Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Raysuni

? - 1926

Political figure in Morocco from 1900 until his death in 1926.

A descendant of the Sharifian lineage of Bani Arus and a charismatic personality, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Raysuni (also called al-Raysuli or El Raisuni) parlayed his position as a rural power broker in Morocco and leader of local anti-European feelings to rise to prominence in the period 1903 - 1906. By organizing a series of political kidnappings, the most celebrated of which was of the American Ian Perdicaris, he helped to undermine the regime of Sultan Abd al-Aziz.

Following the establishment of the protectorates of France and Spain in 1912, al-Raysuni became an official in the Spanish protectorate. Following the rebellion of Abd al-Karim against the Spanish authorities (1921), al-Raysuni came briefly to prominence again by playing off the two sides and enhancing his own position. In this, his career resembles those of other Moroccan regional figures of the period.

Bibliography

Forbes, Rosita. The Sultan of the Mountains: The Life Story of Raisuli. New York: Holt, 1924.

Woolman, David. Rebels in the Rif: Abd el Krim and the Rif Rebellion. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1968.

— EDMUND BURKE III