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{{Short description|Moroccan political and military leader (1882/1883–1963)}}{{pp|small=yes}}{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}{{other uses|Abdul Karim}}

factoids

Cairo, United Arab Republic>Egypt>FIRST=EDITOR-FIRST=EDITOR-LINK=TITLE=ABD EL-KRIMYEAR=2010VOLUME=I: A-AK - BAYESISBN=978-1-59339-837-818>URL-ACCESS=REGISTRATION,weblink Government of the Republic of the Rif>President of the Republic of the Rif| monarch = | primeminister = Hajj Hatmi| term_start = 18 September 1921| term_end = 27 May 1926| predecessor = Position established| successor = Position abolishedRepublic of the Rif}} Republic of the Rif| serviceyears = 1921–1926| rank = Rif War (1920)>Rif War

• Battle of Annual
• Alhucemas landing| alma_mater = University of al-Qarawiyyin| spouse = Lalla Mimouna Boujibar| signature = Abd el-Krim signature.png| native_name_lang = ar

}}Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi (), better known as Abd el-Krim (; 1882 or 1883 – 6 February 1963), was a Moroccan political and military leader and the president of the Republic of the Rif.JOURNAL, Montagne, Robert, 1947, Abd el Krim,weblink Politique étrangère, 12, 3, 301–324, 10.3406/polit.1947.5495, {{sfn|Pennell|2004|p=634}} He and his brother M'Hammad led a large-scale revolt by a coalition of Riffian tribes against the Spanish and French Protectorates of the Rif and the rest of Morocco. His guerrilla tactics, which included the first-ever use of tunneling as a technique of modern warfare, directly influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Che Guevara.BOOK, Castro, Fidel, Fidel Castro: My Life - A Spoken Autobiography, Ramonet, Ignacio, 680, Hurley, Andrew, {{sfn|Er|2015|pp=1-23}} He also became one of the major figures of Arab nationalism, which he actively supported.BOOK, Heptulla, Najma,weblink Indo-West Asian Relations: The Nehru Era, 1991, Allied Publishers, 978-81-7023-340-4, en,

Early life

According to Abdelkrim himself, his family, the Khattabi, is said to be descended from an ancient Arab family that originated in Yanbu in Arabia, belonging to the Arab tribe of Ouled Sidi Mohammed, from which he derives his name. They are believed to have immigrated to the Rif region in the 900s. The patriarch of his family is said to be a certain Zarra, an Arab who came to settle in Morocco and established his family among the Berber tribe of Beni Ouriaghel.WEB, 2023-12-27, fr, Mémoires d'Abd-el-Krim P.55,weblink ImgBB, BOOK, 2023-12-27, 1953, Léon, Roger, fr, Gabrielli, Coindreau, Editions Atlantides, Abd-el-Krim et les événements du Rif (1924-1926),weblink During a later interview in Egypt, Abdelkrim defined himself as Berber and explained that his ancestors were Berbers; he also highlighted the Berber people, and said his people were very "underestimated" BOOK, Akher Saa : 1935 - 1952,weblink ’BOOK, David Bensoussan, 322, Il Était Une Fois Le Maroc,weblink Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim was born in 1882/1883 in Ajdir, Morocco.{{sfn|Tahtah|1999|p=143}} He was the son of Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge and chief local leader) of the Aith Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe.Hart, pp. 370-371. Abd el-Krim received a customary formative education at a local school in Ajdir and subsequently attended an institute at Tetouan.{{sfn|Roger-Mathieu|1927|p=56}}{{sfn|Tahtah|1999|p=144}} At the age of 20, he studied for two years in Fez at the Al Attarine and Saffarin madrasas and subsequently enrolled as a student at the University of al-Qarawiyyin, the world's oldest institution of higher education.{{sfn|Roger-Mathieu|1927|p=56}} Both Muhammad and his brother M'Hammad received a Spanish education, the latter studying mine engineering in Málaga and Madrid. Both spoke fluent Spanish and Riffian. (File:Abd el-Krim Melilla 1919.jpg|thumb|Abd el-Krim (far left) shown while he worked for the Native Affairs Office)Following his studies, Abd el-Krim worked in Melilla (a Spanish enclave from 1494 to the present day) as a teacher and translator for the OCTAI, the Spanish 'native affairs' office, and as a journalist for the Spanish newspaper Telegrama del Rif (1906–1915). In 1907, he was hired to edit and write articles in Arabic for El Telegrama del Rif, a daily newspaper in Melilla, where he defended the advantages of European—especially Spanish—civilization and technology and their potential to elevate the economic and cultural level of the Moroccan population. In 1910, Abd el-Krim took a position as secretary-interpreter in the Native Affairs Office in Melilla, which brought him into close contact with the Spanish military bureaucracy and the town's civil society and gained a reputation for intelligence, efficiency and discretion.

