Review: History of Minorities in the Far Maghreb: The Case of Christians during the Middle Ages

المؤلفون

  • المؤلف

  • Rabhi Radwan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/almuntaqa.2.1.0106

الملخص

Book Title: The Modern Structure of Iraq: The Intellectual and Political Influence 1869-1914 Author: El Hasan Laghraib Place of publication: Rabat Date of publication: 2015 Publisher: Maṭābiʿ ar-Rabāṭ Net No. of pages: 376 Since ancient times there have always been minorities and subgroups in human societies, whether racial, religious, confessional, linguistic or cultural; the Maghreb is no exception to this rule. Thanks to its geographical location, open to various different worlds, it has remained a meeting-place for many different cultures and religions, above all the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The medieval period provided the melting pot in which these religions met in Morocco. However, most historical studies of the medieval Maghreb have focused on the “Muslim majority”. The other constituent communities of Moroccan society especially religious minorities – were forgotten until only a few decades ago, when there began to be some interest in the Jewish minority The Christian minority, meanwhile, has not received its fair share of study, on the pretext that the material evidence is lacking, the sources are sparse, and studies on the subject are rare. It is against this background that El Hasan Laghraib has produced his History of Minorities in Morocco: The Case of Christians During the Middle Ages, which considers Morocco over the course of eight centuries, including the first few centuries of Islam that historians typically skip over. He has been able to move beyond the well-trodden path followed by previous studies that have focused on specific issues in Moroccan-Christian medieval history where sources are comparatively rich.

