Allal al-Fassi

Muhammad Allal al-Fassi (

Early life and exile

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He was born in Fes and studied at the University of al-Qarawiyyin. His father was a judge (Qadi) as well as his uncle Abdallah Al-Fassi (1871-1930) who was in charge of his education. For many years, his professor and mentor was Abdeslam Serghini. He started his anti-French political activities very early on in 1926, immediately after joining the University of Al-Qarawiyyin, which would lead to his expulsion from the university in 1927, and banishment from the city of Fes by the French colonial administration who decided to confine him in Taza. He finished his studies at the Zawiya Nassiriya, a Zawiya historically known for its intellectual potency and hostility to European invasions of Morocco. In 1931, he was allowed back to Fes, and he again picked up his political agitations in the city, and started campaigning and giving nationalistic speeches which gathered success and emotions amongst the masses who admired his eloquence. This prompted the French to exile him again in 1933, this time to Geneva where he met the Lebanese political leader Shakib Arslan, and would assist him in his historical works on the Maghreb region. Arsalan, already in contact with young Moroccan nationalists in Switzerland such as the future PM Ahmed Balafrej, mentored him in political organization, and introduced him to many political contacts, and also publicized his name in his various journalistic articles and correspondences. Allal came back to Morocco in 1934, and founded the kutlat al-'amal al-watani كتلة العمل الوطني, Comité d'Action Marocaine (CAM) and the first Moroccan-led workers' union in 1936, and in December of that year officially petitioned the French Colonial Residence in Rabat demanding a number of reforms. This led the French authorities to decide to disband and persecute the members of his political organization, and in 1937, exiled him to the small town of Port-Gentil in Gabon where he would remain for the next nine years until 1946, receiving very little information about the affairs of the outside world during that period.

While he was in exile, the CAM was renamed in 1944 as the

Literature

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In 1925 Al-Fassi published his first book of poems. In 1954 his The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa was published, a translation of a book he wrote in Arabic in 1948.

Personal life

Both of Allal al-Fassi's daughters were married to leading figures of Moroccan politics; ex-Prime Minister and longtime Istiqlal party Secretary General Abbas El Fassi, and Mohamed El Ouafa ex-Minister and vocal dissident figure within the party.

See also

• Allal al Fassi Dam

References