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

224 Pages·2002·1.04 MB·English

by  Amira Bennison

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.
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