May 16

Arabic version (PDF).
French translation (manual).

Al Maghrib - First year - No 13 - May 14, 1937

Each year as May 16 draws near, Moroccans prepare to commemorate this event which left a historical tide-mark and arouses two strikingly different emotions . On this day, by divine grace and divine will, individual initiatives took an official turn: the nation awoke and gave birth to a new life.

Morocco never ceased being a religious entity, a sovereign nation and a governmental authority endowed with powers since the advent of that great king^[18] who prevailed upon Morocco from Mount Zerhoun. His rule was totally inspired by Islamic faith and Islamic law which had captured the hearts of all Moroccans. Their faith withstood the most tempestuous of storms and faced the most capricious and unforeseen of events.

Moroccans accepted Islam and submitted to its standards and precepts that drew their substance from the uncontested authority of the soul and which proscribed an ideal system of values materially and spiritually.

However, there were those who, without any restraint, tried to plant fabrications in the minds of Moroccans by shoring up their words with baseless assertions. For years they wove spider webs to lend credence to their allegations. These grew to the point where they became quasi-realities in the minds of their authors. Thus they allowed themselves to be duped by the same webs they tried to use to deceive others. Their assertions were in fact nothing more than the fruits of their own imagination.

Moroccans disdained such allegations but never imagined that one day these would form the basis for a new political order. One that would be adhered to by not only some individuals but also a number of official organizations. They were surprised and astonished, because for them this had never happened before. But they had only to look around to see the fait accompli and to realize that the Berber Policy, which was fed by all those assertions, engendered the decree of May 16.

It was then that the nation with all its social constituents expressed their indignation and confronted this outrage with courage and determination. Then the course of events unfolded along the path which we know today. It was only soon afterwards that the leadership and the young elites understood that this new political order, was by its nature a threat to the relations between the nation and its government.

The decree of May 16 caused a chain reaction starting from the pretentious claims of certain individuals leading to disastrous end results. As time went by, the May 16 crisis was understood as much for its futility as for its empty convictions. Most proponents eventually admitted, out of public sight and hearing, that errors had been made and these needed to be repaired.

After a long wait, only article 6 of the decree was amended. Must one conclude therefore that the events that unfolded due to this decree had not shed enough light on the errors of the Berber Policy? We hope that the current government has a better grasp of the facts than its predecessor . We hope that it forms a more appropriate understanding of the seriousness of the situation and wipes out any traces of this policy.

Each year on May 16, Moroccans will remember that a very serious threat to their existence occurred. It was a day in which they had experienced a surge of awakening. A day they expressed their wish that the government would root out the harm and put an end to their general displeasure. And by doing so, the government would win the sympathy and approval of the whole nation.

^[18] Historically the arrival of Islam in Morocco dates to the first incursion in 683 AD of the Arab warrior and chieftain, Okba Ibn Nafie, founder of the Tunisian Moslem city of Kairouane. He defeated the Berbers and Byzantines that opposed his well trained army and his expedition marched westwards until they reached the Atlantic coast. The Moslems spread their faith amongst the indigenous population. Amongst their ranks rose a great Moslem Berber chieftain, Tarik Ibn Ziyad, who in 711 led an army of Arabs and Berbers to victory over the Visigoths near Gibraltar or Jebel Tarik (Tarik's Mountain) as it is known in Arabic. This conquest opened the Iberian peninsula to Islamic access to lands coveted by the Caliphate now known as Andalusia. In 740, there was an uprising in Syria against the Caliphate reducing the span of their influence and Morocco broke up into several principalities.

Idriss I and his family arrived in Morocco in 788, two years after they escaped the massacre of the Omayyad dynasty by the Abbasid Caliphate. He was welcomed by the Berber tribes of central Morocco who conferred on him the title of 'Imam' (religious leader) with all due honor as a descendent of Fatima, the daughter of prophet Mohammed and of Ali, his son-in-law, who was the 4th Caliph to succeed the prophet. The tribes swore their allegiance to him and he established an Islamic kingdom in Morocco, independent of the Caliphate. In 789 he founded the city of Fez and made it the capital of the Idrisid dynasty. His quick ascension to power alarmed the Caliph Haroun er- Rachid who had him poisoned to death. Today his mausoleum sits on Mount Zerhoun in Moulay Idriss, near Fez where many pilgrims to this day come to pay their respect. He was succeeded by Idriss II who extended the domains of the kingdom, set up an organized state system and further developed its capital.