and agrees with Carl Schmitt’s insight that many modern state concepts are really secularised theological concepts. For Kennel, postsecular history goes beyond dualistic oppositions between secular and religious ways of thinking, and instead theorises the complex mediations and entanglements between competing normative orders that structure our world. What is at issue here is that in reading Moroccan history, one may deduce the fact that in contrast to the secular ideals of Eurocentric historiography, the secular and the religious go hand in hand in a postsecular way. 

As a nationalist reaction to European expansion and a reform movement originating in the late nineteenth century in the teachings of Jamal al-din al-Afghani, Mohamed Abduh and Rachid Rida, Salafism or Salafiyya made a deep impact on Morocco. The anticolonial role for early Salafist-liberal thinkers was carried over into the formation of twentieth century nationalist movements. Regarded as a theology of liberation and a protest against oppression and social injustice, the writings of Reda, Abduh and al-Afghani became the banner of anticolonialism in the Muslim world in general, and in Morocco in particular. Salafist ideas deeply affected the spirit of Moroccan anticolonial liberation movement during the first half of the twentieth century, inspiring many nationalists with new political and religious programmes. In his Rebirth of a Nation: The Origins and Rise of Moroccan Nationalism, 1912-1944, John P. Halstead claims Salafism permeated the thinking of the early Moroccan nationalists. Morocco provides a good example of Pan-Islam in action in that Moroccan nationalists were eager to exploit pan-Islamic ideas in their struggle against colonialism. 

Moroccan anticolonialism, therefore, served as a model of how pan-Islamic groups from the Middle East, particularly from Egypt, sought to intervene in support of indigenous Moroccan efforts to resist foreign imperialism. It is worth pointing out that many of the pan-Islamic textbooks and newspapers came from Egypt and played an unprecedented role in sharpening the sense of national consciousness of Moroccan nationalists. Simply put, Salafi magazines such as al-Fath, al-Manar, Majalla al-salafiyya, and al-Haq published a series of articles in the early twentieth century urging the unity of all Muslims against the French in North Africa. They advocated the return to the simple principles of Islam and hence had a profound impact upon the Moroccan nationalists particularly in Fez, Tangier, Rabat, Sale, and Tetouan. In addition to this, there were also many Moroccan students in Egypt, studying chiefly at al-Azhar University. Among them were the future leaders of Moroccan religious anticolonialism, Abdullah ibn Idris al-Sanusi and Abu Shuaib al-Dukkali. 

What is interesting is that the Moroccan anticolonial activists were thinking globally and acting locally in that they had a knack for better exploiting Salafism, as a revolutionary ideology, for propagating their cause both locally and transnationally. It is obvious that the Moroccan liberation movement was global and transnational in nature in the sense that Moroccan anticolonialists appropriated ideologies of resistance from outside Morocco. Because Pan-Islamic sentiments were sweeping across the Arab world, the Moroccans wanted to establish relationships with their co-religionists in the region. Many young Moroccan activists were sent in an educational mission, mainly from Tetuan, to Egypt and Palestine where they studied the writings of al-Afghani, Abduh, and Rida. They became fully aware of the importance of Salafism in their anticolonial struggle against the French and Spanish imperial forces. 

Inspired by Middle Eastern Salafism, the Moroccan nationalists, whether Salafists or modernists, had to speak the religious language and use Islam as a tactical choice or a means of popular mobilisation. Put differently, the terminology used by the Moroccan anticolonialists was partly borrowed from the zawaya. Even the young modernists, whose convictions were largely based on Western ideals, realised the effectiveness of Salafism as a mobilising device and, therefore, used its discourse when addressing the people. The Moroccan anticolonialists believed sticking to the teachings of Islam was very important in their struggle against Western imperialism. 

It goes without saying that the Qur’an was the source of the Moroccan liberation movement. For the Moroccan anticolonialists, the French conquest was a conquest by a Christian power aiming at the destruction of Islam; the French influence was seen as detrimental to their traditional way of life which was identified with Islam. Therefore, the Moroccan anticolonialists called for jihad against the foreign colonial powers. For instance, Spanish colonisation was opposed by Muhammed bin Abdelkarim al-Khatabi, who in the early 1920s called for jihad against the Spanish occupation of the Rif. Nevertheless, al-Khattabi did not receive strong support from all the leaders of the religious brotherhoods and Salafism because of his secular tendencies. He himself acknowledged that he did not see the power of Islam and failed to use it as a mobilising tool. Al-Khattabi even regretted later that he had not used religion enough as a means of combatting his opponents. But it is an undeniable fact that al-Khattabi himself was indeed a Salafi and his resistance movement was religiously motivated; it was associated with popular Islam. 

