View source for Ma al-'Aynayn

{{more footnotes needed|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = 
| name          = Ma al-'Aynayn
| honorific_suffix = 
| image         = Smara,Zawiya.jpg
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| alt           = 
| caption       = The [[Zawiya (institution)|zawiya]] of Ma' al-'Aynayn in [[Smara]].
| native_name   = الشيخ ماء العينين
| native_name_lang = ar
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| birth_date    = {{birth date|1831|02|10}}
| birth_place   = [[Adrar Plateau|Adrar]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1910|10|23|1831|02|10}}
| death_place   = [[Tiznit]], [[Morocco]]
| placeofburial = Zawiya of Ma' al-'Aynayn, Tiznit
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| battles       = [[French conquest of Morocco]]<ref>{{Citation|last=Miller|first=Susan Gilson|title=A History of Modern Morocco|pages=xiii–xiv|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9781139045834.001|isbn=978-1-139-04583-4}}</ref>
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'''Mohamed Mustafa Ma al-'Aynayn''' ({{Langx|ar|محمد مصطفى ماء العينين}}; c. 1830–31 in [[Oualata]], present-day [[Mauritania]]&nbsp;– 1910 in [[Tiznit]], [[Morocco]]; complete name '''Mohamad Mustafa ben Mohamad Fadel Maa al-'Aynayn ash-Shanguiti''' {{langx|ar|محمد مصطفى بن محمد فاضل ماء العينين الشنقيطي}}) was a Saharan Moorish religious and political leader who fought [[France|French]] and [[Spain|Spanish]] [[colonization]] in [[North Africa]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=محمد |last=الظريف |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/945661706 |title=الحياة الأدبية في زاوية الشيخ ماء العينين من التأسيس إلى قيام المسيرة الخضراء |date=2003 |publisher=مطبعة بني إزناسن |language=ar |oclc=945661706}}</ref> He was the son of Mohammed Fadil Mamin (founder of the Fadiliyya, a [[Qadiriyya]] [[Sufi]] brotherhood), and the elder brother of [[shaykh]] [[Saad Buh|Saad Bouh]], a prominent [[marabout]] (religious leader) in Mauritania.

==Early years==
Ma al-'Aynayn was born in 1830 in the southern [[Hodh|Hawdh]] region, the twelfth of 48 brothers born to the [[Qadiriyya|Qadiri]] Sufi Sheikh Muhammad Fadil.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |title=The kingdom of the book: the history of printing as an agency of change in Morocco between 1865 and 1912 |url= |date=1990 |first=Fawzi |last=Abdulrazak}} p. 165, citing

B. G. Martin, Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa. pp. 125-151</ref> He was singled out among his brothers to study in [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]].<ref name=":0" />

In 1859, Ma al-'Aynayn settled in the oasis of [[Tindouf]] in present-day [[Algeria]]. Ma al-'Aynayn was a nickname he received as a child, meaning "water of the two eyes" in [[Arabic Language|Arabic]], in reference to the [[Qadiriya]] Sheikh Sidi Ahmed El Bekkay who immigrated to [[Oualata]] a few centuries earlier. The son of a famous [[Marabout]], he quickly became known as a great scholar. His [[nomad]]ic encampment attracted many students of [[sharia|Islamic law]].

In 1898, Ma al-'Aynayn began building a ''[[Ribat]]'' in [[Smara]], in the [[Spanish Sahara]] (present-day [[Western Sahara]]). His goal in creating the ''Ribat'', which was previously just a water center for travelers, was to launch attacks on European colonial forces and particularly the French. The Moroccan [[sultan]] [[Abdelaziz of Morocco|Abdelaziz]] assisted him in building the [[Ribat]], as he sent craftsmen, materials, financing and arms. In 1902, he moved there creating among other things an [[Islam]]ic [[library]].

