ARE MOROCCANS REALLY ARAB ?
Notice: This article is in no way discussing the percentage of the Arabic language’s (Not really Arabic, more like, you know! Darija.) speakers versus the Amazigh languages’s speakers, but in fact, its aim is to discuss the ethnicity (Race) and origins of Moroccans and their true identity.
Most Moroccans today hold in greater belief that they are in fact Arabs and their ancestors came from the Arab peninsula to spread Islam in the world and since then Morocco was an Arab country until now, I am not going to deny the fact that Arabs actually conquered North Africa, don’t sweat it, I am not ignorant, but what I am going to argue and deny is what happened between the period of the Arab and Islam conquest and the now, the present moment.
In the 7th century the Arab conquered North Africa and brought their way of life and Islam with them under the Umayyad Caliphates and which lasted from 709 to 740, when the “Berber” revolt broke out in 739/740 to 743 during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and marked the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate. Fired up by Kharijite puritan preachers, the “Berber” revolt against their Umayyad Arab rulers began in Tangiers in 740, and was led initially by Maysara al-Matghari (who was allegedly killed and replaced later for his cowardice.). The revolt soon spread through the rest of the Maghreb (North Africa) and across the straits to al-Andalus (Now Spain).
The Umayyad scrambled and managed to prevent the core of Ifriqiya (Now Tunisia) and al-Andalus from falling into rebel hands. But the rest of the Maghreb was never recovered by the Arabs. After failing to capture Kairouan, the Amazigh rebels dissolved, and the western Maghreb fragmented into a series of small Amazigh statelets, ruled by tribal chieftains and Kharijite imams.
The “Berber” revolt witnessed the start of some of the first non-Arab Muslim states outside the Caliphate. It is sometimes also regarded as the beginning of Morocco’s independence, as Morocco would ‘never again’ come under the rule of an ‘eastern’ Caliph or any other foreign power until the 20th century (France).
Now let’s compare that to the years the Amazigh Muslim dynasties rule lasted in Morocco, the 11th and 12th centuries marked the founding of several great Berber dynasties led by religious reformers, each dynasty based on a tribal confederation that dominated the Maghrib and Al-Andalus for more than 200 years ( you do the math!), one of these dynasties is The Almohades for example was founded by an Amazigh religious scholar named Amghar ibn Tumert or Muhamed ibn Tumert who wrote all of his writings in his native Amazigh language, because he’s not Arab (duh!), which leads us to believe that the society which this guy here lived in saw a communication between the Amazigh in their native language (unlike the false assumption by the move “Abdo 3inda al Mowahidin” that Almohades spoke formal Arabic, I am not saying it didn’t exist but it was more of a language for people who studied the islamic religion and such not for your day-to-day everyday dude or woman.
I am not finished yet, still a bit more to close this book, The Amazigh dynasties failed, which marked a new generation of Rulers, the sharifian dynasties, You know! the ones who say “Hey bro, I am kind of related to the prophet peace be upon him, so, I am kind of a big deal!”. Let’s start with The Saadī dynasty, a family that claimed descent from Muhammad through the line of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima Zahra. The Saadi came from Tagmadert in the valley of the Draa River. The family’s village of origin in the Draa was Tidzi (a qsar, some 10 km north of Zagora). They claimed sharifian origins through an ancestor from Yanbu. The most famous sultan of the Saadi was Ahmad al-Mansur, builder of the El Badi Palace in Marrakech. The saadis were the ones who defeated the Portuguese at the Battle of Ksar El Kebir and defending the country against the Ottomans (God knows how we found out about Kabab!).
The saadi reign did end but the sharifian reign certainly did not because we are still ruled by them bastards to this day (Just kidding, I don’t want the bottle, it’s just a joke!). Yes, you guessed it, The Alaouite dynasty, founded by “Moulay” Ali Cherif who was allegedly a descendant of l-Hesn d-Dakhl (The pronunciation of the name says the citizens spoke Amazigh, just a guess.) who was taken to Morocco from the town of Yanbu in the Hejaz at the end of the 13th century by the inhabitants of Tafilalt to be their Imam. They were hoping that his presence would help to improve their date palm crops thanks to his blessings because he was a descendant of Muhammad peace be upon him (Good thinking guys!), Ali Cherif began to increase his power in Tafilalt during the civil war following the death of the Saadi ruler Ahmad al-Mansur and ruled that region from 1631 to 1640. In 1659, the last sultan of the Saadi Dynasty was overthrown by Mulay Ali Cherif’s son, Mulay r-Rshid in the conquest of Marrakech. After many victories against the zaouia of Dila , he managed to take control of northern Morocco thus being able to unite and pacify the country. R-rshid was succeeded by his brother Ismail ibn Cherif nicknamed “The bloodthirsty”, (who also claimed to be related to the prophet.) he was given that name for his legendary cruelty. In order to intimidate rivals, Ismail ordered that his city walls be adorned with 10,000 heads of slain enemies (Most are rebel Moroccans by the way!). Legends that said Ismail could behead or torture laborers or servants he thought to be lazy are numerous. Within the 20 years of Ismail’s rule, it is estimated 30,000 people died (They were so blessed by his presence!).
Fast forward to the 20th century, 1958 Morocco is now part of the Arab League, why ? Morocco a new lonely country who needs allies and a good economy, who’s a better person to ally with than our fellow Muslim brothers… Politics, alliances, economics and religion played a big part of why Morocco and the new generation of Moroccans hold a strong belief that they are in all actuality Arab and of course, the king being related to the prophet, so if an uneducated Moroccan in that period was told that his king is an Arab, what could he possibly think about that ? Yep, that he’s Arab too, that all of us came from Arabia, because well, our king is freaking Arab, bro. The many years of learning Arabic and ignoring Amazigh languages also played a huge part in screwing up the Moroccan identity, our identity.
Why did the freaking Amazighs revolt, bro ?
The first Arab governor was good and just, the second one though was an ass and treated them like second-class citizens.
Do you hate Arabs, non-bro ?
No, I just like history and facts!
So, you mean no one is Arab in Morocco, bro ?
Yeah… just kidding, of course not, there are Arabs, a lot of them (because there wasn’t border control back then nor there was a visa); but not 50% of all Moroccans, I’d guess they are still much less than Amazighs, again I am not talking about people who speak Arabic (Darija) versus Amazigh speaking people, for one I am Amazigh but I don’t really speak any Amazigh language, not as I should at least, it’s the ethnicity that I am talking about.
