Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani

Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani or, in full, Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani was a historian, geographer, poet and statesman from the berber zayane tribe in Morocco (1734/35-1833).^[1] He undertook diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court and engineered government attempts to bring tribes under central authority. His writings include several historical accounts of the Ottoman and Alaouite dynasties. Al-Zayani wrote fifteen works in the field of history and geography. Some authors even consider him the greatest historian of Morocco.^[2]

His grandfather was an Islamic scholar who was brought to Meknes by Sultan Isma'il of the Alaouite Dynasty. Among his grandfather's work was a book on Berber genealogy.^[3]

Notes

1. ↑ Amira K. Bennison Jihad and its interpretations in pre-colonial Morocco, Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0-7007-1693-9, p. 36
2. ↑ Mohammed Lakhdar, La vie littéraire au Maroc sous la dynastie alaouite, Rabat, 1971
3. ↑ Katherine E. Hoffman; Susan Gilson Miller, ed. (24 May 2010). Berbers and Others: Beyond Tribe and Nation in the Maghrib. Indiana University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-253-35480-8. Retrieved 3 December 2012. 

Bibliography

• E. Lévi Provençal, Chorfa, pp. 142–199
• A. Gannun, Dikrayat, no. 2
• Dwight Fletcher, Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literacy Tradition, University of California Press, 2001
• Al-Tarjamana al-kubrd, Fedala, Muhammadiyya, 1967
• Al-bustan al-zarif fi dawlat awlad mawlay 'ali al-sharif (MS. D 1577, Bibiohèque Générale Rabat) translation E. Fumay as Chronique de la dynastie alaouie du Maroc, Archives Marocaines IX and X (1906-7)
• Al-turjuman al-mu'rib 'an duwal al-mashriq wa'l-maghrib, edition and partial translation (1886) by O. Houdas, Le Maroc de 1631 à 1812