Abdellah Guennoun (Arabic: عبد الله ڭنون ʻAbd Allāh Gannūn; 16 September 1908 in Fes – died 9 July 1989 in Tangier) was an influential Moroccan writer, historian, essayist, poet, academic, administrator, journalist, and faqīh.^[1][2] He was one of the leaders of the Nahda movement in Morocco, and served as the general secretary of the League of Moroccan Religious Scholars (رابطة علماء المغرب).^[3][4]

He is known for writing an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī fī al-adab al-ʻArabī (النبوغ المغربي في الأدب العربي, Moroccan Intellect in Arabic Literature),^[5] a three-volume anthology of Moroccan literature in Arabic that was banned by the French Protectorate.^[6][7]

Guennoun also served as a member of a number of linguistic, educational, and Islamic academies and organizations in places such as Rabat, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Amman.^[8][9]

Early life[edit]

Abdallah Guennoun was born in Fes in 1908 to a family of noble Idrissid lineage long associated with knowledge.^[10] His family moved from Fes to Tangier in 1914.^[10]

He had a traditional Islamic education, memorizing the Quran and some Hadith.^[10] With access to international books in Tangier, he also taught himself Spanish and French.^[10]

Career[edit]

Guennoun began his writing career early; he published in the newspaper Idhar al-Haqq (إظهار الحق) in 1927 when he was 20 years old.^[11] He also wrote for publications such as the Egyptian literary magazine Arrissalah.^{[10][12][13][14][15][16]}

He became active and influential in the flourishing intellectual and cultural scene in Tetuan, and he published many of his works there.^[11] As part of this intellectual circle in Tetuan, he was involved in the first nationalist publication in Morocco, as-Salaam, which published its first issue October 1933.^[17][11]

Guennoun was well-connected, associated with Said Hajji in the French area, Mohammed Daoud in the Spanish area, and Shakib Arslan in the Mashriq.^[11] Guennoun became involved with the Moroccan Action Committee in 1934.^[8]

He opened the first of the Moroccan free schools in Tangier, the Free Abdallah Guennoun School (مدرسة عبد الله كنون الحرة), and worked as a teacher in 1936.^[10]

He was the editor in-chief of a monthly Islamic publication called Lisaan ad-Din (لسان الدين) in the 1940s and published a number of articles.^[10][18][9] He also served as the general secretary of al-Mithaq, a journal put out by the faculty of al-Qarawiyyin University.^[10][18]

He refused the support Mohammed Ben Aarafa, the puppet monarch chosen by France to replace Muhammad V, whom France had exiled.^[8]

Guennoun was, among other members of the Mococcan Nationalist Movement (الحركة الوطنية المغربية) including Allal al-Fassi, Abdelkhalek Torres, Abdallah Ibrahim, a member of a generation of Moroccan intellectuals brought together the political and the cultural, and who criticized the reform movement in the country, arguing that there can be "no reform without independence."^[11]

Abdellah Guennoun taught Ahmed Boukmakh [ar] and later assisted him in the creation of Iqra'  [ar] (اِقْرَأ, "Read"), the first series of Arabic textbooks for children in Morocco, published in 1956, 1957, and 1958.^[19][20]

an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī[edit]

In 1938, he published an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī fī al-adab al-ʻArabī (النبوغ المغربي في الأدب العربي, Moroccan Intellect in Arabic Literature), his three-volume anthology of Moroccan literature.^[7] This anthology indexed and contextualized major Moroccan works of literature written in Arabic, and led to the development of a Moroccan literary canon.^[5] Affirming both Morocco's contributions to Arabic literature and the long tradition of Arabic literature in Morocco, an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī was seen as a nationalist reaction to colonialism.^[5] It was banned by the authorities of the French Protectorate, and could not be brought into the area under French colonial control, nor could it be sold, displayed, or distributed there.^[6][7] Spain, however, was receptive of the work; an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī was translated into Spanish and Abdallah Guennoun was granted an honorary doctorate from a university in Madrid.^[21]