World War I

File:Morocco Chefchaouen prison.jpg|thumb|Cell at the Kasbah of ChefchaouenChefchaouenAbd el-Krim entered the Spanish administration first as a secretary in the Bureau of Native Affairs, and he was later appointed chief qadi for Melilla in 1915. He taught at a Hispano-Arabic school and was an editor for the Arab section of the newspaper, El Telegrama del Rif.Before and after the outbreak of World War I, Abd el-Krim was noted as Germanophile, defending it on the basis of arguments brought from the Egyptian and Turkish press.{{Sfn|Sánchez Pérez|1973|p=137}} Abd-el-Krim offered himself as broker to the Germans to get them mining licenses in the mountains of Beni Uriaguel.{{Sfn|Sánchez Pérez|1973|p=137}} His father was indeed one of the leading elements of the German–Turkish operations in the Rif.{{Sfn|La Porte|2017|p=516}}In the midst of the conflict, he was arrested. The Spanish authorities sought to please the French, who had claimed the German agents roamed free in Melilla, thus they proceeded to hear a number of complaints on Abd el-Krim.{{Sfn|Sánchez Pérez|1973|p=137}} One of the complaints dealt with an alleged involvement in a conspiracy with the German consul Walter Zechlin (1879–1962).{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} He was imprisoned in Chefchaouen{{clarify|date=August 2020}} from 1916 to 1918 but then escaped. He regained his job as a judge in Melilla. In 1920, Abd el-Krim, together with his brother, began a war of rebellion against the Spanish incursions.Boyd, p. 175.Carr, p. 94. His goal was to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif, to dismantle the entire French-Spanish colonial project in Morocco and to introduce modern political reform.{{sfn|Ruedy|1996|p=59}}

