Islamic Modernism, Political Reform and the Arabisation of Education: The Relationship between Moroccan Nationalists and al-Azhar University

Abstract

This chapter studies the impact of al Azhar University on the Moroccan nationalist movement and specifically its independence leader Allal al Fasi, whose ten-year exile in Egypt exposed him to the ideas of Muhammad Abduh and influenced the ideological position of the Moroccan independence party, Istiqlal. The chapter emphasises the impact that Abduh's ideas had on the educational policies of the independence party and their continued importance in Moroccan educational politics throughout the twentieth century. Graduates of the university, including Abdullah ibn Idris al Sanusi and Abu Shu'ayb al Dukkali, brought ideas of Islamic modernism back to Morocco. These ideas were shared with Moroccan religious students through lectures at the Qarawiyyin University in Fez and flourished into a movement for religious reform.