Renarrating the Berbers in Three Amazigh Translations of the Holy Quran

243 Pages·2017·4.3 MB·English

by  Eman Alkroud

Renarrating the Berbers in Three Amazigh
Translations of the Holy Quran: Paratextual and
Framing Strategies

A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Humanities

2018

Eman A. A. AlKroud

SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES
Table of Contents
List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Declaration ............................................................................................................................................. 7
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ........................................................................................................................ 7
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 9
Notes on Transliteration ...................................................................................................................... 10
Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 12
1.1. The Holy Qur’an as a Nation-building Tool ................................................................................ 16
1.2. Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 17
1.3. Research Data ............................................................................................................................ 19
1.4 Research outline ......................................................................................................................... 27
Chapter Two: The Contemporary Socio-political and Linguistic Context of the Berber Communities
in Algeria and Morocco ........................................................................................................................ 29
2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 29
2.2 Who are the Berbers? ................................................................................................................. 29
2.3 French Colonisation: The Berbers Invented ................................................................................ 32
2.3.1 The Berber Myth and the Language Issue ........................................................................... 34
2.3.2 The Berber Dahir and French Divide and Rule Policy ........................................................... 37
2.4 States, Nations and Nationalist Discourses ................................................................................ 39
2.5 An Imagined Nation .................................................................................................................... 42
2.6 Language as a Site of Resistance ................................................................................................. 48
2.6.1 Towards a Standard Written Tamazight: The Issue of Script ............................................... 50
2.6.2 Writing as a Tool of Identity Assertion ................................................................................ 52
2.7 Translation and the Reconfiguration of Power Relations ........................................................... 54
2.7.1 Early Translations ................................................................................................................. 55
2.7.2 Translation as a tool for the accrual of cultural capital ....................................................... 56
2.7.3 Translation as a means for the accumulation of literary capital ......................................... 57
2.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 60
Chapter Three: Paratexts as Framing Devices ..................................................................................... 61
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 61
3.2 Frames and Framing.................................................................................................................... 61
3.3 Paratexts ..................................................................................................................................... 66
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3.3.1 Peritexts ............................................................................................................................... 68
3.3.2 Epitexts ................................................................................................................................. 84
3.4. Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 87
3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 88
Chapter Four: Foregrounding the Berber Identity, Language and Culture through the Translations
of the Holy Quran: Peritextual Aspects ............................................................................................... 90
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 90
4.2. Baomrani’s Translation .............................................................................................................. 94
4.2.1 The Front Cover, the Title Page and Preliminary Material .................................................. 95
4.2.2 The Back Cover ................................................................................................................... 101
4.2.3 The Prefatory Material ....................................................................................................... 104
4.2.4 The Script ........................................................................................................................... 113
4.3 Tayeb’s Translation ................................................................................................................... 115
4.3.1 The Front Cover, the Title Page and Preliminary Material ................................................ 115
4.3.2 The back cover ................................................................................................................... 123
4.3.3 The Prefatory Material ....................................................................................................... 126
4.3.4 The Script ........................................................................................................................... 132
4.4 Remdan Mensur’s Translation .................................................................................................. 133
4.4.1 The Front Cover, the Title Page and Preliminary Material ................................................ 134
4.4.2 The Prefatory Material ....................................................................................................... 139
4.4.3 The Script ........................................................................................................................... 142
4.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 145
Chapter Five: Renegotiating the Political and Social Landscape of Berber Communities through
Translations of the Holy Qur’an: Epitextual Aspects ........................................................................ 147
5.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 147
5.2. Epitextuality and its Role in Shaping the Berber Translation of the Holy Qur’an in Morocco 151
5.2.1 The Socio-political Context of the Berber Translation of the Holy Qur’an in Morocco ..... 151
5.2.2 Jouhadi Lhoucine Baomrani ............................................................................................... 155
5.3. The Role of Epitextuality in Shaping the Berber Translations of the Holy Qur’an in Algeria ... 176
5.3.1 The Socio-political Context of the Two Berber Translations of the Holy Qur’an in Algeria
.................................................................................................................................................... 176
5.3.2 Se Hajj Mohannad Tayeb ................................................................................................... 182
5.3.3 Remdan At Mensur ............................................................................................................ 193
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5.4. Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 207
Chapter Six: Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 209
6.1. Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................ 209
6.2 Questions of Agency ................................................................................................................. 211
6.2.1 Peritextual Intervention ..................................................................................................... 211
6.2.2 Epitextual Manipulations ................................................................................................... 217
6.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research ................................................................... 226
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................ 229