It is crucial to note that Moroccan anticolonial resistance came out of sanctuaries and mosques. The mosques were the only place Moroccans could meet and discuss efforts to change their situation. In addition to their job in educating people, Mosques played a significant role in the resistance to colonialism. The lessons of ulemas in the Qarawiyin school in Fes and that of Ibn Youssef in Marakesh, to mention only two, were mobilising men, women, and children to stand against external imperialism. Most Moroccan anticolonial activists studied at the Qarawiyin where they came under the influence of Salafist ideology. Regarded as the founding fathers of Moroccan anticolonial nationalism, Abu Shuaib al-Dukkali, Ali al-Sousi, Muhammed Ben al-Arabi al-Alaoui, Ahmed al-Nadiri, and Abdesselam Serghini were profoundly influenced by Salafist thinking. Indeed, Salafism came to life in Morocco under the guiding inspiration of Sheikh Doukkali, a disciple of Mohamed Abdou, the Mufti of Egypt. The first Moroccan Salafi was Abu Shuaib bin al-Dukkali, often called the Moroccan Abduh. He studied in al-Azhar and came under the influence of Rashid Rida and his al-Manar group. He was also a teacher at Qarawiyin and instilled in his students Salafist ideas that were a source of inspiration against colonialism. Al-Dukkali had two main disciples, Muhammed Ben al-Arabi al-Alaoui and Abdesselam Serghini. Considered as the spiritual fountainhead of the Moroccan liberation movement, Muhammed Ben al-Arabi al-Alaoui became the most influential spokesperson for the Salafi view after the First World War and through his teaching at the Qarawiyin, he influenced most of the leading nationalists. 

Allal al-Fassi, the most famous Moroccan anticolonial activist, himself came under Muhammed Ben al-Arabi al-Alaoui’s influence as early as 1925 when he was still a student in Fes. The task of leading the Salafi movement after the First World War fell to a former student of Muhammed Ben al-Arabi al-Alaoui, Allal al-Fassi, a Salafist who founded the nationalist Independence Party that led an anticolonial struggle against colonialism. Led by Allal al-Fassi, the post-First World War Salafism in Morocco turned out to be politically engaged aiming at establishing a liberal organisation of society with a view to enabling Muslims to lead the good life, part of which was the correct exercise of their religion. According to Allal al-Fasi, the success of Salafi ideology in Morocco was largely due to French colonial policy. Indeed, since the beginning of the protectorate, it was clear to the educated elite that French policy was directed against Islam. This French colonial policy induced the ulama to play a greater role in political life and turned early Salafists such as Abu Shuaib al-Dukkali and Muhammed Ben al-Arabi al-Alaoui into active militants. As the distinguished Moroccan historian, Jamil Abun-Nars, puts it, the Salafists in the 1920s were deemed as ‘the important religious group in Morocco with the capability of articulating a defense of the rights and cultural heritage of Muslims in Morocco in the face of growing French dominance.’ They identified themselves with the Middle Eastern Salafism in their cultural and religious preoccupations, their attempted synthesis of religious and political reform, and their rejection of the separation of the mosque and state. In their view, all modernisation, be it constitutional, juridical, or educational, was to be firmly imbedded in the matrix of Islam. Of paramount significance is the fact that they used Islam as a mode of resistance against the coloniser. 

Interestingly, the post-First World War Moroccan anticolonialism owed a great deal to the writings of Chakib Arslan. Arslan was considered the prime mover of' Moroccan anticolonialism, and his ideas and contacts were undoubtedly important in shaping the thinking of Moroccan anticolonial leaders. He influenced many of those who would eventually lead the anticolonial movement to independence, and was actually moved by his faith in Islamic nationalism as the solution for Moroccan political predicaments. Arslan established his first contacts with Moroccan students in Paris, who had graduated from the so-called ‘Free Schools’ that offered a curriculum designed to prompt a sense of pride in the Islamic past and hope for a modernised Islamic future in their country.

