Abd Allah Kannon
- Died
- 1409 AH
- Born in
- Fez
Abd Allah Kannon (1326–1409 AH / 1908–1989 CE) was a Moroccan scholar, historian, literary critic, and president of the Moroccan League of Scholars, best known for his pioneering literary survey al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi al-Adab al-Arabi .
Lineage and early life
He was Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Samad ibn al-Tuhami ibn al-Madani Kannon al-Fasi al-Tanji al-Hasani . He was born into a conservative Sunni family in Fez on Saturday, 30 Sha'ban 1326 AH (1908 CE) . In his youth, he attended a traditional primary school (kuttab), where he memorized the Quran and core scholastic texts (mutun), while studying hadith and poetry . He then pursued advanced Islamic studies at the University of al-Qarawiyyin, before settling alongside his father in Tangier . Among his teachers were his father Abd al-Samad, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Anjari, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Salam al-Samayhi, and Abd al-Salam ibn al-Ashhab .
Public career and institutional roles
In Tangier, Kannon founded the Islamic Institute and directed it until 1953 CE . That year, he relocated to Tetouan in protest against the French colonial authorities' deposition and exile of Sultan Muhammad V of Morocco . While in Tetouan, he taught at the Higher Institute, directed the Hassan Institute for Research, and was soon appointed Minister of Justice in the northern zone's regional government . Following the reunification and independence of Morocco, he was assigned the post of Governor General of Tangier .
Kannon was also an active figure in Moroccan political and national movements. He participated in establishing the first National Association led by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi and helped found the National Action Bloc (Kutlat al-'Amal al-Watani) . Alongside his political and educational posts, he engaged extensively in journalism; he established the periodical Lisan al-Din, served as editor-in-chief of al-Anwar, directed al-Mithaq—the official newspaper of the Moroccan League of Scholars—until his death, and later launched the journal al-Ihya' .
Scholarly leadership and standing
Kannon occupied high positions across several international scholarly academies. He served as secretary-general and later head of the Moroccan League of Scholars . He was appointed a member of the Arab Academy of Damascus in 1956, elected an active member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo in 1961, and named to the Islamic Research Academy at al-Azhar upon its inception in 1963 . He subsequently joined the Constituent Council of the Muslim World League, became an honorary member of the Jordan Academy of Arabic upon its founding in 1977, and held memberships in the Iraqi Scientific Academy and the Royal Academy for Islamic Civilization Research .
His scholarship focused on reviving North African letters and Islamic sciences. His magnum opus, al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi al-Adab al-Arabi (Moroccan Eminence in Arabic Literature), was written to demonstrate the Moroccan contribution to Arabic literary history and counter the neglect of Western Islamic scholarship in Eastern anthologies . The work drew widespread acclaim; Shakib Arslan remarked that no one could claim full knowledge of Moroccan literary history without reading it , and the Orientalist Carl Brockelmann wrote to Kannon acknowledging that the survey supplied substantial material on Moroccan literature that had previously escaped his own history of Arabic literature . In Quranic studies, Kannon authored Tafsir Suwar al-Mufassal min al-Qur'an al-Karim (Exegesis of the Mufassal Surahs of the Holy Quran), adopting an exegesis rooted in literal meanings and transmitted traditions from the early generations (al-ma'thur), primarily drawing on the classical commentaries of Ibn Juzayy, Ibn Kathir, and the Jalalayn .
Death
Kannon died on the morning of Sunday, 5 Dhu al-Hijjah 1409 AH (July 1989 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi al-Adab al-Arabi (Moroccan Eminence in Arabic Literature) is a historical and literary survey that chronicles the intellectual, literary, and political life of Morocco from the early Islamic conquests down to the modern era. Composed to address the neglect of Moroccan scholarship in broader Arab literary anthologies, the work combines political, cultural, and literary history with extensive biographical entries to document Morocco's contributions to the shared heritage of Arabic letters.