==The anticolonial revolt==
Increasingly disturbed by Western penetration of the area, which he viewed both as an intrusion by hostile foreign powers and as a [[christianity|Christian]] assault on Islam, he began agitating for resistance. Local Saharan tribes performed [[Ghazw|ghazi]] raids against the foreign forces, but French troops drew ever closer, conquering one local ruler after another. In 1904, Ma al-'Aynayn proclaimed a holy war, or [[jihad]], against the colonizers. Sultan [[Abdelaziz of Morocco|Abdelaziz]] of [[Morocco]] did not have control over Ma al-'Aynayn's forces but this display of effective cooperation helped assemble a large coalition of tribes to fight the colonizers. Ma al-'Aynayn set about acquiring firearms and other materials both through channels in Morocco and through direct negotiations with rival [[Europe]]an powers such as [[Germany]]{{Citation needed|date= August 2011}}, and quickly built up a sizable fighting force. A member of his [[Gudfiyya]] brotherhood in 1905 may have [[assassination|assassinated]] [[Xavier Coppolani]], who was leading the French conquest of Mauritania, thereby delaying the conquest of the [[emirate]] of [[Adrar Region|Adrar]] for a few years.

=== Character assassination in the press ===
Sheikh Ma’ al-‘Aynayn was the target of an extensive [[character assassination]] campaign in the French arabophone newspaper ''[[Es-Saada]]'', published out of the French Legation in [[Tangier]].<ref name="assabah.ma">{{Cite web|title=متصوفة استهوتهم "السلطة الرابعة" : شيخ الطريقة المعينية "صحافيا" في "السعادة" - جريدة الصباح|url=https://assabah.ma/38845.html|access-date=2021-02-06|website=assabah.ma|date=10 July 2012|language=ar}}</ref> The newspaper called the [[qaid]] and spiritual leader’s patriotism and religious devotion into question, describing him as an unscrupulous [[mendicant]] and arms smuggler,<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|title=متصوفة استهوتهم "السلطة الرابعة" : "السعادة" تتهجم على الشيخ ماء العينين|language=ar|work=الصباح|url=https://assabah.ma/38858.html}}</ref> even peddling rumors that his followers were [[Shia Islam|Shii'a]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=July 10, 2012|title=متصوفة استهوتهم "السلطة الرابعة" : شيخ الطريقة المعينية "صحافيا" في "السعادة"|work=الصباح|url=https://assabah.ma/38845.html}}</ref>

On Ma’ al-‘Aynayn ''es-Saada'' published:<blockquote>{{Lang|ar|"عاد شيخ الصحراء إلى دسائسه المفطور عليها، فقام بما هايج من الخواطر يوم مروره بالشواطئ البحرية عند رجوعه إلى مقره، ولم يقنع بما ناله من الأموال وحاز من الهدايا، بل أرسل الآن ولده إلى فاس يتظاهر أمام المخزن باستعداد أبيه لحماية المخزن وإخراج الإفرنسيين من وجدة"}}<ref name="assabah.ma"/><br>
"''The sheikh of the Sahara has returned to his old tricks; he stirred up memories when he, discontent with the money he made and the gifts he got passing by the coast on his return to his base, sent his son to Fes to appear before the Makhzen, appealing with his father’s readiness to protect the Makhzen and oust the French from Oujda.''"</blockquote>and:<blockquote>{{Lang|ar|"لم يكن إشفاق المولى عبد العزيز على هذا الشيخ ولا أكرمه سخاء على حاشيته وأتباعه فمازلنا نتذكر الأنعام العديدة التي حباه بها في العام الماضي والذنوب الكبيرة التي تحمل المخون مسؤوليتها يوم مروره بالدار البيضاء وكيف كانت العمال تقاد إلى طاعة الشيخ صاغرة كالنعاج لدى الراعي والأمناء تتسابق للتبريك …حاملة الهدايا والدراهم، والشيخ يهزأ بالمخزن ويضحك عليه"}}<ref name="assabah.ma"/><br>
"''Abdelaziz had no compassion for the sheikh, nor did he honor him for the sake of his entourage and supporters. We still remember the gifts bestowed upon him last year, and the great wrongs the day the ungrateful sheikh passed through Casablanca, and how the laborers were made to submit to him, supplicating like sheep around a shepherd while their managers jostled to bless him, bearing gifts and money. The sheikh mocks the Makhzen and laughs at it.''"</blockquote>

