Cheikh Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al-Sanhaji (connu sous le nom d'Aznag) - Écrire en amazigh, une bibliographie sélective des ouvrages amazighs en écriture arabe du Souss. - 1759

Cheikh Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al-Sanhaji (known as Aznag)

Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah Aznag is among the first scholars to have written works in the Amazigh language in Morocco — dealing with Maliki jurisprudence, Ash'arite dogma, and Sunni Sufism — after Ibn Toumert (d. 524 AH) and Said ibn Abdelmun'im al-Hahi (d. 953 AH). It can even be asserted that most of the Moroccan Amazigh authors who followed him were influenced by his writings; this is notably the case of Mohamed ibn Ali Awzal (d. 1162 AH), author of the famous didactic poem Bahr al-Doumou’ (The Ocean of Tears), which shows many similarities — both in structure and rhythm — with the poem Aqidat al-Suluk. This preeminence in writing in the Amazigh language, however, led Aznag to face strong opposition from some of his contemporaries, who were opposed to the idea of exposing religion in a language other than Arabic.

Rare manuscript of this kind of language and script, very old, interesting for collectors and researchers of ancient Amazigh-Berber literature written in Arabic letters but speaking Chleuh Amazigh, for example:

Like: Catalogue of Berber manuscripts in the library of Leiden University, Nico Van Den Boogert, 2002, Leiden

Most texts and manuscripts written by Moroccan Amazighs that have come down to us were related to the domains of Islamic religion. Indeed, the scholarly elite of Moroccan society was historically at the heart of religious institutions, represented by the institution of jurists, mosques, ancient schools, zawiyas and the traditional judicial institution... It was natural that the texts and compositions of this elite dominated the cognitive scene and what was produced and written there, as long as it held cognitive authority in the traditional, orally cultured society. From this perspective, writing in general was oriented toward the goals and issues related to educating people about their religious life and understanding their reference texts (the Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet). And to reinforce their sectarian and behavioral beliefs. Even if the writing process did not go beyond the religious framework, with few exceptions, it is characterized by diversity in its fields, its issues and its methods. They wrote in translation to transfer texts, sciences and knowledge from the Arabic language to the Amazigh language, in jurisprudence, notably Al-Maliki, in doctrines, in Sufism or science of behavior, in biography of the Prophet, in bilingual dictionaries specialized. , in traditional medicine and in astrology, in narratives and biographies. Despite the richness of Amazigh manuscripts in quantity and quality, they did not receive the necessary attention in terms of presentation and exhaustive indexing, as is the case with Arabic manuscripts. In this context, it is possible to highlight the most important achievements in the field of building an index or directory of Amazigh manuscripts, most of which are by foreign authors:

The manuscript’s value depends on its date and place (rare to find)

Carefully sent with international tracking