Abdellah Guennoun

Abdellah Guennoun (Arabic: عبد الله ڭنون‎ ʻAbd Allāh Gannūn, Born 16 September 1908 in Fes – died 9 July 1989 in Tangier) was a famous and 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]

Guennoun (standing) during a banquet in Tangier, April 1957, next to Habib Bourguiba (with bow tie) and Allal al-Fassi (with fez)
Moroccan literature
Moroccan writers
  • Novelists
  • Playwrights
  • Poets
  • Essayists
  • Historians
  • Travel writers
  • Sufi writers
  • Moorish writers
Forms
  • Novel
  • Poetry
Criticism and awards
See also
  • Morocco Portal
  • Literature Portal

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]

Biography

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]

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]

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.[12][11]

Abdallah 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.[13]

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.[14]

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.[15][16][9] He also served as the general secretary of al-Mithaq, a journal put out by the faculty of al-Qarawiyyin University.[10][16]

He refused the support Mohammed Ben Aarafa, the puppet monarch chosen by France to replace Muhammad V, whom France had exiled.[13]

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]

an-Nubūgh al-Maghribī

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.[17]

He held a number of different positions. In 1937, he was made director of the Khalifi Institute (المعهد الخليفي),[18][19] then professor at the High Institute of Religion (Arabic: المعهد الديني العالي‎) and the College of Theology in Tetuan (كلية أصول الدين بتطوان).[19] 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.[18]

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.[20]

Abdallah Guennoun passed away July 9, 1989 in Tangier.[21]

Notable works

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.

On 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.

Abstract: Abdallah Guennun. Estudio biográfico y literario.

  • HABABI, Fatima al-Djamiya al. Abd allâh Kanűn, Casablanca: Mu`asasas Űnâ, 1997.

Notes
  1. Literatura Marroqui (retrieved Feb. 13, 2009)
  2. ""النبوغ المغربي" لعبد الله كنون في طبعة جديدة". Hespress (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  3. هيسبريس: ذاكرة العلامة عبد الله كنون تؤسس لذاكرة مغربية حقيقية تاريخ الوصول: 14 فبراير 2010]] Archived 2010-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "علماء المغرب.. من رابطة العلماء إلى الرابطة المحمدية". Hespress (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  5. Simour, Lhoussain (2016-10-21). Larbi Batma, Nass el-Ghiwane and Postcolonial Music in Morocco. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-2581-2.
  6. "دعوة الحق - [كتاب] النبوغ المغربي في الأدب العربي (لـ ع.ل.كنون)". www.habous.gov.ma. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  7. "النبوغ المغربي لعبد الله كنون.. موسوعة الأدب المغربي في خصوصيته وتعدده". مغرس. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  8. "عبد الله كنون". www.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  9. "عبد الله كنـون". uemnet.free.fr. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  10. "عبد الله كنون". www.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  11. "عبد الله كنون 1 - المغرب". الجزيرة الوثائقية (in Arabic). Aug 24, 2016.
  12. "دعوة الحق - مجلة السلام أول صحيفة وطنية مغربية". www.habous.gov.ma. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  13. "عبد الله كنون". www.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  14. "عبد الله كنون". www.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  15. "عبد الله كنون". www.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  16. "دعوة الحق - عبد الله كنون وأثره في الثقافة المغربية -2-". www.habous.gov.ma. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  17. "الذكرى المئوية لميلاد صاحب 'النبوغ المغربي'". Belpresse | بلبريس (in Arabic). 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  18. "عبد الله كنـون". uemnet.free.fr. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  19. الهاني, كريم (2019-09-17). "في ذكرى ميلاده: عبد الله كنون… العلامة الذي أعاد الاعتبار للفكر والأدب المغربي". Marayana - مرايانا (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  20. "نبذة تعريفية عن مجلة الإحياء". بوابة الرابطة المحمدية للعلماء (in Arabic). 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  21. "عبد الله كنون". www.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 2020-03-30.

References
  • 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"
  • Afrique info (in French) (retrieved Feb. 13, 2009)
  • Tangier.free.fr (in French) (retrieved Feb. 13, 2009)


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