Abd al-Hafid ibn al-Hassan

1876 - 1937

Sultan of Morocco, 1908 - 1912.

The fourth son of Sultan Hassan I, Abd al-Hafid served as khalifa (royal governor) of Tiznit (1897 - 1901) and Marrakech (1901 - 1907) under his younger brother, Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Hassan, who was the sultan of Morocco from 1894 to 1908. In the politically tense period of the Moroccan Question (1901 - 1912), Abd al-Hafid (also Abd al-Hafiz) found himself increasingly opposed to the policies of his brother. Following the latter's acceptance of the Act of Algeciras in 1906 and acquiescence in France's military landings at Oujda and Casablanca in 1907, Abd al-Hafid joined with Madani and Tuhami Glawi in a rebellion aimed at deposing Abd al-Aziz. A civil war between the two brothers lasted from August 1907 to August 1908. Despite French support for Abd al-Aziz, in 1908 Abd al-Hafid was able to defeat him and take the throne.

Abd al-Hafid was an intellectual, poet, and author of numerous books. He favored the introduction of the ideas of the Salafiyya Movement to the al-Qarawiyyin mosque university in Fez. After becoming sultan in 1908, he appointed Abu Shuʿayb al-Dukkali (later known as "the Moroccan Abduh") to his Royal Learned Council. He sought to suppress heterodox Moroccan brotherhoods of Sufism, notably the Tijaniyya and the Kattaniya.

As sultan, Abd al-Hafid sought to recover Moroccan political and financial independence from France through a policy of alliances with the Ottoman Empire and Germany, and a program of governmental reforms. He cracked down on political dissidents, such as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Kabir al-Kattani and Abu Himara. In 1910, however, he was compelled to enter into a major loan agreement with France, the terms of which ended Moroccan financial independence. The loss of political independence came soon thereafter.

A rebellion of the tribes around Fez and Meknes in 1911 led to the occupation of the Moroccan interior by a French expeditionary force. On 28 March 1912, his authority weakened irreparably, Abd al-Hafid signed the Treaty of Fes, thereby establishing the French protectorate. On 12 August 1912, Abd al-Hafid abdicated as sultan and was succeeded by a French-imposed successor, his brother Yusuf (1912 - 1927). The protectorates of France and Spain were to last until 1956.

The last sultan of independent Morocco, Abd al-Hafid died in 1937 at Tangier. His legacy is a mixed one - he came to the throne on a program of opposition to the Act of Algeciras and a French protectorate; he faced an impossible task, however, and his defeat was most probable. His support of pan-Islam and of Salafiyya ideas for regenerating Morocco were undermined by the corruption and brutality of his rule, notably the actions of his close collaborators, the Glawi brothers. His shameless bargaining with the French over the terms of his abdication and his willingness to sign the Treaty of Fes earned him the enmity of a later generation of Moroccan nationalists.

Bibliography

Burke, Edmund, III. Prelude to Protectorate in Morocco: Precolonial Protest and Resistance, 1860 - 1912. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.

Pennell, C. R. Morocco since 1830. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

— EDMUND BURKE III