Lahbabi, Mohammed Aziz (1932-93). Moroccan writer, professor of philosophy in Rabat and Algiers, and one of the leading academics in Morocco. A central figure in the cultural life of his country, he was awarded many honours at home and abroad. As a student of philosophy in France he came under the influence of Bergson. At the intersection of European philosophy and Islamic thought, Lahbabi evolved a Muslim humanism and Personalism: see his doctoral thesis De l'être à la personne (1954), followed by Le Personnalisme musulman (1964).
Apart from a novel, Espoir vagabond (1972), written first in Arabic, Lahbabi's main literary interest was poetry. In Les Chants d'espérance (1952) and Misères et lumières (1958), he endeavours to define his own role as a poet aesthetically and spiritually: ‘le poète fait vibrer les couleurs du Verbe’. He explores this idea in Ma voix à la recherche de sa voie (1968). His poetry is characterized by a strong metaphysical concern for the situation, role, and future of man, the questioning ending in hope, faith, and fraternity (Ivre d'innocence 1980).
Lahbabi wrote a number of works in Arabic and felt the tension between the two cultures, and the desire to return to one's roots: Florilège poétique arabe et berbère (1964). His essay Du clos à l'ouvert: vingt propos sur les cultures nationales et la civilisation humaine (1961) advocates abandoning the rigidity and narrowness of nationalism and monoculturalism, for tolerance and dialogue between cultures.
[Ethel Tolansky]
