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The so-called Berber Dahir is a dahir (decree) created by French protectorate in Morocco in May 16, 1930. It was an adaptation of "Berber Justice" to the conditions of the time. This decree was signed by Mohammed V the Moroccan king at the time. The decree's original name is: The decree that manages the course of justice in the regions of Berber customs.

[edit] Background

The colonial project falls under the thought of Louis Massignon: Disavowal of the berberism by Massignon.^{[citation needed]}

It is a question which, for me, was indeed motivated by a religious and scientific conscience, during the years 1909 to 1913 when the father of Foucauld pressed me to devote after him, my life to this mission to eliminate the Arabic language and Islam from our North Africa, for the benefit of the French language and Christendom, in two stages:

1. exhumation of the linguistic and traditional aspects of the Berber life;
2. assimilation by a superior language and a law; French and Christian.^{[citation needed]}

Like all believers, I was very sympathetic with this thesis; I had believed in the franco-Christian assimilation of Kabylie region [Algeria] by the revolving movement of the berberism (...) then I saw that their desislamization [of Kabyles] would turn to laicité (then to a xenophobic North-African nationalism…) Martyr did not realize of the ignominy of berberism...

The application of the Dahir was carried out in three stages:

[edit] September 11 1914

A first formulation appeared under the influence of a group of specialists of Berbers of High Atlas and Middle Atlas, such as Maurice Glay (civil Controller and author of Récits de la plaine et des monts, les sentiers de la guerre et de l'amour, la mort du Rougui etc.), a core of professors hostile to Islam and in collaboration with bishop of Rabat. The purpose of this dahir was the adaptation of a so-called "Berber Justice" to the proper conditions of the time and, which corresponded to the spirit of the French policy in Morocco under the governance of the Resident-General Lyautey who signed the dahir of September 11, 1914.

The fundamental characteristic of this policy consisted in preserving the traditional autonomy of Berbers, primarily in the legal field, by disassiociating them from the Islamic legislation or "Chrâa", and by maintaining their common law known as "Orf" or "Izref". The residence was mobilized to apply its plan by making the sultan Yusef sign the Dahir or legislative text ^[1], which will disassociate in fact the Berbers from the Islamic law, making all the calls for the judgements related to the French juridiction. This project was initially a work of Freemasonry.

[edit] April 8 1934

Its exact heading that was given to the Dahir by the French was titled "Dahir regulating the functioning of justice in the tribes of Berber customs". In its application, the ministrial decree of April 8, 1934 organized the customary courts that were established for the purpose. The Dahir, though containing the word "Berber", did not rise any question related to he Berber identity.

[edit] May 16 1930

Officializing the customary justice in the country, whose roots date back to thousands of years.

[edit] Further reading

• Katherine E. Hoffman, Assistant Professor (PhD Columbia 2000), Language Ideologies of the French Protectorate’s Native Policy in Morocco, 1912-1956 examines the ideological underpinnings and effects of French Protectorate administrative policies for categorizing the Moroccan Muslim population as Arab and Berber. The manuscript probes links between language, law, and tribe that were codified willy-nilly by Affaires Indigènes officials.

[edit] External links

• (Arabic) Berber Dahir, The Biggest Lie in Morocco's Modern History
• (French) Full Text of the so-called Berber Dahir

[edit] References and notes

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent French-language wikipedia article, accessed September 7, 2006.

1. ^ (French) Dahir of September 11, 1914