Word count: 83,422

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List of Figures

Figure 3.1. Front Cover of Anis Mansour’s book 72
Figure 3.2: Front Cover of Robert Lacey's book Inside the Kingdom 74
Figure 3.3: Front Cover of the Arabic Translation of Lacey's book Inside the Kingdom 75
Figure 3.4: Front Cover of Eissa and Sbano's Translation of Hart's Book 77
Figure 4.1: Baomrani's Front Cover 97
Figure 4.2: The Berber Flag 97
Figure 4.3: Baomrani's Back Cover 103
Figure 4.4: Translation of Baomrani’s Back Cover 104
Figure 4.5: Tayeb's Front Cover 117
Figure 4.6: Tayeb's Half Title Page 118
Figure 4.7: Tayeb's Title pages 120
Figure 4.8: Page 7 in Tayeb's Translation 122
Figure 4.9: The Back Cover of Tayeb's translation 124
Figure 4.10: A picture of Tayeb showing him wearing the attire of religious scholars 125
Figure 4.11: Mensur's Front Cover 136
Figure 4.12: Mensur's Title Page 138
Figure 5.1: Baomrani in a traditional Moroccan attire 164
Figure 5.2: Tayeb is honoured by Echorouk 192
Figure 5.3: Mensur at Loir-et-Cher 206

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Abstract

In the aftermath of the independence of Morocco and Algeria in the second half of the
twentieth century, each sought to create one homogeneous nation-state, defining
themselves as Arab, declaring Arabic language as the only official language and embarking on
Arabisation campaign that attempted to eliminate any ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity.
The Berber community which comprised 40% of the Moroccan population (Madani 2003,
Silverstein and Crawford 2004, Maddy-Weitzman 2006) and 25% of the Algerian population
(Ennaji 2009) appeared to be relegated to an inferior position and pushed back to the
peripheries. This situation gave rise to what is generally referred to as ‘the Berber question’;
the Berbers became increasingly aware of their minority status and began to demand certain
linguistic and cultural rights. Translation, most importantly the translation of the Holy Quran,
became an important means of asserting these rights and the identity of the Berber as a
distinct nation. Drawing on paratext theory as proposed by Genette (1997) and framing
theory as put forward by Goffman (1974) and elaborated by others (e.g. Entman 1993, Snow
and Benford 1988, 2000 and Asimakoulas 2009), the study investigated the role that three
Berber translations of the Holy Quran have played in renegotiating the political landscape of
Berber communities in the past eighteen years (1999-2017). Analysis of the three translations
have shown that the translators, while being faithful to the text, managed to signal their
difference, foreground their language and culture and question, challenge and even
undermine widespread official claims, through subtle, counter-hegemonic moves, using
framing strategies and a toolbox of paratextual devices.

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Declaration
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an
application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute
of learning.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns
certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University
ofManchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes.
ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may
be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)
and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing
agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such
copies made.
iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual
property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis,
for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may
not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property
and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written
permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions.
iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and
commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or
Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=24420), in any relevant Thesis
restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s
regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The
University’s policy on Presentation of Theses.

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ايقش بر كئاعدب نكأ ملو
And I have never been unblest in my invocation to You, O my Lord!

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Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes to Professor Luis Perez Gonzalez and Professor Mona Baker,
whose moral support, invaluable feedback, immense knowledge and meticulous attention to
detail have made this work possible.
My sincere thanks go also to Dr Dalia Mostafa for her insightful comments and
encouragement during the early stages of this thesis.
Many thanks to the Saudi government and to the University of Dammam for generously
supporting me during my doctoral journey and for providing me with a great opportunity to
learn in a new environment.
I am also greatly indebted to my family in Saudi Arabia for supporting me spiritually—
especially my mother, whose prayers and reassurance made all the difference during my
doctoral journey, and my uncle Ibrahim, who early in life instilled in me an endless quest for
learning and research.
Most importantly, I would like to thank my husband. No words can express my gratitude to
him for his support, inspiration and patience.

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Notes on Transliteration

Throughout my thesis, I have adopted the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
(IJMES) transliteration system for transliterating Arabic terms, which uses diacritical marks
and italicisation. In accordance with IJMES conventions, ‘[w]ords found in Merriam–
Webster's [have been] spelled as they appear there and not treated as technical terms. They
[have had] no diacritics, nor [have they been] italicized’1. This applies to terms such as fatwa
and mufti. However, there are some exceptions that preserve ʿayn and hamza, as in Qurʾan,
shariʿa, ʿulamaʾ, which are all used in this thesis.2
However, I deviate from IJMES conventions in what follows. For names of Arabic newspapers,
magazines and the translators under study, I have retained the English transliteration chosen
by them as in echorouk, Lhoucine and ittihad newspaper. In addition, to enhance readability,
I have chosen the most common English spelling for place names and names of political and
high-profile figures. For the names of the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, I have used the
official transliteration chosen by the Saudi government.
Transliteration Symbols
Arabic Letter Transcription Arabic Letter Transcription
Symbol Symbol
ء ʾ ض ḍ
ب b ط ṭ
ت t ظ ẓ
ث th ع ʿ
ج j غ gh
ح ḥ ف f
خ kh ق q
د d ك k
ذ dh ل l

1 https://ijmes.chass.ncsu.edu/IJMES_Translation_and_Transliteration_Guide.htm.
2 A full list of these terms are available online in the ‘IJMES Word List’,
https://ijmes.chass.ncsu.edu/docs/WordList.pdf.
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