The proclamation, by the French Protectorate, of the Berber Dahir on 16 May 1930 was decisive in the transformation of the Salafist movement from an intellectual circle composed mostly of scholars into a popular political movement. The Dahir changed the legal system in Amazigh speaking parts of Morocco. The anticolonial nationalists made every effort to get the Dahir abrogated. What is at issue here is that the protests took a religious turn. One manifestation of this was the special prayer - the Latif - read in the mosques and employed to express public grief on occasions regarded as national calamities. As a spiritual form of resistance, the Latif movement started in the Great Mosque of Sale in June I930 and spread rapidly to all the major cities. It was one of the fieriest movements in resisting colonialism, becoming a classic mode of protest in the Moroccan repertoire and a ritualised framing device. The refrain ‘Oh Merciful God: We request Your Mercy in whatever destiny may bring, Oh Merciful God! Do not separate us from our Berber brethren’, was repeated over and over in demonstrations over the next two decades. 

The Latif prayer was used in mosques to publicise the threat and energise demonstrations, including marches and petitions, against the French coloniser. The leaders of the Latif protests shared a belief that Dahir represented an explicit manifestation of a broader French Berber policy that threatened the fundamental unity of the Muslim community in Morocco. It was an attempt, to use the words of Mohamed El Mansour, ‘to construct a French tailored Islam which was supposed to better serve the French colonial project in Morocco’. Clearly, the Latif protests did have some effect and, accordingly, the French authorities tacitly allowed it to remain a dead letter.

Significantly enough, the most notable contribution of the Salafi movement in Morocco was the creation of free schools by anticolonial Salafists. The raison d'être of the free schools was to resist the French policy of assimilation as pursued through the schools supported by the French authorities as well as to preserve the cultural heritage of Islam. The free schools made it possible for Moroccan children to receive a relatively modern education in keeping with Muslim traditions. A number of Moroccan anticolonialists like Muhammed Ghazi, Mokhtar Soussi, Allal al-Fassi, Ahmed Balafrej, Ibrahim al-Kettani, Abdelaziz Bendriss, and Hachemi al-Filali were intimately connected with this movement. The founders and directors of the free schools had been educated, with very few exceptions, at Qarawiyin University, where their exposure to novel ideas was chiefly limited to the reform programme of Salafism, which stressed the purification of Islam and an educational defence against cultural assimilation by the West. 

In addition to its reliance on Islam as a mobilising ideology, Moroccan anticolonialism also gravitated in a more secular direction as the liberation movement was inspired by both religious and secular ideologies. Moroccan anticolonialists considered Islam to be compatible with nationalism. Thus, in Morocco, nationalists also drew their principles from their religion. In his book The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa, Allal al-Fassi confirms that ‘it is a fact that the fusion of the salafi doctrine with the nationalist cause in Morocco was profitable both to the salafiyya and to nationalism. We can also affirm that the method followed in Morocco resulted in the success of the salafiyya to a degree not attained even in the country of Muhammad 'Abduh and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani… It is impossible for a historian of the independence movement in Morocco to ignore this crucial phase in the development of popular consciousness in our country. It is right and proper to emphasize that the confluence of the salafiyya and the nationalist creeds had had the roost beneficial effect upon both of them’. What can be deduced here is that along with their steadfast adoption of Salafism, the Moroccan nationalists were open to nationalist, liberal, and socialist ideas coming from the West. This indicates the fact that religion and nationalism are constantly interacting with one another in multiple ways and should never be considered as isolated phenomena. In a nutshell, in the Maghreb, anticolonialism was based on spiritual nationalisms that amalgamated religion and secular nationalism seamlessly. Accordingly, the distinction between Islam and nationalism was blurred in the Maghreb. This blurring of the boundaries of religion and nationalism in colonial Morocco, in particular, dated back to the nineteenth century writings of the founding fathers of pan-Islamism.

