Mohammed ben Abdelkrim El Khattabi, better known as Abd el-Krim (12 January 1882 – 6 February 1963), was a Moroccan revolutionary, religious, political and military leader and the president of the Republic of the Rif. He and his brother M'Hammad led a large-scale revolt by a coalition of Riffian tribes against the Spanish and French Protectorates of the Rif and the rest of Morocco. His guerrilla tactics, which included the first-ever use of tunneling as a technique of modern warfare, directly influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Che Guevara. He also became one of the major figures of Arab nationalism, which he supported during his stay in Cairo.

Early life

Upbringing and education

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim was born in 1882 in the settlement of Ajdir, Morocco. He was the son of Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge and chief local leader) of the Ait Youssef ou Ali clan (or Aith Yusif w-'Ari) of the Riffian Ait Ouriaghel tribe. The Ait Youssef ou Ali is part of the two fifths that belong to the Ait Khattab hence the nisba al-Khattabi. He was named qadi in the 1880s by Hassan I.

Other accounts have offered different perspectives on his background. Riffian families did not keep formal genealogical records, making Abd el-Krim's ancestry difficult to trace. In his memoirs authored by Jacques Roger-Mathieu, Abd el-Krim traced his lineage to a patriarch named Zar'a from Yanbu in the Hejaz, belonging to an Arab tribe known as Ouled Si Mohammed ben Abd el-Krim, from which he derived his name. Zar'a is believed to have immigrated to the Rif and settled among the Beni Ouriaghel in the 10th century.

The researcher Mohamed Tahtah notes that most Moroccan and Arab authors consider Abd el-Krim's family to be Arab. Among these, some trace his surname al-Khattabi back to the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, while others assert a Sharifian ancestry. Abd el-Krim's father traced their family's lineage to a noble Arab family from Tlemcen or from the Draa in the Sous.

European authors such as historian Germain Ayache and anthropologist assert that his family is entirely of Berber origin. Historian María Rosa de Madariaga also denies Abd el-Krim's alleged sharifian lineage. His goal was to unite the tribes of the Rif into an independent Republic of the Rif, to dismantle the entire French-Spanish colonial project in Morocco and to introduce modern political reform.

Guerrilla leadership

thumb|left|Abd el-Krim in an interview with [[Luis de Oteyza for the "La Libertad" journal.]]

thumb|Abd el-Krim featured in the magazine [[Time (magazine)|Time in 1925.]]

In 1921, as a byproduct of their efforts to destroy the power of a local brigand, Ahmed er Raisuni, Spanish troops approached the unoccupied areas of the Rif. Abd el-Krim sent their commander, General Manuel Fernández Silvestre, a warning that if the troops crossed the Ameqqran River, he would consider it as an act of war. Silvestre is said to have dismissed the warning, and shortly afterwards, crossed the river with 60,000 men and set up a military post in the foothills of the Abarran mountains. In June 1921 a sizable Riffian force attacked this post killing 179 of the estimated 250 Spanish troops there. Soon afterwards, Abd el-Krim directed his forces to attack the Spanish army camp at Anwal, which they did with great success. During the attack, General Silvestre, head of the Spanish forces, committed suicide when he saw that defeat was inevitable. In three weeks of fierce battles, 13,000 Spanish and colonial troops were killed. The Rifians' colossal victory established Abd el-Krim as a master and pioneer of guerrilla warfare, and the president of the Republic of the Rif.

The catastrophic defeat of the Spanish forces at Annual and the ensuing massacre of Spaniards at Monte Arruit delivered a coup de grace to the Restoration regime in that country, and what it was known as the African "adventure" became referred to as the Moroccan "mess" or "cancer". A coup d'état led by Miguel Primo de Rivera installed a dictatorship in Spain in September 1923.

By 1924, the Spanish forces had retreated, because of more defeats at the hands of Abd el-Krim, Abd el-Krim surrendered to the French at his then headquarters of Targuist (Targist).

Exile

thumb|left|Abd el-Krim boarding a train in Fes on his way to exile

Following his surrender Abd el-Krim was exiled to the island of Réunion (a French territory in the Indian Ocean) from 1926 to 1947, where he was "given a comfortable estate and generous annual subsidiary", before ending up in Cairo. Abd el-Krim defined the Maghreb as "having owed its existence to Islam" and he saw it as Arab and Muslim which "indissolubly part of Arab countries".

In 1947, Abd el-Krim was given permission to live in the south of France after he had been released on health grounds; however, during his transfer he was freed from his French keepers and escorted to Cairo by Moroccan nationalists. There he received a "hero's welcome" as an important figure of the Arab independence from European colonial rule and was celebrated in international media, thereby drawing attention to the ongoing Moroccan struggle for independence. He was nominally appointed as head of the Liberation Committee of the Arab Maghreb.

After Morocco gained independence in 1956, Mohammed V of Morocco invited him back to Morocco. He refused as long as French forces were on North African soil.

On 20 September 2023, Aicha El Khattabi, the daughter of the late Mohamed Ben Abdelkrim El Khattabi, died at the age of 81 in Casablanca. Her funeral took place 2 days later on a Friday, which was attended by Prince Moulay Rachid. The body of the deceased was buried in the Errahma cemetery, after the Dhuhr and funeral prayers.

Honors and awards

  • :
  • 85px Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain; Knight's Cross; 1910)
  • 85px Cross of Military Merit (Spain; Grand Cross - Red Decoration; 1910)
  • 85px Medalla de África (Spain; Medal; 1910)