1906 - 1973
Moroccan nationalist politician and writer.
From a prominent Fez family of scholars of Andalusian (Spanish) origin, Allal al-Fasi was an early Moroccan nationalist, involved with the Salafiyya Movement during his education at the Qarawiyyin University. In the 1920s he helped organize the Free School Movement, which established schools to educate Moroccan youths in a modernist Islam tradition rather than according to French colonial ideas, and in 1930 he led protests against the Berber Dahir. In 1934 he helped draw up the "Plan of Reforms," a manifesto that demanded radical reforms of the administration and economy of the French protectorate so that Moroccans might benefit from French rule. After his 1937 exile to Gabon, he maintained contact with the founders of the Istiqlal Party and at independence in 1956 returned to lead the party, remaining its leader after the split with the Union Nationale des Forces Populaires (UNFP; National Union of Popular Forces) in 1959. The party adopted a strongly nationalist program but was committed to a constitutional monarchical system.
After being minister of state for Islamic affairs (1961 - 1963), al-Fasi resigned and led the Istiqlal Party into opposition, while remaining loyal to the monarchy. He was secretary-general of the party until his death in May 1973. Al-Fasi wrote al-Haraka al-Wataniyya fi al-Maghrib al-Arabi, translated by Ahuzen Zaki Nuseibeh as Independence Movements in Arab North Africa (1954), and al-Naqd al-Dhati (Self criticism; 1966).
Bibliography
Pennell, C. R. Morocco since 1830: A History. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
— C. R. PENNELL