==Literature==
The Shaykh Ma al-'Aynayn was a prolific writer and left a number of works including ''Mubṣir al-mutashawwif ʻalá Muntakhab al-Taṣawwuf.''<ref>{{cite web |date=2011-12-21 |title=مُبْصِر المُتشوِّف على منتخب التصوف |url=http://www.arrabita.ma/download/%d9%85%d9%8f%d8%a8%d9%92%d8%b5%d9%90%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%8f%d8%aa%d8%b4%d9%88%d9%90%d9%91%d9%81-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d9%85%d9%86%d8%aa%d8%ae%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%b5%d9%88%d9%81/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215173045/http://www.arrabita.ma/download/مُبْصِر-المُتشوِّف-على-منتخب-التصوف/ |archivedate=15 December 2019 |accessdate=2019-11-18 |work=بوابة الرابطة المحمدية للعلماء |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldcat.org/title/1243759495|title=Mubṣir al-mutashawwif ʻalá Muntakhab al-Taṣawwuf; Wa-yalīhi|website=WorldCat|access-date=30 March 2023}}</ref>

==Defeat of Morocco and final years==
In 1906 the Sultan [[Abdelaziz of Morocco|Abdelaziz]] ratified the [[Algeciras Conference]], granting colonial powers substantial concessions over [[Morocco]], Ma al-'Aynayn's deemed this a betrayal, and supported in 1907 the Sultan's brother and rival [[Abdelhafid of Morocco|Abdelhafid]] (at the time opposed to the French). The flow of arms from the [[Makhzen]] dwindled as a result. The French forces under then-colonel [[Henri Gouraud (soldier)|Gouraud]] pushed forward in the [[French Sudan]], and Ma al-'Aynayn was forced to retreated to [[Tiznit]] (Morocco) in 1908-1909 determined to fight along [[Abdelhafid of Morocco|Abdelhafid]] in dethroning his brother, which they succeeded in doing.

In 1910, anarchy spread through Morocco, as the new Sultan grew ever weaker under European pressures. Ma al-'Aynayn, concerned that Morocco would fall into European hands, decided to extend Jihad north of Tiznit at the head of an army of 6,000 men to overthrow the new Sultan [[Abdelhafid of Morocco|Abdelhafid]]. He was defeated by French General Moinier, on June 23, 1910. He would die several months later at [[Tiznit]], on October 23 of the same year.

==Legacy of Ma al-'Aynayn==
A few years after Ma al-'Aynayn's death, his son [[Ahmed al-Hiba|El-Hiba]], known as The Blue Sultan, continued the war against the French, but was ultimately defeated.

Ma al-'Aynayn enjoyed tremendous prestige and his name is invoked by both the [[Morocco]] and the [[Polisario Front]].
For Moroccans, he embodied the idea of unity of Morocco and the Sahara. Many descendants of Ma al-'Aynayn hold high-profile offices in [[Morocco]] as well as in the [[Polisario Front]] and in [[Mauritania]].

Ma al-'Aynayn, is buried in [[Tiznit]], Morocco where his tomb became a pilgrimage site.

== Ma al-'Aynayn in Literature ==
The novel [[Désert (novel)|Désert]] weaves a story of a young Tuareg boy caught up in Ma-al;'Aynayn's 1910 expedition with a second story of a Tuareg woman's struggles in the modern (1980s) world.

==See also==
* [[History of Mauritania]]
* [[History of Morocco]]
* [[History of Western Sahara]]
* [[List of tariqas]]
* [[Smara]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* ''Ma al-Aynayn al-Kalkami'', in : [https://books.google.com/books?id=jJY3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA889 The Encyclopaedia of Islam (pp.889–892)], Brill Archive, 1954 ({{ISBN|9789004071643}})

{{Franco-Spanish conquest of Morocco}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma Al-Aynayn}}
[[Category:1830s births]]
[[Category:1910 deaths]]
[[Category:Military history of Morocco]]
[[Category:Military history of Western Sahara]]
[[Category:Moroccan Sunni Muslims]]
[[Category:Moroccan religious leaders]]
[[Category:Sahrawi religious leaders]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]