Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew: Entangled Lives in Morocco

386 Pages·2015·3.7 MB·English

by  Lawrence Rosen

Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew

Two Arabs, a Berber,
and a Jew
Entangled Lives in Morocco
LAWRENCE ROSEN
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Lawrence Rosen is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology
at Princeton University and adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School.
He is the author of many books, including Bargaining for Reality, The Culture of
Islam, and Varieties of Muslim Experience, all also published by the University of
Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 31734- 2 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 31748- 9 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 31751- 9 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226317519.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosen, Lawrence, 1941– author.
Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew : entangled lives in Morocco / Lawrence
Rosen.
pages ; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-226-31734-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-226-31748-9
(pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-226-31751-9 (ebook) 1. Morocco—
Intellectual life—21st century. 2. Morocco—Social life and customs—
21st century. 3. Berbers—Morocco. 4. Arabs—Morocco. 5. Jews—
Morocco. I. Title.
DT325.5.R67 2015
306.0964—dc23
201504459
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1 992
(Permanence of Paper).
For Clifford Geertz and Hildred Storey Geertz
Teachers, colleagues, friends

Has there come upon man a while of time when he was a thing unremembered?
QURAN 76:1
I will [tell] the story as I go along of small cities no less than of great. Most of
those which were great once are small today; and those which in my own lifetime
have grown to greatness were small enough in the old days.
HERODOTUS
From now on I’ll describe the cities to you, the Khan said. In your journeys you
will see if they exist.
ITALO CALVINO, Invisible Cities
Therefore, I decided with the help of God to blacken these pages with what I saw
and heard during this voyage, be it clear or obscure. For I am but a woodgatherer
of the night, the one who lags behind, a horse who is out of the race. You should
not judge me too harshly, for I am only doing it as a reminder to myself, and
to inform others who may ask me from among my fellow countrym en. Let the
masters of composition and rhetoric excuse me, and let the burden of the men
of metaphor and allusion be lifted from me. I beseech God to cover my mistakes.
Disorienting Encounters: Travels of a Moroccan Scholar in France in 1845–1 846: The
Voyage of Muh. ammad as.- S. affaˉr
Sefrou, 1972
Sefrou, 2008
CONTENTS
Prologue: A World of Difference / xi
Committed to Memory: Haj Hamed Britel / 1
A Midmost Nation: Yaghnik Driss / 93
Courier of the Horizons: Hussein ou Muhammad Qadir / 167
A Nation among Nations: Shimon Benizri / 247
Epilogue: Making a Difference / 333
Acknowledgments / 341
Suggestions for Further Reading / 345
Additional Captions / 359
Index / 361