Guerrilla leadership

File:Mohammed Abd al-Karim (1882–1963) Presidente de la Republica del Rif 1921–1927.jpg|thumb|left|Abd el-Krim in an interview with Luis de OteyzaLuis de OteyzaFile:Abd el-Krim TIME 1925.jpg|thumb|Abd el-Krim featured in the magazine Time in 1925.]]In 1921, as a byproduct of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Ahmed er Raisuni, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim sent their commander, General Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if the troops crossed the Ameqqran River, he would consider it as an act of war. Silvestre is said to have dismissed the warning, and shortly afterwards, crossed the river with 60,000 men and set up a military post in the foothills of Abarran mountains. In June 1921 a sizable Riffian force attacked this post killing 179 of the estimated 250 Spanish troops there. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish army camp at Anwal, which they did with great success. During the attack, General Silvestre, head of the Spanish forces, committed suicide when he saw that defeat was inevitable. In three weeks of fierce battles, 13,000 Spanish and colonial troops were killed. The Rifians' colossal victory established Abd el-Krim as a master and pioneer of guerrilla warfare,Pierson, pp. 126-127. and the president of the Republic of the Rif. By July, the remainder of the 60,000 Spanish soldiers who were not killed or captured had fled to the coast, and into Melilla, defeated by an army of 30,000 Rifian fighters.Asprey, pp. 267-274.The catastrophic defeat of the Spanish forces at Annual and the ensuing massacre of Spaniards at Monte Arruit delivered a coup de grace to the Restoration regime in that country, and what it was known as the African "adventure" became referred to as the Moroccan "mess" or "cancer".JOURNAL, María, Gájate Bajo, El desastre de Annual. El pleito de las responsabilidades en la gran prensa (1921 - 1923), Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar, 2254-6111, 2, 3, 2013, 119–138,weblink A coup d'état led by Miguel Primo de Rivera installed a dictatorship in Spain in September 1923.By 1924, the Spanish forces had retreated, because of more defeats at the hands of Abd el-Krim, to three isolated cities along the Moroccan coast: Tetouan, Ceuta and Melilla (the two latter under Spanish jurisdiction to this day). After Abd el-Krim invaded French-occupied Morocco in April 1925 and made it as far as Fez, France decided to take strong steps to put down the revolt. The French government, in 1925, after conferencing with the Spanish in Madrid, sent a massive French force under Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain to Morocco, where it joined with a Spanish army, with a combined total of more than 250,000 soldiers, supported by large numbers of aircraft and artillery, and began operations against the Rif Republic. By September 1925 the Spanish Army of África, supported by a combined Spanish-French fleet, landed in Alhucemas bay, barely a dozen miles from Abd-el-Krim's capital and birthplace, Axdir, while several colonials and even metropolitan French regiments were coming from the south toward the heartlands of the Rifian rebellion.Intense combat lasted ten months, but eventually, the combined French and Spanish armies, which used chemical bombs against the population as well as other weapons, defeated the forces of Abd el-Krim and inflicted extensive damage on the local Berber population. On 26 May 1926,The date of surrender is in dispute, as some sources say 27 May. Abd el-Krim surrendered to the French at his then headquarters of Targuist (Targist).Cowley & Parker, p. 1.Keegan & Wheatcroft, p. 2.

Exile

{{History of Morocco}}(File:Abd el-Krim, Fes 1926.jpg|thumb|left|Abd el-Krim boarding a train in Fes on his way to exile)Following his surrender Abd el-Krim was exiled to the island of Réunion (a French territory in the Indian Ocean) from 1926 to 1947, where he was "given a comfortable estate and generous annual subsidiary", before ending up in Cairo. In exile, he continued his fierce anti-Western rhetoric, and he pushed to keep western trends from encroaching on Moroccan culture.Abd el-Krim supported Arab nationalist causes. During the French Indochina War from 1946 to 1954, he corresponded with Ho Chi Minh and called on North African soldiers serving for France to desert to the Viet Minh. He encouraged and supported the Algerian National Liberation Front insurgents during the Algerian War from 1954 to 1962.BOOK, Martel, Gordon,weblink The Encyclopedia of War, 5 Volume Set, 2012-01-17, John Wiley & Sons, 978-1-4051-9037-4, 3, en, Abd el-Krim defined the Maghreb as "indissolubly part of Arab countries" and "having owed its existence to Islam," which he saw as an Arab and Muslim region.BOOK, Hannoum, Abdelmajid,weblink The Invention of the Maghreb: Between Africa and the Middle East, 2021-06-10, Cambridge University Press, 978-1-108-95211-8, 247, en, In 1947, Abd el-Krim was given permission to live in the south of France after he had been released on health grounds; however, during his transfer he was freed from his French keepers and escorted to Cairo by Moroccan nationalists. There he received a "hero's welcome" as an important figure of the Arab independence from European colonial rule and was celebrated in international media, thereby drawing attention to the ongoing Moroccan struggle for independence.BOOK, Stenner, David,weblink Globalizing Morocco : transnational activism and the post-colonial state, 2019, 978-1-5036-0900-6, Stanford, California, 67, 1082294927, He was nominally appointed as head of the Liberation Committee of the Arab Maghreb. The Liberation Committee was established on 5 July 1948 with Abd el-Krim at its head, with its charter stating "The Arab Maghreb lived and will live with Islam and will proceed with Islam with its future, moreover it is indissolubly part of the Arab world, and its cooperation with the Arab League is natural and a necessity."BOOK, بوسيافة, رشيد ولد,weblink جامعة الدول العربية وحركات التحرر في المغرب العربي: 1962- 1952 (الجزائر أنموذجًا), السياسات, المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة, 2021-01-01, المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات, 978-614-445-408-4, 51, ar, Abd el-Krim's flight to Egypt drew global attention to the Moroccan independence movement, highlighting the broader anti-colonial sentiment and the pivotal role of Cairo as a center of transnational activism. This escape not only represented the determination and resilience of the Moroccan independence movement but also helped rally support from both local and international communities, further integrating diverse individuals and groups into the advocacy network of Moroccan nationalists. The incident emphasizes the significance of charismatic and symbolic figures in mobilizing support for national issues and strategically using international platforms to amplify their message.BOOK, Stenner, David, Globalizing Morocco, 2019, Stanford University Press, 2019, 978-1503608115, Stanford, 2019, 53-84, After Morocco gained independence in 1956, Mohammed V of Morocco invited him back to Morocco. He refused as long as French forces were on North African soil.

