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Ahmed Toufiq

Moroccan writer and scholar (born 1943) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahmed Toufiq (born 22 June 1943) is a Moroccan historian and novelist who has been serving as Minister for Islamic Affairs in the government of Morocco since 2002.

Preceded byAbdelkebir M'Daghri Alaoui
Born (1943-06-25) 25 June 1943 (age 83)
Marigha, Morocco
Quick facts Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Monarch ...
Ahmed Toufiq
احمد توفيق
Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs
Assumed office
7 September 2002
MonarchMohammed VI
Prime MinisterAbderrahmane Youssoufi
Driss Jettou
Abbas El Fassi
Abdelilah Benkirane
Saadeddine Othmani
Aziz Akhannouch
Preceded byAbdelkebir M'Daghri Alaoui
Personal details
Born (1943-06-25) 25 June 1943 (age 83)
Marigha, Morocco
Academic background
Alma materMohammed V University
Thesisal-Mujtamaʿ al-Maghribī fī al-Qarn al-Tāsiʿa ʿAshar: ʼInūltāne (1850-1912)
Germain Ayache
Academic work
DisciplineHistorian
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Biography

Toufiq was born on 22 June 1943 in Marigha village (part of the Ouirgane commune) in the High Atlas.[1] After completing his primary and secondary studies in Marrakesh, he enrolled at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of Rabat, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1968, then a master's degree in history. Toufiq also holds a certificate of Archaeology. He presented his PhD in 1979 on the subject of social history in the Moroccan rural areas in the 19th century.

He started his career as a teacher at L'École Normale Supérieure de Marrakesh and taught in a high school in Rabat. Thereafter, he joined the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Rabat, where he served in various roles from 1970 to 1989; lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor. He was appointed director of the Institute of African Studies at the Mohammed V University in 1989. holding the position for six years until 1995. From 1995 to 2002, he worked as director of the National Library of Morocco.[2][3]

In 1989, Toufiq received his first Moroccan Book Prize for his novel Shajarat Hinna' Wa Qamar (A Tree of Henna and a Moon). In 2001, he served as a Visiting Professor of Islamic Studies at Harvard Divinity School, affiliated with its Center for the Study of World Religions.[4]

In November 2002, Toufiq was appointed to the government as Minister for Islamic Affairs. He is also a personal advocate of interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for The Elijah Interfaith Institute.[5] Toufiq is a Sufi.[6]

Toufiq is a member of Advisory Committee of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.[7]

Bibliography

Historical studies
  • La société marocaine au XIXe siècle - Inoultane 1850 - 1912
  • Islam et développement
  • Les juifs de Demnat
  • Le Maroc et l'Afrique Occidentale à travers les âges
Novels
  • Abu Musa's Women Neighbors (translated by Roger Allen, from Jarat Abi Musa, 1997, ISBN 2-87623-215-4)
  • Al Sayl (The Stream, 1998)
  • Shujayrat Hinna' Wa Qamar (translated by Roger Allen, Moon and Henna Tree, 2013, ISBN 0292748248)

Further reading

  • Marvine Howe, Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges, pp. 343, Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-516963-8

References

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