Al Wifaq (organization)
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''Al-Wifāq'' () was a
Moroccan Jewish Moroccan Jews (; ; ) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were much later met by a second wave of migrants fro ...
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
organization promoting coexistence between Jews and
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
communities in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. It was created January 1956, shortly before
the end The End may refer to: Film * The End (1953 film), ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * The End (1978 film), ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1995 film), a List of Canadian films of 1995, Cana ...
of the French protectorate, by members of
Istiqlal Party The Istiqlal Party (; ; ) is a political party in Morocco. It is a conservative and monarchist party and a member of the Centrist Democrat International and International Democracy Union. Istiqlal headed a coalition government under Abbas El Fa ...
and the
Democratic Independence Party The Democratic Independence Party (), also called the Democratic Party for Independence, is a political party in Morocco. History and profile The Democratic Independence Party was established in 1946 by Mohamed Belhassan Wazzani. It was a spli ...
to foster nationalist sentiment among Moroccan Jews and to discourage them from emigrating to Israel. It was announced in the , a center of Jewish activity, and soon opened chapters in other cities including
Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
,
Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...
,
Fes Fez () or Fes (; ) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region. It is one of the largest cities in Morocco, with a population of 1.256 million, according to the 2024 census. Located to the nort ...
, and Asfi. Part of its program was social, in the service of Jewish-Muslim coexistence and familiarizing Muslims with Jewish culture: galas attended by Jews and Muslims, broadcasting Jewish songs nationally on Moroccan Radio and Television, adding
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
to the language offerings at the Arabic Department of the university in Rabat, and hosting public lectures about Jewish history and culture throughout Morocco. Part of its program was also working to prepare the country's Jewish population for "the responsibilities of citizenship in independent Morocco," especially promoting literacy in
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
among Jews. These efforts had only limited success. For example, '' La Voix des communautés'' (“the Voice of the Communities”), a monthly Jewish periodical, was published with an Arabic supplement, but just once. Jews wrote for some Moroccan nationalist publications in Arabic, but no Muslims were published in any Jewish publications. Marc Sabbah, close to the Istiqlal leader
Mehdi Ben Barka Mehdi Ben Barka (; 1920 – disappeared 29 October 1965) was a Moroccan nationalist, Arab socialist, politician, revolutionary, anti-imperialist, head of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) and secretary of the Tricontinenta ...
, was among the Jewish leaders of ''al-Wifāq''. Others included Joe Ohana and Albert Aflalo.


See also

*
History of the Jews in Morocco The history of the Jews in Morocco goes back to ancient times. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community, with the oldest irrefutable evidence of Judaism in Morocco dating back to the Roman period. After the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, ...
*
Mellah A ''mellah'' ( or 'saline area'; and ) is the place of residence historically assigned to Jewish communities in Morocco. The urban ''mellah'', as it exists in numerous cities and large towns, is a Jewish quarter enclosed by a wall and a fortifi ...


References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wifaq Islamic and Jewish interfaith dialogue Jewish Moroccan history Moroccan nationalism Political organizations established in 1956 Political organizations based in Morocco 1956 establishments in Morocco 1956 disestablishments in Morocco Organizations disestablished in 1956