Death

He died in 1963, just after he had seen his hopes of a Maghreb independent of colonial powers completed by the independence of Algeria.

Family

Abd el-Krim had 6 sons and 5 daughters from two different women.NEWS, الاستاذ المحاسب المرحوم حسن وصفي محمد وصفي,weblink 15 September 2017, Al Ahram, 11 November 2001, NEWS, الاميرة{{rlm, /{{rlm}} مني محمد عبد الكريم الخطابي|url=http://www.ahram.org.eg/Archive/2008/4/8/WAFY9.HTM|access-date=15 September 2017|publisher=Al Ahram|date=8 April 2008}}NEWS, صفية الجزائري: جدي هو ع القادر الجزائري والخطابي أمرني بمغادرة المغرب بعد أحداث الريف,weblink 15 September 2017, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: رشيد زار الريفيين في 58-59 بأمر من والده محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي,weblink 15 September 2017, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: أخ رشيد الخطابي كان يتدرب مع أعبابو قبل المحاولة الانقلابية,weblink 15 September 2017, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: الحسن الثاني كان يخاف أن تنقلب عليه العائلة الخطابية,weblink 15 September 2017, 12 July 2015, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: الحسن الثاني خاطب إدريس الخطابي قائلا "الصلاة لا تجوز في القصر,weblink 15 September 2017, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: ابن شقيق الخطابي عُزل من الجيش بعد انقلاب الصخيرات,weblink 15 September 2017, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: الحسن الثاني سلم عمر الخطابي مسدسا وقال له: أفرغه في رأسك,weblink 15 September 2017, NEWS, صفية الجزائري: ابن شقيق الخطابي اقتحم القصر الملكي و"شنق" على مدير التشريفات,weblink 15 September 2017, On 20 September 2023, Aicha El Khattabi, the daughter of the late Mohamed Ben Abdelkrim El Khattabi, passed away at the age of 81 in Casablanca.NEWS, Ntungwabona, Ahmed, 23 September 2023, King Mohammed VI Extends Condolences to Family of Late Aicha El Khattabi, 1, Morocco World News,weblink 25 September 2023, WEB, 2023-09-22, Au Maroc, disparition de Aïcha El Khattabi, fille d'Abdelkrim – Jeune Afrique,weblink 2023-09-25, JeuneAfrique.com, fr-FR, Her funeral took place 2 days later on a Friday, which was attended by Prince Moulay Rachid.WEB, Late Aïcha El Khattabi Was a Patriot Viscerally Attached to Constants of the Kingdom (Associative Actors) {{!, MapNews |url=https://www.mapnews.ma/en/actualites/general/late-a%C3%AFcha-el-khattabi-was-patriot-viscerally-attached-constants-kingdom |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=www.mapnews.ma}} The body of the deceased was buried in the Errahma cemetery, after the Dhuhr and funeral prayers.WEB, Funeral in Casablanca of Late Aïcha El Khattabi, in Presence of Prince Moulay Rachid – The North Africa Post,weblink 2023-09-25, en-US,

