Forgotten Saints: History, Power, and Politics in the Making of Modern Morocco (Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs) - Softcover

Bazzaz, Sahar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674035399 ISBN 13: 9780674035393

Publisher: Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, 2010

Synopsis

In 1894, on the eve of the French conquest of Morocco, a young Muslim mystic named Muhammad al-Kattani decided to abandon his life of asceticism to preach Islamic revival and jihad against the French. Ten years later, al-Kattani mobilized a socially diverse coalition of Moroccans who called for resistance against French colonization.

In 1909, he met a violent death at the hands of the same Moroccan anti-colonialists he had empowered through his activism. Today, the government of Morocco regards al-Kattani’s story as subversive, and he has virtually disappeared from the narratives of the early Moroccan anti-colonialism and nationalism. Despite this silencing, al-Kattani’s remarkable personal transformation and sacrifice is at the heart of the events that, although ultimately failing to prevent French rule, gave birth to Moroccan nationalism and to modern concepts of Moroccan political power and authority.

Forgotten Saints draws on a diverse collection of previously unknown primary sources to narrate the vivid story of al-Kattani and his virtual disappearance from accounts of modern Moroccan history.

About this title

About the Author:

Sahar Bazzaz is Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross.

About this edition

• Publisher: Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0674035399
• ISBN 13: 9780674035393
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192