المراجع

  1. Student specializing in the Middle Ages, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco. (Paris: Editions du Scribe, 1992). Mohamed Stitou (coordination), (Rabat: Rabat net editions, 2011).
  2. In the last few decades various researchers have shown an interest in the Jewish minority in the Maghreb throughout the medieval period. For example: Haim Zafrani, Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life in Morocco (Paris: Ktav, 2005); ‘Ata ‘Ali Muhammad Shahhata Reyy, al-Yahūd fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā fī ʿAhd al-Marīnīyyīn wa’l-Waṭṭāsiyyīn (Damascus: Dār al-Kalima, 1999); Mohamed Laghraib, “Yahūd Mujtamaʿ al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā al-Wasīṭ”, doctoral thesis in history, College of Arts and Humanities, Dahr al-Mihraz, Fes, Morocco, 2002; Ahmad Shahlan, al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba min Manbat al-Uṣūl ilā Riyāḥ al-Firqa: Qirāʾa fī’l-Mawrūth wa’l-Aḥdāth (Rabat: Dār Abī Raqrāq li’ṭ-Ṭibāʿa wa’n-Nashr, 2009); Fatma Bouamama, al-Yahūd fī’l-Maghrib al-Islāmī Khilāl al-Qarnayn as-Sābiʿ wa’th-Thāmin Hijrī al-Muwāfiq li-14-15 Mīlādī (Algiers: Maṭābiʿ Kunūz al-Ḥikma, 2011); Andre Goldenberg, Les Juifs du Maroc: Images et texts
  3. A Moroccan academic holding a doctorate in history from the Colege of Arts at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes. Currently professor at the Centre Régional des Métiers de l'Education et de la Formation, Sefrou. Alongside the book under review here, he has published various studies and articles, including “Tanẓīm Mulkiyyat al-Arḍ wa-Bināʾ al-Mudun bi’l-Maghrib al-Aqṣā fi’l-ʿAṣr al-Wasīṭ: Fās wa-Marākish Namūdhajān”, in Various Authors: at-Tārīkh wa’l-Qānūn: at-Taqāṭuʿāt al-Maʿrifiyya wa’l-Ihtimāmāt al-Mushtaraka , p. 2 (Meknes: Kulliyyat al-Ādāb wa’l-ʿUlūm al-Insāniyya, 2009), pp. 211-220; “Fuqahāʾ Ifrīqiyya wa-Mufakkirūha: at-Tadāfuʿ al-Mustamirr”, in Various Authors, as-Sulṭa wa’l-Fuqahāʾ wa’l-Mujtamaʿ fī Tārīkh al-Maghrib: al-Iʾtilāf wa’l-Ikhtilāf (Aʿmāl Takrīmiyya Muhdā ilā’l-Ustādh Aḥmad ʿAzzāwi) (Quneitra: Kulliyat al-Ādāb wa’l-ʿUlūm al-Insāniyya, 2013), pp. 47-60; “ar-Rabāṭ wa-Qanātuhā ‘l-Māʾiyya ‘l-Muwaḥḥadiyya, in Various Authors, Madīnat Rabāṭ: at-Tārīkh wa’dh-Dhākira (Rabat: Manshūrāt al-Maʿhad al-Jāmiʿī li’l-Baḥth al-ʿIlmī, 2015), pp. 75-84; “Le Maroc du XVIème siècle d’après Léon l’africain, les juifs et leurs activités,” in: Le Maroc au temps des Wattassides, à travers les descriptions de Léon l’africain ,
  4. Originally a doctoral dissertation presented at the College of Arts, Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, under the supervision of Ibrahim al-Qadiri Butshish.
  5. These studies include: Jose Alemani, “al-Katāʾib al-Masīḥiyya fī Khidmat al-Mulūk al-Maghāriba”, tr. Ahmad Madina, Daʿwat al-Ḥaqq , issue 187 (May 1978); Mustafa Nashat, “al-Irtiẓāq al-Masīḥī bi’d-Dawla al-Marīniyya, in Various Authors, al-Gharb al-Islāmī wa’l-Gharb al-Masīḥī Khilāl al-Qurūn al-Wusṭā (Rabat: Mahsūrāt Kulliyyat al-Ādāb wa’l-ʿUlūm al-Insāniyya bi’r-Rabāṭ, 1995); Ibrahim al-Qadiri Boutshish, “al-Jāliyāt al-Masīḥiyya bi’l-Maghrib al-Islāmī Khilāl ʿĀṣr al-Muwaḥḥidīn,” al-Ijtihād , 28 (Summer 1995), pp. 77-107; Ibrahim al-Qadiri Boutshish, “Masʾalat Bināʾ al-Kanāʾis bi’l-Gharb al-Aqṣā Khilāl ʿAṣr al-Murābiṭīn: Min Muntaṣaf al-Qarn 11 ilā Muntaṣaf al-Qarn 12”, in Various Authors, al-Gharb al-Islāmī wa’l-Gharb al-Masīḥī , pp. 93 - 100. For more see the
  6. By “Mauritania-Tangier” prior to Islam we mean the space extending from the Moulaya River (with changes over time to the eastern border) to the Atlantic coast (northern Morocco today). For more detail see: Muhammad al-Liyyar, “Mawrīṭāniyā aṭ-Ṭanjiyya”, in Various Authors, Maʿlamat al-Maghrib , p. 21 (Rabat:
  7. As the locals called the émigré Christians. The book demonstrates how difficult it is to identify who these people were exactly. Christians may have crossed it southwards (p. 39).
  8. The Limes was a wall, or a complex arrangement made up of trenches, roads and defensive fortifications, established by the Romans in North Africa from the second century CE for the purposes of defense, expansion and colonial stability. For more detail see: Mustafa A’shi: “al-Līmis,” in Maʿlamat al-Maghrib , part 20, p. 6913. El Hasan Laghraib considers the Limes to have been a line of cultural cross-fertilization more than a military barrier, and that it is possible that bibliography of the book under review. al-Jamʿiyya al-Maghribiyya li’t-Taʾlīf wa’t-Tarjama wa’n-Nashr, 2005) pp. 7311 - 7315.
  9. Tin Sita sits on the right bank of the Draa, approximately three kilometres from Zakoura.