Honors and awards

• {{Flagu|Spain}}:
  • (File:ESP Isabella Catholic Order CROSS.svg|85px) Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain; Knight's Cross; 1910)WEB, Cien años de 'El desastre de Annual' (VII): Abd el-Krim, de estudiante en Salamanca a caudillo rifeño,weblink El Cierre Digital, 28 July 2021,
  • (File:ESP Cruz Merito Militar (Distintivo Rojo) pasador.svg|85px) Cross of Military Merit (Spain; Grand Cross - Red Decoration; 1910)WEB, Cien años de 'El desastre de Annual' (VII): Abd el-Krim, de estudiante en Salamanca a caudillo rifeño,weblink El Cierre Digital, 28 July 2021,
  • (File:ESP Cruz Merito Militar (Distintivo Blanco) pasador.svg|85px) Cross of Military Merit (Spain; Grand Cross - White Decoration; 1910)WEB, Abd el-Krim: el oscuro pasado de amor a España que avergonzó al diablo del Rif,weblink ABC, 21 May 2020,
  • (File:Pasador Orden de África.svg|85px) Medalla de África (Spain; Medal; 1910)WEB, Abd el-Krim: el oscuro pasado de amor a España que avergonzó al diablo del Rif,weblink ABC, 21 May 2020,
  • (File:ESP Medalla de la Paz de Marruecos BAR.svg|85px) Medalla de la Paz de Marruecos (Spain; Medal; 1910)WEB, Abd el-Krim: el oscuro pasado de amor a España que avergonzó al diablo del Rif,weblink ABC, 21 May 2020,

• {{Flagu|Tunisia}}:
  • (File:Order of the Republic (Tunisia) - ribbon bar.gif|85px) Order of the Republic of Tunisia (Tunisia; Grand Cross; 1960)WEB, Abd el-Krim: el oscuro pasado de amor a España que avergonzó al diablo del Rif,weblink ABC, 21 May 2020,

Sources

• Asprey, R.B. (2002) War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History, iUniverse Publishing. {{ISBN|0595225942}}.
• Boyd, C. (1979) Praetorian Politics in Liberal Spain, University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, North Carolina. {{ISBN|0807813680}}.
• Carr, R. (1980) Modern Spain: 1875-1980, Oxford University Press: Oxford. {{ISBN|0192158287}}.
• Castro, F., Ramonet, I. & Hurley, A. (2008) Fidel Castro: My Life: a Spoken Autobiography, Scribner: New York. {{ISBN|978-1-4165-5328-1}}.
• Cowley, R. & Parker, G. (eds.) (1996) The Reader's Companion to Military History, Houghton Mifflin: Boston. {{ISBN|9780395669693}}.
• {{Citation|last=Er|first=Mevliyar|title=Abd-el-Krim al-Khattabi: The Unknown Mentor of Che Guevara|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |volume=27 |issue=5 |date=2015|pages=137–159|doi=10.1080/09546553.2014.997355 |s2cid=145622371|url=https://osf.io/gnjxz/download}}
• Hart, D.M. (1976) The Aith Waryaghar of the Moroccan Rif, History Fund Publications: Tucson, Arizona. {{ISBN|978-0816504527}}.
• Keegan, J. & Wheatcroft, A. (2014) Who's Who in Military History: From 1453 to the Present Day, Routledge Publishing: New York. {{ISBN|1136414169}}.
• ENCYCLOPEDIA, 2004, 9004139745, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill Publishers, E. J. BRILL,weblink Pennell, C.R., Leiden, Netherlands, 2nd, XII, Muḥammad b. Ê¿Abd al-KarÄ«m, W.P., Peri Bearman, Heinrichs, E., van Donzel, C.E., Bosworth, Th., Bianquis, P., Bearman, Wolfhart Heinrichs, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Joseph Schacht,
• Pierson, P. (1999) The History of Spain, Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut. {{ISBN|978-0-313-30272-5}}.
• {{citation|editor-last=Roger-Mathieu|editor-first=J. |title =Abdelkrim, Mémoires d'Abd el Krim|place= Paris | language=fr|publisher= Librairie des Champs Elysées |year= 1927}}
• {{Citation|last = Ruedy|first= John |publisher =Palgrave Macmillan |title=Islamism and Secularism in North Africa|year=1996|isbn=0-312-16087-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfC1zAYoQHQC&pg=PA59}}
• {{citation|last=Tahtah|first=M | title= Entre pragmatisme, reformisme et modernisme: Le role politico-religieux des Khattabi dans le Rif (Maroc) jusqu'a 1926 | language = fr | place = Leuven | publisher = Peeters | year =1999}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

