FASI, MUHAMMAD ˓ALLAL AL- (1910-1974)

˓Allal al-Fasi was a leading figure in the Moroccan independence movement. From the launching of the new nation, in 1956, al-Fasi was also known as president of the influential Istiqlal (independence) party. Born to an elite family of Islamic scholars (ulema) in Fez, the religious capital of Morocco, al-Fasi studied at the prestigious Islamic university of al-Qarawiyyin, and later joined the protest movement against the French and Spanish colonial presence on Moroccan soil. He quickly became one of the most visible national leaders in the pro-independence struggle, and was exiled for nine years by the French to Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville. Shortly after his return to Morocco, he chose to leave again, spending another nine years in Cairo, where he and his party thought he could best advance the nationalist cause.

Author of some twenty books, al-Fasi's writings fall into four categories. The first consists of his reformist, or salafi, works, which focus on the renewal of Islamic law. These include al-Naqd al-dhati (1952, Self-criticism), and Maqasid al-shari'a al-islamiyya wa-makarimuha (1964, The objectives and ethics of Islamic law). The second category is made up of his political essays on the Islamic socialist positions of the Istiqlal party and its support for Morocco's claim to Mauritania and the Spanish Sahara, and includes Manhaj al-istiqlaliyya (The method of self-reliance). A third category comprises his writings on the modern history of North Africa, especially Morocco, and the fourth consists of his contributions to the genre of nationalist poetry.

See alsoReform: Arab Middle East and North Africa ; Salafiyya .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cohen, Amnon. "˓Allal al-Fasi: His Contribution Towards Morocco's Independence." Asian and African Studies 3 (1967): 121–164.

David L. Johnston