A historical reflection by Shaykh Muḥammad Taqī ad-Dīn al-Hilālī on creed, scholarship, and the transformation of religious thought in Morocco.
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After I settled in Tétouan, a city in northern Morocco, I established a monthly magazine entitled The Arabic Tongue. In it, I published articles clarifying the falsehood of the Ashʿarī creed, a belief that the people of Morocco have religiously accepted since the time of Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī Tūmart (d. 524 AH / 1130 CE) and the Almohad dynasty (founded 515 AH / 1121 CE). What we witness today is the direct result of his propagation.
Before his time, the people of Morocco were upon the creed of the Salaf, to such an extent that when the book Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm ad-Dīn by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (450 to 505 AH / 1058 to 1111 CE) reached Morocco, the Moroccans gathered to burn it. Scholars from both al-Andalus and Morocco unanimously agreed upon this course of action due to what the book contained of blameworthy speech.
An example of such speech is the statement: “There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists”, meaning that it is impossible for Allah ﷻ to fashion a world more perfect than the one that currently exists. Al-Ghazālī further states that if the possibility of such a thing were admitted, it would entail oppression, which negates justice. I have paraphrased his words so that the ordinary reader may understand their implication. Thus, al-Ghazālī moved from attributing oppression to Allah ﷻ to attributing incapacity to His power, whereas Allah ﷻ is far above that.
Accordingly, the last Moroccan dynasty to adhere to the methodology of the Salaf was the Almoravid dynasty (448 to 541 AH / 1056 to 1147 CE), who were also known as the Mulaththamīn or the Lamtūnīn, an ascription to Lamtūna, a nomadic Berber tribe.
Reference
al-Hilālī, Muḥammad Taqī ad-Dīn (d. 1407 AH / 1987 CE), al-Daʿwa ilā Allāh fī Aqṭār Mukhtalifa, Cairo: Maktabat Dār al-Kitāb wa al-Sunnah, n.d., p. 96.
April 11, 2025
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