Religious Revival (tajdīd) and Politics in Contemporary Morocco: ‘The Prophetic Path’ of Shaykh Abdessalem Yassine (d. 2012)
Renouveau religieux (tajdîd) et politique dans le Maroc contemporain; "; "La voie prophétique" selon le Cheikh Abdessalem Yassine (m. 2012)
Résumé
The article discusses the writings and activities of Shaykh Abdessalem Yassine (ʿAbd al-Salām Yāsīn, d. 2012), founder of the so-called ‘Islamist’ movement “Justice and Spirituality” (al-ʿAdl wa-l-Iḥsān) in Morocco, who claimed for himself the title of “reviver of religion” (mujaddid al-dīn), pre-destined to restore the purity of the faith and renew Islamic Law. He identified with this role on the basis of his Sharīfian and Sufi legacy and set himself the mission of the moral reconstruction of the Muslim mind. This he saw as a preliminary step that would lead to the building of a society defined by Islam. He also founded his own community (jamāʿa) as a model for this new society. On the basis of the examination of his major work, The Prophetic path (al-Minhāj al-nabawī), the article analyses Yassine’s concept of the Prophetic heritage. Relying on the memoire of a messianic mysticism that has been identifiable in Morocco since the Middle Ages, which he fused with concepts of activist piety borrowed from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Yassine established himself with this book in the eyes of his followers as an imām predestined to set in motion a great social transformation. This would restore the Islamic community to its original purity by placing it under the direction of an actualized sunna of the Prophet.