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Jihad and its Interpretation in Pre-Colonial Morocco: State-Society Relations during the French Conquest of Algeria PDF

224 Pages·2002·1.04 MB·English
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JIHAD AND ITS INTERPRETATIONS IN PRE-COLONIAL MOROCCO This work challenges colonial and post-colonial assumptions about the nature of the pre-colonial Moroccan sultanate by reassessing the political concepts that regulated the relationship between the state and its mostly tribal subjects. Colonial interpretations of the sultanate portrayed it as chronically divided into territories obedient to the state and those dissident towards it. Yet by using previously under-exploited archival sources in Morocco and Europe, the author suggests that state–society warfare was not merely dissidence, but part of a con- stant process of political negotiation. Key to this negotiation was the idea that a sultan’s legitimacy lay in his ability to wage jihad. Detailed analysis of state and society interpretations of jihad during the critical period of the French conquest of Algeria clearly shows this process at play, and its growing importance as the likelihood of European aggression increased. Amira K. Bennison is lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge where she teaches on the medieval Islamic West and the modern Middle East. Her research interests include religious and political thought in the nineteenth century Maghrib, the interactions between Islam and modernity, and the cultural history of the Islamic West. JIHAD AND ITS INTERPRETATIONS IN PRE-COLONIAL MOROCCO State–society relations during the French conquest of Algeria Amira K. Bennison First published 2002 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2002 Amira K. Bennison All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-22057-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-27546-2 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-7007-1693-9(Print Edition) CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii List of abbreviations ix Note on transliteration xi 1 Introduction 1 2 The evolution of the sharifian jihad state of Morocco 15 Historical antecedents 15 Sharifism and jihad in the early cAlawisultanate 22 The sharifian jihad state on the eve of colonialism 33 3 French colonialism and sharifian jihad in Algeria,1830–2 42 The French conquest of Algiers 45 The cAlawioccupation of Tlemsen 48 The revolt of the Udaya 58 4 An ambivalent alliance:Morocco and cAbd al-Qadir’s jihad,1832–9 75 Muhyial-Din, cAbd al-Qadir and the Qadiribid for power 76 The Qadiri–cAlawialliance 80 5 The cAlawijihad during the French war to conquer Algeria,1839–45 99 The first mobilisations 100 The collapse of consensus and the rise of ‘fasad’ 104 The Franco–cAlawiwar of 1844 114 Peace with the infidel and jihad against ‘fasad’ 123 6 The cAlawijihad against cAbd al-Qadir,1845–7 131 The cAlawi‘nizam-i cedid’ 131 The sultan’s ‘siyasa’ 135 v CONTENTS The sultan’s ‘jihad of the tongue’against cAbd al-Qadir 142 The Makhzan’s jihad of the sword against cAbd al-Qadir 146 7 Islamic statehood and jihad in nineteenth century Morocco 158 Glossary of foreign terms 166 Notes 170 Selected bibliography 190 Index 199 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like all other academic works, this study is the fruit of numerous collaborations and generous assistance as well as personal endeavour. I would like to thank Basim Musallam for encouraging me to go to Harvard where my fascination with Moroccan history began. There, Susan Gilson Miller and Ahmed Taoufik gave me my first glimpses of the complexities of state–society relations in pre-colonial Morocco. My thanks to both of them for setting me on my path and graciously assisting along the way. However, I owe my greatest debt to Michael Brett for his guidance and support and for the many insights into Maghribi history which he has shared with me over the last decade, first as my doctoral supervisor and then as a colleague and friend. I am also very grateful to Lawrence Rosen for reading and commenting on the manuscript and offering much moral support. Several of my Cambridge colleagues and friends have also offered their comments, assis- tance and support. I would like to express my gratitude to James Montgomery and Tarif Khalidi in particular. My thanks are also due to the British Academy, whose award enabled me to undertake this project, and the Leverhulme Trust and Manchester University for granting me a post-doctoral fellowship which enabled me to convert my doctoral dissertation into a book. In Morocco, I am grateful to the staff of the Direction des Archives Royales, and especially to its head, the Royal Historian, Abdelwahab Ben Mansour, who offered me every assistance as well as kind hospitality. I am also indebted to the staffs of the Bibliotheque Royale, the Manuscript section of the Bibliotheque Nationale and the Université Mohammed V in Rabat, especially Abderrahman Moudden, for welcoming me to the History Department. Special thanks are due to the historians Fatima Harrak and Mohamed El Mansour for their help and to Latifa Laamiqi for her generous assis- tance. Over the years, many other scholars and friends have offered their advice, insights and encouragement, I would like to thank all of them, especially William Graham, Tarik Youssef, Ralph Smith, Katia Boissevain, Julia Clancy-Smith and Chris Wood. Finally, it goes without saying that any errors are my own. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AAE Les Archives des Affaires Etrangères, Quai d’Orsay, Paris. AHG Les Archives Historiques de la Guerre, Chateau de Vincennes, Paris. BG Bibliotheque Generale (al-Khizana al-camma), Rabat. BR Bibliotheque Royale (al-Khizana al-hasaniyya), Rabat. CP Correspondance Politique – Maroc, Archives des Affaires Etrangères, Paris. DAR Direction des Archives Royales (Mudiriyyat al-watha’iq al-malikiyya), Rabat. FO Foreign Office Files, Public Record Office, Kew. PRO Public Record Office, Kew. TA al-Tartib al-camm (General Correspondence), Direction des Archives Royales, Rabat. ix

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This book investigates the importance of waging jihad for legitimacy in pre-colonial Morocco. It counters colonial interpretations of the pre-colonial Moroccan sultanate as hopelessly divided into territories of 'obedience' and 'dissidence' by suggesting that state-society warfare was one aspect of
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