1908 - 1991
Moroccan academic and political leader.
Muhammad al-Fasi was educated at Qarawiyyin University in Fez and at the Sorbonne and École des Langues Orientales (School of Oriental Languages) in Paris. He taught at the Institut des Hautes Études Marocaines (Moroccan Institute of Higher Studies; 1935 - 1940); tutored the crown prince, later King Hassan II; and modernized the Qarawiyyin when he served as its president (1942 - 1944, 1947 - 1952). A founding member (1944) of the nationalist Hizb alIstiqlal Party, he was held under restriction by the French authorities (1944 - 1947, 1952 - 1954). Fasi was minister of national education during the transition to independence (1955 - 1958). He wrote Contes Fassis (Tales of Fasi; 1926), L'evolution politique et culturelle au Maroc (The political and cultural evolution of Morocco; 1958), and Chants anciens des femmes au Maroc (Ancient songs of Moroccan women; 1967).
Bibliography
Halstead, John P. Rebirth of a Nation: The Origins and Rise ofMoroccan Nationalism, 1912 - 1914. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967.
Pennell, C. R. Morocco since 1830: A History. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
Waterbury, John. Commander of the Faithful: The Moroccan Political Elite. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.
— C. R. PENNELL