He held a number of different positions. In 1937, he was made director of the Khalifi Institute (المعهد الخليفي),^[9][22] then professor at the High Institute of Religion (Arabic: المعهد الديني العالي) and the College of Theology in Tetuan (كلية أصول الدين بتطوان).^[22] He held the office of Minister of Justice in the Khalifi government from 1954 to 1956.^[9]

He became a member of the Arab Academy of Damascus in 1956, the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo in 1961, the League of Moroccan Religious Scholars, the al-Quds Scientific Commission (هيئة القدس العلمية) in 1973, the Muslim World League in Mecca as a founding member in 1974, the Jordan Academy of Arabic in 1978, the Iraqi Academy of Sciences in 1979, and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco in 1980.^[9]

In 1981, he founded al-Ihyaa' (الإحياء The Revival), a journal published by the Association of Moroccan Academics focusing on Islamic theological sciences and thought from an open, critical perspective.^[23]

Death[edit]

Abdallah Guennoun died on 9 July 1989, aged 80, in Tangier.^[8]

Notable works[edit]

Abdallah Guennoun's works include poetry, literary fiction, and history. Some of his most notable works include:

• an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī fī al-adab al-ʻArabī (النبوغ المغربي في الأدب العربي, Moroccan Intellect in Arabic Literature), 1st ed. al-Matba'a al-Mehdia. 1938; 2nd ed. Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani. 1961; 1st ed. Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyah. 2014.
• Umarāʼunā al-Shuʻarāʼ (أمراؤنا الشعراء Our Poet Princes). 1941.
• al-Qudwat ul-Samiya lil-Nashi'at il-Islamiya (القدوة السامية للناشئة الإسلامية). 1945
• Wahat al-Fikr (واحة الفكر The Oasis of Thought). 1948.
• Dīwān Malik Gharnaṭah Yusuf al-Thalith (ديوان مالك غرناطة يوسف الثالث The Poetry of Yusuf III, King of Granada). 1958.
• Aḥādīth ʻan al-Adab al-Maghribī al-Ḥadīth (أحاديث عن الأدب المغربي الحديث On Modern Moroccan Literature). 1964.
• Mafāhīm Islāmīyah (مفاهيم إسلامية Islamic Concepts). 1964.
• al-Muntakhab min Shiʻr Ibn Zākūr (المنتخب من شعر ابن زاكور A Selection of the Poetry of Ibn Zakur). 1966.
• Luqmān al-Ḥakīm (لقمان الحكيم Luqman the Wise). 1969.
• Adab al-Fuqahāʼ (أدب الفقهاء Literature of the Theologians). 1970.
• Naẓrah fī Munjid al-Adab wa-al-ʻUlum (نظرة في منجد الأدب والعلوم). 1972.
• al-Taʻāshīb (التعاشيب). 1975.
• Dhikrayāt Mashāhīr Rijāl al-Maghrib (ذكريات مشاهير رجال المغرب). 2010.

Legacy[edit]

Abdellah Guennoun's personal library, which he donated in 1985 to the City of Tangier, has been housed since his death in the former building of the Moroccan Debt Administration.^[24]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Memoirs of important Men of Morocco: Ibn Battuta, Rabat:Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 1996
• Dhikrayat Mashahir Rijal al-Maghrib: Ahmad Zarruq, 1954
• Mohammed Tozy, Zakya Daoud, Abdallah Guennoun ou le dernier des Lettrés. LAMALIF (188), 1987:05, 13-16
• Rom Landau, Portrait of Tangier, ed. Hale, 1952, chapter 30: "Guennoun"
• CHAYBI, Ahmed. Al-Dirâsa al `adabiyya fî al-Magrib: Al-ustâdh `Abd`allâh Kanűn numudhadj, Tánger: Madrasa al-Malik Fahd al-Uliyâ li-l-Tardjuma, 1991.
• HABABI, Fatima al-Djamiya al. Abd allâh Kanűn, Mohammedia: Mat:ba`a Fadhâla, 1991.
• HABABI, Fatima al-Djamiya al. Abd allâh Kanűn, Casablanca: Mu`asasas Űnâ, 1997.

External links[edit]

• Afrique info (in French) [2] Archived 2012-02-20 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved Feb. 13, 2009)
• Tangier.free.fr (in French) [3] (retrieved Feb. 13, 2009)