  10. Dominique Valérian, "La permanence du christianisme au Maghreb: l'apport problématique des sources latines," in: Dominique Valérian, Islamisation et arabisation de l'Occident musulman médiéval (VIIe-XIIe siècle) , (Paris: Edition de la Sorbonne, 2011), accessed on 28/3/2017, at: https://goo.gl/LwKweo
  11. Abu Ubayd Allah al-Bakri, al-Masālik wa’l-Mamālik: al-Juzʾ al-Khāṣṣ bi-Bilād al-Maghrib , Zaynab ‘Azzawi ed. (Rabat: Maṭābiʿ ar-Rabāṭ Net, 2012) , p. 249. Ibn ‘Adhari also mentions Salih’s claim that he would return during the reign of the seventh king of Barghawata and that ‘Isa would pray behind him. See: Muhammad bin Adhari, al-Bayān al-Mughrib fī Akhbār al-Andalus wa’l-Maghrib , Kolan and Bruffensal ed., part 1, 3rd ed (Beirut: Dar ath-Thaqāfa, 1983), p.
  12. For studies which have shown an interest in Christianity and Christians in the Maghreb see: Nasser Jabbar, “Fanādiq at-Tujjār al-Masīḥiyyīn fī’d-Dawla al-Ḥafṣiyya,” al-Andalus wa’l-Maghrib , issue 17 (2012), pp. 77-89; Virginie Prevost, “Les dernières communautés chrétiennes autochtones d’Afrique du Nord,” Revue de l’histoire des religions , no. 4 (2007), pp. 461-483; Valerian, pp. 131-149; Abdelkader Hadouch, “Les communautés chrétiennes en Afrique du Nord du
  13. For example: Reinhart Dozy, Spanish Islam: A History of the Moslems in Spain (London: Chatto & Windus, 1913), Obada Kuheila, Tārīkh an-Naṣārā fī’l-Andalus (Cairo: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Islāmiyya al-Ḥadītha, 1993); Ibrahim al-Qadiri Butshish, “al-Murābiṭūn wa-Siyāsat at-Tasāmuḥ maʿ Naṣārā’l-Andalus: Namūdhaj min al-ʿAṭāʾ al-Ḥaḍārī al-Andalusī“, Dirāsāt Andalusiyya , issue 11 (1994), pp. 22 - 34 ; Ismat Dandash, “ʿAlāqat al-Andalus bi-Mamakat Qashtāla min Khilāl al-Aqalliyyāt (Ahl adh-Dhimma) ilā’l-Qarn as-Sābiʿ al-Hijrī,“ in Various Authors, al-Gharb al-Islāmī wa’l-Gharb al-Masīḥī , pp. 101 - 116. See also: Brahim Harakat: " La communauté chrétienne et celle d’origine chrétienne en Espagne musulmane, vues par les sources arabes, " in: Various Authors, al-Gharb al-Islāmī wa’l-Gharb al-Masīḥī , pp. 179 - 182 ; Muhammad Bashir al-Amiri, at-Tafāʿul al-Ḥaḍārī Bayna Ahl al-Andalus al-Muslimīn wa’l-Isbān an-Naṣārā
  14. Halima Ferhat, "Faux prophètes et mahdis dans le Maroc medieval," in: Halima Ferhat, Le Maghreb aux XIIème et XIIIème siècles: les siècles de la foi VIIIe au XVe siècle, " thèse de doctorat en histoire, sous la direction d’A. Vauchez, l’université Paris 10, France, 2001. fī’l-Qurūn al-Wuṣṭā (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2014). (Casablanca: Wallada, 1993), p. 167.
  15. Muhammad al-Maghrawi, al-Muwaḥḥidūn wa-Azamāt al-Mujtamaʿ (Rabat: Judhūr li’n-Nashr, 2006), p. 126 ; Robert Assaraf, Eléments de l’histoire des juifs de Fès, de 808 à nos jours (Paris/Rabat: Centre de recherche sur les Juifs du Maroc, 2010). Musa ad-Dra’i appeared in Fes in 1127. See: Ja’far Hadi Hasan,
  16. Michael Brett, "Le Mahdi dans le Maghreb médiéval," Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée , no. 91 - 94 (Juillet 2000), accessed on
  17. Dhimma , in Arabic, refers to originally to oaths and guarantees. See Ibn Mandhur, Lisān al-ʿArab , vol 12 (Beirut: Dar Sader [n.d.]), p. 221. It is a historical expression referring to the Jews and Christians who lived in Islamic societies, who were granted a special status guaranteeing freedom of religious practice in exchange for the payment of a sum of money known as Jizya. For more details, see: Muhammad bin Abi Bakr bin Qiyam al-Jawziyya, Aḥkām Ahl adh-Dimma , Yusuf al-Bakri and Shakir al-‘Aruri ed., vol 1 (Dhomam, Ramādī li’n-Nashr, 1997); Hasan al-Mummi, Ahl adh-Dhimma fi’l-Ḥaḍāra al-Islāmiyya (Beirut: Dār
  18. For example, Muhammad al-Arusi al-Matwi, al-Ḥurūb aṣ-Ṣalībiyya fī’l-Mashriq wa’l-Maghrib , v. 2 (Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1982); Mohamed al- Manufi, “Namūdhaj min Musāhamāt al-Gharb al-Islāmī fī’l-Ḥurūb aṣ-Ṣalībiyya bi’sh-Shām wa-mā ilayhi”, Majallat Kulliyyat al-Ādāb wa’l-ʿUlūm al-Insāniyya , Rabat, issues 20 - 21 (1996-1997), pp. 143-149; Marcel Dieulafoy, “Le Maroc et les croisades,” Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , vol.62, no 1 (1918), Firqat ad-Dōnma bayn al-Yahūdiyya wa’l-Islām , 2nd ed (Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Fajr, 1988), p. 23. 22/2/2017, at: https://goo.gl/uAFLCo. al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1998). pp. 32 - 32.
  19. Butshish, “al-Jāliyāt al-Masīḥiyya bi’l-Maghrib al-Islāmī,” p. 79.
  20. On the issue of church-building, see Butshish, “Masʾalat Bināʾ al-Kanāʾis”.
  21. Abdelaziz Aynour in his introduction to the book, p. 11.
Cover of العدد 4, Almuntaqa

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2019-01-01

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مجلد 2 عدد 004 (2019): العدد 4

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