The Functions of the Traditional Amazigh Inafless Council before the French Protectorate of Morocco The Case of the Idawtana

Abstract

The Amazigh institution of the Inafless was a significant factor in the social and legal acclimation of Moroccans living in traditional tribal societies prior to the French Protectorate (1912). These were judicial institutions whose authority rested on a set of by-laws formulated by Sunni Muslim jurisprudents of the Maleki school who lived alongside the mountain-dwelling Amazigh tribesmen who were free of the rule of the central authorities (the Makhzen in Rabat). The Idawtanan tribe, whose territory lies in the Sous region of Morocco, provides the compelling case study subject for this paper. While the Makhzen attempted to utilize of the Inafless and other instruments of traditional Amazigh tribal authority to unify the territory under its rule, repeated compromises which ultimately curtailed the Sultan’s power were inevitable. Thus, the intensity of the deliberate assimilation of the Amazigh was curtailed, resulting in the ability of rural tribal groups to self-government. Depending on the nature and urgency of events at any given time, traditional Amazigh structures were strong and unshakeable, established organs or weak and marginalized. The final equilibrium saw the traditional Amazigh justice system thrive off of the relative weakness of the Makhzen in the periphery.