Moroccan literature


Moroccan literature is the literature produced by people who lived in or were otherwise connected to Morocco and the successive states throughout history that have existed partially or entirely within the geographical area that is now Morocco. The literature of Morocco encompasses various forms of written literature, including poetry, prose, theater, and others—written in the numerous languages spoken in Morocco throughout history: Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Amazigh languages, Darija, French, Spanish, and English.
Most of what is known of Moroccan literature dates back to the arrival of Islam in the 8th century, before which native Amazigh communities primarily had oral literaturary traditions.

Classical antiquity

Morocco has been associated with Phoenician mythology, as a temple to Melqart was found in the vicinity of Lixus.
Morocco also played a part in the Greco-Roman Mythology. Atlas is associated with the Atlas Mountains and is said to have been the first king of Mauretania. Also associated with Morocco is Hercules, who was given the 12 impossible tasks including stealing "golden apples" from the garden of the Hesperides, purported to have been in or around Lixus.
Juba II, King of Mauretania, was a man of letters who authored works in Latin and Greek. Pliny the Elder mentioned him in his Natural History.
Little is known of the literary production in the time fo the Exarchate of Africa.

Mauro-Andalusi

According to Abdallah Guennoun's an-Nubugh ul-Maghrebi fi l-Adab il-Arabi, Moroccan literature in Arabic can be traced back to a Friday sermon given by Tariq Bin Ziyad at the time of the conquest of Iberia. Sometimes, Moroccan literature and Andalusi literature can be considered one literature, as Morocco and al-Andalusi were united under the Almoravid and Almohad empires. Additionally, a number of :Category:Moorish writers|Andalusi writers went to Morocco for different reasons; some, such as Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad, Maimonides, Ibn al-Khatib, and Leo Africanus were forced to leave, while others, such as Ibn Rushd, went in search of opportunity.
Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, an Muslim scholar of Masmuda Amazigh ancestry and a grandson of one of the conquerors of al-Andalus, was responsible for spreading Maliki jurisprudence in al-Andalus and the Maghreb and is considered the most important transmitter of Malik ibn Anas's Muwatta.

Idrissid Period

, Tangier, Basra, and Asilah were important cultural centers during the Idrissid period.

Barghwata

mentions in his Book of Roads and Kingdoms that Salih ibn Tarif, king of the Barghawata, professed to be a prophet, and claimed that a new Quran was revealed to him. Ibn Khaldun also mentions the "Quran of Salih" in Kitāb al-ʿIbar, writing that it contained "surahs" named after prophets such as Adam, Noah, and Moses, as well as after animals such as the rooster, the camel, and the elephant.

University of al-Qarawiyyin

founded al-Qarawiyiin University in 859. Particularly from the beginning of the 12th century, the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fes played an important role in the development of Moroccan literature, welcoming scholars and writers from throughout the Maghreb, al-Andalus, and the Mediterranean Basin. Among the scholars who studied and taught there were Ibn Khaldoun, Ibn al-Khatib, Al-Bannani, al-Bitruji, Ibn Hirzihim and Al-Wazzan as well as the Jewish theologian Maimonides and the Catholic Pope Sylvester II. The writings of Sufi leaders have played an important role in literary and intellectual life in Morocco from this early period until now.

Almoravid

The writings of Abu Imran al-Fasi, a Moroccan Maliki scholar, influenced Yahya Ibn Ibrahim and the early Almoravid movement., interred 1095 in Aghmat, Morocco.From 1086, Morocco and al-Andalus, with its rich literary tradition from the Umayyads, formed one state under the Almoravid dynasty. The cultural interchange between Morocco and al-Andalusi rapidly accelerated with this political unification, and Almoravid sultans stimulated culture in their courts and in the country. This process began when Yusuf Bin Tashfiin, upon taking control of al-Andalus after the Battle of az-Zallaqah, exiled al-Mu'tamid Bin Abbad, poet king of the Taifa of Seville, to Tangier and ultimately Aghmat.
The historian Ibn Hayyan lived the end of his life in the Almoravid empire, as did Al-Bakri, author of Roads and Kingdoms. Ibn Bassam dedicated his anthology adh-Dhakhira fî mahâsin ahl al-Gazira to Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar and al-Fath ibn Khaqan his Qala-id al-Iqyan to Yusuf ibn Tashfin.
In the Almoravid period two writers stand out: Ayyad ben Moussa and Ibn Bajja. Ayyad is known for having authored Kitāb al-Shifāʾ bīTaʾrif Ḥuqūq al-Muṣṭafá.
''Zajal''
Under the Almoravids, Mauro-Andalusi strophic zajal poetry flourished. In his Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun discusses the development of zajal in al-Andalus under the Almoravids, mentioning Ibn Quzman, Ibn Zuhr, and others. Although Andalusi zajal was originally composed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba, Ibn Khaldun also mentions the importance of zajal in Moroccan cities such as Fes.
''Muwashah''
A great number of great poets from the Almoravid period in al-Andalus, such as the master of muwashahat Al-Tutili, Ibn Baqi, Ibn Khafaja and Ibn Sahl, are mentioned in anthological works such as Kharidat al-Qasr, Ibn Dihya's Al Mutrib , and Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī's Mujam as-Sifr.