The prominent thinkers of nineteenth century Islamic modernity, such as Rifaa al-Tahtawi and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, were also early defenders of nationalism. The former defended Egyptian nationalism even as his arguments were couched in terms of Islam, while the latter defended Arabism and outlined a distinct Arab history (remarkably like nationalist Christian Arab intellectuals of the period), even as he elaborated a larger modernist message intended for a universal Muslim audience. What can be drawn here is that religion and secular nationalism were closely intertwined by the majority of the anticolonial movements in North Africa and the Middle East. In Morocco, anticolonial movement was based upon spiritual nationalism in the sense that the Moroccan nationalists used the tools of both the dominant secular discourse of the coloniser to resist its political or cultural control and Salafism in order to preserve their cultural heritage.

It is worth noting that religion in the colonial context was a cultural weapon which both the coloniser and the colonised employed to enhance their positions. European officials regularly employed religious leaders and Islamic institutions to consolidate imperial authority. Like Muslims in general, Sufis reacted in different ways to the advent of European colonialism. Some Sufi orders had an active role in the resistance to the foreign invasion. In other cases, however, Sufism sustained colonialism and negated resistance. In many countries where Sufi orders and movements emerged, the colonial authorities felt the need to incorporate Sufi orders into the political system. After pacifying the Sufi orders, the French and the British turned them into collaborating institutions, hoping to foster an ‘official’ Islam that would promote European colonisation. In Morocco, the Darqawiya zawiya or tariqa supported and legitimated colonialism. It ordered its disciples not to resist French colonialism as long as it was the Sultan who signed the Protectorate. The zawiya thought it was its duty to justify the advent of colonialism and this was seen as a sign of obedience to the Sultan. In fact, the Darqawiya zawiya was against Mohamed Ben Abdelkarim el-Khatabi’s resistance to both Spanish and French colonisation and refused to cooperate with the Riffian resistance. It had a positive attitude towards French colonialism and cooperated with it politically and militarily. More starkly, the Darqawiya mobilised the tribes to fight Mohamed Ben Abdelkarim el-Khatabi and suppress his uprising against colonialism. It did so because it thought the Moroccan Sultan had given France the green light to ‘protect’ Morocco. 

Yet, it is important to note that not all Sufi orders were complicit with colonialism; there were others which were very active in their resistance to colonialism. In Morocco some Sufi orders were, at certain historical junctures, fierce opponents intellectually and militarily against colonialism while Salafi beliefs gained support among many religious and political leaders, Sufi orders maintained a presence in the political sphere of society, often challenging colonialism, as well as the domestic political leaders. Indeed, unlike the assumption that Sufis were quietest and non-political forces, Sufi orders had a long history of involvement in politics and community affairs that include specific political and military campaigns against colonialism and authoritarian regimes. For instance, the Shadhili tariqa was the forefront opponent of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, the most notable of the Sufis being Imam al-Jazuli. In addition to the zawiya of Shadhiliya, the zawiya of Raisouniya contributed to the success of the Battle of Wadi Al-Makhazin, also known as the Battle of the Three Kings, in 1578. Thus, since the sixteenth century, the Moroccan Sufi orders had been playing a significant role in resisting European colonialism, continuing to act as a great source of strength and inspiration for anticolonial movements in the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century. Many of the major wars against expanding colonial powers in the nineteenth century were fought by individuals and movements that were inspired by Sufism. Moroccan cities and countryside were littered with marabouts, holy shrines of local saints. The shrines of the sharifs, or local saints, were places where revolutionaries and rebels met. Overrating the baraka, a spiritual power, of saints was an incentive to the subalterns to stand their ground against oppression and not to give up the fight. Maraboutic belonging was a socially accepted channel of exorcising one’s fears and anxieties about social injustice. It is worth noting that the Sufis were amongst the foremost leaders of jihad against colonialism in Morocco. 

The Sufi sheikhs’ emphasis during colonialism was to increase the faith and piety of citizens, as this was seen as one aspect of anticolonial resistance. The Sufi orders offered the strongest resistance to the triumphant military forces of colonialism and showed more vitality in combating, and more lucidity in understanding, its pernicious cultural influence. Just as the orders fought against the initial material onslaught of the French, so they were the most tenacious fighters against the cultural imperialism that came in the wake of the French victory. For the purposes of illustration, the zawiya of Darqawiya contributed actively in the battle of el-Hri against French colonialism in 1914. Moreover, the Shareef Moulay Ahmed Raysouni managed to unite many tribes in his resistance against colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Along similar lines, when the French colonisers occupied Oujda in 1907, the Boutchichi Sheikh Mukhtar Ben Hajj Muhyi Eddine, apparently relying on his baraka, led a jihad against the French for several months before being captured and imprisoned. Along with the zawiyas of Raysouniya and Darqawiya, the zawiya of Boutchichiya valiantly resisted the colonial enterprise.

