Moroccan literature
[3] Most of the literature written by Moroccans was created since the arrival of Islam in the 8th century, before which native Berber communities primarily had oral literary traditions.
[5] This trend embraced a more inclusive spirit in the consideration of literature and pushed against monolingualism and the hegemony of the Arab-Islamic national identity promoted by the old intellectual elite associated with the Moroccan Nationalist Movement.
[5] According to Abdallah Guennoun's anthology an-Nubugh ul-Maghrebi, Moroccan literature in Arabic can be traced back to a Friday sermon given by Tariq ibn Ziyad at the time of the conquest of Iberia.
[8] Al-Bakri 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.
[12] Ibn Khaldun also mentions the "Quran of Salih" in Kitāb al-ʿIbar,[13] 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.
Particularly from the beginning of the 12th century, this university played an important role in the development of Moroccan literature, welcoming scholars and writers from throughout the Maghreb, al-Andalus, and the Mediterranean Basin.
[14] The writings of Sufi leaders played an important role in literary and intellectual life in Morocco from this early period (e.g. Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili and al-Jazouli) until the present (e.g. Muhammad ibn al-Habib).
[18] The writings of Abu Imran al-Fasi, a Moroccan Maliki scholar, influenced Yahya Ibn Ibrahim and the early Almoravid movement.
The Imam Ibn Tumart, founding leader of the Almohad movement, authored a book entitled E'az Ma Yutlab (أعز ما يُطلب The Most Noble Calling).
[28] Mohamed Jabroun argued that it was under the Almohads that madrasas first appeared in Morocco, starting under the reign of Abd al-Mu'min, in order to train those who would take roles in the empire's leadership and administration.
[30] Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Kanemi, an Afro-Arab poet from Kanem, wrote panegyric qasidas in praise of Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur.
[32] Among the most prominent Jewish writers of this period were Isaac Alfasi, Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin, and Maimonides, author of The Guide for the Perplexed.
[32] Lisan ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib, considered the "last great man of letters" of the Mauro-Andalusi tradition, spent significant periods of his life exiled in Morocco, and was executed in Fes.
[33] Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan, who would later take the name Leo Africanus and write the Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica, also lived in Morocco after the fall of Granada in 1492, before travelling to Mecca and eventually being captured and taken to the Papal States.
[34] Abulbaqaa' ar-Rundi, 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 defeat, and also calling the Marinid Sultanate in Morocco to take up arms in support of Islam in Iberia.
[citation needed] 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.
[36] Muhammad al-Jazuli, one of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh, wrote Dala'il al-Khayrat, a Sufi prayer book with a wide impact throughout the Islamic world, in the 15th century.
[37] In 1516, Samuel ibn Ishaq Nedivot and his son Isaac, Andalusi Jewish refugees from Lisbon, produced the first printed book on the African continent, the Sefer Abudarham (ספר אבודרהם) in Fes.
[45] In addition to writing prolifically in law, grammar, fiqh, and literature, he wrote The Ladder of Ascent in Obtaining the Procurements of the Sudan, responding to a Moroccan's questions about slavery in the Bilad as-Sudan.
[46] Ahmad ibn Qasim Al-Hajarī known as Afoqai al-Andalusi composed a rihla entitled Riḥlat al-Shihāb ilá liqāʼ al-aḥbāb.
In 1737, the Shaykh Muhammad al-Mu’ta bin al-Salih al-Sharqi began his work on Dhakhirat al-Muhtaj fi sala ‘ala Sahib al-Liwa wat-taj,[48] an influential Sufi book on prayer, dhikr, and repentance.
[51] Ahmed at-Tijani, originally from Aïn Madhi in Algeria, lived in Fes, associated with the North African literary elite, and later established the Tijaniyyah Sufi order.
[58] In the 1890s, Ahmad ibn Khalid an-Nasiri published the landmark al-Istiqsa, a multivolume history of Morocco with in-text citations including non-Islamic sources.
[64][65] Religious and political leader Mohamed Mustafa Ma al-'Aynayn wrote his Mubṣir al-mutashawwif ʻalá Muntakhab al-Taṣawwuf,[66][67] and his son Ahmed al-Hiba authored Sirāj aẓ-ẓulam fī mā yanfaʿu al-muʿallim wa'l-mutaʿallim.
[72] The Moroccan literary scene in the early 20th century was marked by exposure to literature from the wider Arab world and Europe, while also suffering from colonial censorship.
identify the beginning as Abdelmajid Benjelloun's Fi at-Tufula (في الطفولة In Childhood) in 1957, while others point to Tuhami al-Wazzani's az-Zawiyya (الزاوية The Zawiya) in 1942.
Since their beginnings in 1998, Yomad have published about 100 books for children and young readers in French, Arabic and the official Berber language Tamazight at affordable prices.
[87] Even though international book fairs have been held in Tangiers and Casablanca for years, publishers such as Abdelkader Retnani (La Croisée des Chemins), Rachid Chraïbi (Editions Marsam) und Layla Chaouni have criticized insufficient support by the government.