Almohad

Under the Almohad dynasty Morocco experienced another period of prosperity and brilliance of learning. The Imam Ibn Tumart, the founding leader of the Almohad movement, authored a book entitled E'az Ma Yutlab.
The Almohad built the Marrakech Koutoubia Mosque, which accommodated no fewer than 25,000 people, but was also famed for its books, manuscripts, libraries and book shops, which gave it its name; the first book bazaar in history. The Almohad sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf had a great love for collecting books. He founded a great private library, which was eventually moved to the kasbah of Marrakech and turned into a public library. Under the Almohads, the sovereigns encouraged the construction of schools and sponsored scholars of every sort. Ibn Rushd, Ibn Tufail, Ibn al-Abbar, Ibn Amira and many more poets, philosophers and scholars found sanctuary and served the Almohad rulers.

Marinid

, who was from Ronda and died in Ceuta, composed his qasida nuniyya "Elegy for al-Andalus" in the year 1267; this poem is a rithā', or lament, mourning the fall of most major Andalusi cities to the Catholic monarchs in the wake of the Almohad Caliphate's collapse, and also calling the Marinid Sultanate on the African coast to take arms in support of Islam in Iberia.
During the reign of the Marinid dynasty it was especially Sultan Abu Inan Faris who stimulated literature. He built the Bou Inania Madrasa. At his invitation the icon of Moroccan literature Ibn Batuta returned to settle down in the city of Fez and write his Rihla or travelogue in cooperation with Ibn Juzayy. Abdelaziz al-Malzuzi and Malik ibn al-Murahhal are considered as the two greatest poets of the Marinid era. Historiographers were, among many others, Ismail ibn al-Ahmar and Ibn Idhari. Poets of Al-Andalus, like Ibn Abbad al-Rundi and Salih ben Sharif al-Rundi settled in Morocco, often forced by the political situation of the Nasrid kingdom. Both Ibn al-Khatib and Ibn Zamrak, vizirs and poets whose poems can be read on the walls of the Alhambra, found shelter here. The heritage left by the literature of this time that saw the flowering of Al-Andalus and the rise of three Berber dynasties had its impact on Moroccan literature throughout the following centuries.
The first record of a work of literature composed in Moroccan Darija was Al-Kafif az-Zarhuni's al-Mala'ba, written in the period of Sultan Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman.

1500–1900

The possession of manuscripts of famous writers remained the pride of courts and zawiyas throughout the history of Morocco until the modern times. The great Saadian ruler Ahmed al-Mansour was a poet king. Poets of his court were Ahmad Ibn al-Qadi, Abd al-Aziz al-Fishtali. Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari lived during the reign of his sons. The Saadi Dynasty contributed greatly to the library of the Taroudannt. Another library established in time that was that of Tamegroute--part of it remains today. By a strange coincidence the complete library of Sultan Zaydan an-Nasser as-Saadi has also been transmitted to us to the present day. Due to circumstances in a civil war, Sultan Zaydan had his complete collection transferred to a ship, which was commandeered by Spain. The collection was transmitted to El Escorial.
Some of the main genres differed from what was prominent in European countries:
Famous Moroccan poets of this period were Abderrahman El Majdoub, Al-Masfiwi, Muhammad Awzal and Hemmou Talb.

Modern times

Three generations of writers especially shaped 20th century Moroccan literature. The first was the generation that lived and wrote during the Protectorate, its most important representative being Mohammed Ben Brahim. The second generation was the one that played an important role in the transition to independence with writers like Abdelkrim Ghallab, Allal al-Fassi and Mohammed al-Mokhtar Soussi. The third generation is that of writers of the sixties. Moroccan literature then flourished with writers such as Mohamed Choukri, Driss Chraïbi, Mohamed Zafzaf and Driss El Khouri. Those writers were an important influence the many Moroccan novelists, poets and playwrights that were still to come.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Morocco was also a refuge for writers from abroad as Paul Bowles, Tennessee Williams, Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.
In 1966 a group of Moroccan writers founded a magazine called Souffles / أنفاس Anfas that was prohibited by the government in 1972 but gave impetus to the poetry and modern romantic works of many Moroccan writers.
A number of writers of Moroccan origin have become well-renowned abroad, such Tahar Ben Jelloun in France or Laila Lalami in the United States.

List of Moroccan writers

Footnotes