Wazzani zawiya, founded by an Idrisid shareef Mawlay Abd Allah Ibn Ibrahim in 1678, played a remarkable role in the liberation struggle against colonialism. It joined the Nationalist Movement and contributed to the mobilisation of people against colonialism. The sheikhs of the zawiya educated and mobilised their disciples to fight the colonisers and raised the consciousness of the Moroccans about the danger of colonialism. The Wazzani zawiya’s resistance to French colonialism was particularly fierce in the second decade of the twentieth century, with battles led by the shareef sidi Mohamed oueld sidi Hamani al-Shahidi al-Touhami al-Wazani, leader of the Wazzani revolution and a legitimate representative of Wazzani shareefs. Moreover, the Wazzani zawiya participated in the Riffian War (1920-1927) against Spanish colonialism.

In addition to the Wazzaniya, the Kettaniyya zawiya was also a crucial actor within Moroccan anticolonialism. While using the doctrines and institutions of Sufism, the Kettaniyya mobilised the Moroccan masses from different social classes and various regions in defence of the nation’s sovereignty. The convergence of the Kettaniyya zawiya and resistance against foreign occupiers in Morocco is illustrated by examples of its prominent sheikhs, Moḥamed ibn Jaḥfar al‐Kattani, Mohamed al-Kattani, and Mohamed ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Kattani. While the shareef Mohamed al-Kattani played a significant political role in Moroccan society and its political scene at the end of the nineteenth century, classical national history continues to overlook his contributions. This indicates that Sufi forms of resistance have been eclipsed in Moroccan historiography due to the fact that the history of Moroccan anticolonial nationalism has been written by those who were inspired either by Salafist or secular ideologies. Undoubtedly, al-Kattani had an impact on his society, not only in his native city Fes, but also beyond, where he had extensive allies, disciples and followers among northern tribes and in cities such as Tangiers. Keenly discerning the danger of European encroachment on Moroccan sovereignty, Mohamed al-Kattani abandoned his ascetic life and engaged in political activism, calling both for tajdid, Islamic renewa, and resistance against all forms of foreign dominance in Morocco.

Throughout Moroccan history, the most significant movements of protest and resistance against colonisation had a religious character. The Moroccan anticolonial movement developed out of two main religious movements: Salafism and Sufism. It transformed Islam into a purely ideological resistance movement. Moroccan religious forms were transformed as tools of local empowerment and modes of resistance against colonialism. Islam was an inspiring force for most Islamic liberation movements. Yet the study of anti-colonial jihad movements remains a neglected history. We need to develop a postsecular critique of historical imagination. We need to question and deconstruct the historical consciousness that has influenced the philosophy of history over several centuries.

Citations 

The following was reference in this article: Jamal Abun-Nasr’s “The Salafiyya Movement in Morocco: The Religious Bases of the Moroccan Nationalist Movement.” St. Anthony’s Papers 16.3 (1963): 99-105; Allal Al-Fassi’s The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa. Translated by H.z. Nuseibeh (American Council of Learned Societies, Washington DC, 1954); Sahar Bazzaz’s “Heresy and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Morocco.” The Arab Studies Journal 2.1 (2003): 67-86; Justin Beaumont and Klaus Elder’s “Introduction: Concepts, Processes, and Antagonisms of Postsecularity.” In: The Routledge Handbook of Postsecularity. Ed. Justin Beaumont (Routledge, London, 2019); Mohamed El Mansour’s The Power of Islam in Morocco: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (Routledge, London and New York, 2020); John P. Halstead’s Rebirth of a Nation: The Origins and Rise of Moroccan Nationalism, 1912-1944. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1969); Maxwell Kennel’s Postsecular History: Political Theology and the Politics of Time (Palgrave McMillan, London, 2021); and David Motadel’s “Islam and the European Empires.” The Historical Journal 55.3 (2012): 831- 856.