al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi al-Adab al-Arabi
- Author died
- 1409 AH
- Editions
- al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi al-Adab al-Arabi
al-Nubugh al-Maghribi fi al-Adab al-Arabi (Moroccan Eminence in Arabic Literature) is a historical and literary survey authored by the Moroccan scholar Abd Allah Kannun (d. 1409 AH / 1989 CE), chronicling the intellectual, literary, and political life of Morocco from the early Islamic conquests down to the modern era .
Purpose and Scope
Kannun composed the work during his youth to counter the prevailing neglect of Moroccan intellectual history in Arab literary anthologies and historical surveys . He observed that while historical writings acknowledged Moroccan rulers and military figures—such as Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Abd al-Mu'min ibn Ali, Ya'qub al-Mansur, and Abu al-Hasan al-Marini—they routinely overlooked the country's literary figures and scholars .
The author stated that his aim was not to isolate Moroccan literature from mainstream Arabic literature, but rather to document Morocco's integral contribution to the shared heritage of Arabic letters and demonstrate that its writers matched their eastern and Maghrebi contemporaries in flourishing literary output .
Method and Sources
The book combines literary history with political and cultural developments, tracing the ebbs and flows of scholarly activity across successive dynastic periods . It incorporates extensive biographical entries covering monarchs, ministers, military commanders, conquerors, scholars, poets, jurists, and Sufis .
In compiling the work, Kannun drew upon rare manuscripts, private family archives, and oral transmissions from contemporary scholars . He acknowledged receiving valuable source material and access to manuscripts from the historian Abd al-Salam Ibn Suda from the private Sa'udiyya library, noting that travel restrictions at the time had prevented him from utilizing the General Library in Rabat .
Publication and French Censorship
The first volume of the book was printed in Tetouan, with its earliest written commendation by Muhammad ibn al-Yamani al-Nasiri dated 21 Safar 1357 AH (1938 CE) .
Shortly after its appearance, the French protectorate administration issued a military decree prohibiting the book from entry, sale, display, or distribution within the French zone of Morocco . Moroccan nationalist newspapers in Tetouan, including al-Wahda al-Maghribiyya and al-Hurriyya, denounced the ban as an assault on intellectual freedom .
Following Moroccan independence, Kannun prepared a revised second edition, integrating material from newly published primary works—such as Almohad and Saadian epistolary collections, the fourth part of Ibn Idhari's al-Bayan al-Maghrib, and Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi's al-Mughrib fi Hula al-Maghrib—as well as rare manuscript additions .
Reception
The work received considerable attention across the Arab world and among Western scholars:
- Shakib Arslan published a two-part review in the Tetouan newspaper al-Wahda al-Maghribiyya in 1361 AH (1942 CE), asserting that anyone unfamiliar with the book could not claim comprehensive knowledge of Moroccan intellectual, political, and literary history, comparing its importance in its domain to that of al-Maqqari's Nafh al-Tib .
- Carl Brockelmann wrote to Kannun in Rajab 1361 AH, stating that he benefited greatly from the book's coverage of Moroccan literature and intended to incorporate its findings into the supplementary volumes of his Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur .
- Giovanni Bianchi, writing in Oriente Moderno, commended the book for bringing Morocco's neglected literary contributions to light .
- Sa'id Hajji announced the work upon release in the newspaper al-Maghrib as a landmark event in Moroccan intellectual history and delivered a lecture about it in Salé .
- Hanna al-Fakhuri described the work as an essential Moroccan encyclopedia that brought overlooked literary treasures into the wider scope of Arabic literary studies through rigorous scholarship .
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