O piśmiennictwie marokańskim w XIX w.: Muḥammad Akansūs (1796-1877) – życie i dzieło

Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad Akansūs belongs to the most outstanding Moroccan writers of the 19th Century and was also very active in the social and political life of his times. He was a historian and religious writer, but in Morocco itself he is known above all as a poet, though his dīwān has not been edited until this day. Most of his poems are known from the works of other authors and from his own books devoted to history and religion. His most important work is without doubt the chronicle entitled Al-µayš al-ʻaramram al-ẖumāsī fi dawlat Mawlānā ʻAlī as-Siǧilmāsī (“Innumerable Fivefold Army or About the State of Our Lord ʻAlī as-Siǧilmāsī”). Furthermore he is the author of several treatises about Sufism (especially about the Tiǧāniyya brotherhood) and of an extensive collection of letters written to outstanding personalities of his times devoted mainly to religious problems. His historical, religious and literary output has until today not been presented in the West besides the book of É. Lévi-Provençal entitled Les historiens des chorfa. Essai sur la littérature historique et biographique au Maroc du XVIe au XXe siécle (Paris 1922).