• JOURNAL, Hispania Nova, 15, 2017, 500–526, 10.20318/hn.2017.3499,weblink La espiral irresistible: la Gran Guerra y el Protectorado español en Marruecos, Pablo, La Porte, 1138-7319, Getafe, Charles III University of Madrid, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, free,
• JOURNAL,weblink Andrés, Sánchez Pérez, Revista de Historia Militar, Madrid, Ministry of Defence (Spain), Ministerio de Defensa, Adbelkrim, XVII, 1973, 34, 123–158, 0482-5748,

Further reading

• Abdelkrim, Mémoires d'Abd el Krim / recueillis par J. Roger-Mathieu, (in French), Paris, Librairie des Champs Elysées, 1927
• Abdelkrim, Mémoires II, la Crise franco-marocaine, 1955—1956, (in French), Paris, Plon, 1984
• Bensoussan, David, Il était une fois le Maroc : témoignages du passé judéo-marocain {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402132859weblink |date=2012-04-02}}, éd. du Lys, www.editionsdulys.ca, Montréal, 2010 ({{ISBN|2-922505-14-6}}); Second edition : www.iuniverse.com, Bloomington, IN, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-4759-2608-8}}, 620p. {{ISBN|978-1-4759-2609-5}} (ebook)
• {{Citation |last1=Er |first1=Mevliyar |last2=Rich |first2=Paul B. |title=Abd el-Krim's guerrilla war against Spain and France in North Africa: An adventure setting for screen melodramas |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |volume=26 |issue=4 |date=July 2015 |pages=597–615 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2015.1050847|s2cid=143418422|url=https://zenodo.org/record/7419025}}
• Montagne, R. (1954) Révolution au Maroc (in French), Paris: France Empire.
• Pennell, C.R. (1986) A Country with a Government and a Flag: The Rif War in Morocco, 1921-1926, Menas: UK. {{ISBN|9780906559239}}.
• Pennell, C. R. (2000) Morocco since 1830: A History, Hurst: London. {{ISBN|9781850652731}}.
• Tamburini, F. (Sep 2005) "I gas nella guerra del Rif", Storia Militare, n.145, a.XIII
• Woolman, David S. 1968. Rebels in the Rif: Abd el Krim and the Rif Rebellion, Stanford University Press, California

External links

{{commons category-inline}}

• The Notes of the Rif Revolt
• The Republic of the Rif
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070223095641weblink">Biography of Abd el-Krim in tha mazight (Rif)
• Next publication of Abd el-Krim's biography in base of official Spanish documents
• {{PM20|FID=pe/010464}}

{{Franco-Spanish conquest of Morocco}}{{Ash'ari}}{{Authority control}}