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Rabat – Al Jazeera is facing fresh backlash for sharing inaccurate facts on the history and roots of Morocco’s Amazigh collective granaries, Igudar.
Igudar is plural of “Agadir,” a word in Tamazight (Amazigh language) used in ancient times by the Amazigh communities in Morocco to refer to old collective facilities with special structures.
The facilities are usually built on top of mountains and some of them date back thousands of centuries.
The Amazigh communities in Morocco used the collective granaries or Igudar as storage huts for their properties to protect them from theft.
Igudar is also considered to be the world’s oldest form of banking.
Ignoring historical facts about the roots of Igudar, Al Jazeera stirred backlash with a post in which it claimed that Igudar is a word used by North Africa’s Amazigh communities.
The post created another controversy, with many Moroccans calling on Al Jazeera to correct the inaccuracies it has been sharing ignoring Morocco’s history.
Abdessamad Nacir, a prominent Moroccan journalist in Al Jazeera is among the people who responded to Al Jazeera Documentary’s (Arab) inaccurate post.
المعلومة الأصح أن إيكودار أقدم نظام بنكي في العالم وأنشأه أمازيغ #المغرب تحديداً وليس أمازيغ شمال إفريقيا بشكل عام.
وأول ما من أقامه سكان واحة أمتضي)الواقعة بين سفوح جبال الأطلس الصغير في عمق الصحراء بالجنوب المغربي لادخار وتخزين وحماية أموال وممتلكات الأسر التي تعيش في الواحة. https://t.co/wqHqrpPUY1— عبد الصمد ناصر (@NacirAbdessamad) April 24, 2022
“The correct information is that Igudar is the oldest banking system in the world and [it] was established by the Amazigh [people] in #Morocco, and not the Amazigh of North Africa,” Nacir said.
In a tweet, the Moroccan journalist emphasized that Igudar was first set up by the inhabitants of the “Emtedi Oasis” located between the foothills of the anti-Atlas Mountains in southern Morocco.
Amazigh communities used the granaries as storage huts, where they keep their goods, such as manuscripts, and harvests, among others.
Egyptian journalist Emad Fawaz condemned Al Jazeera’s post, accusing it of falsifying facts.
“Igudar is a Moroccan Amazigh heritage that does not belong to North Africa but a heritage specific to the Amazigh in the Souss region,” Fawaz wrote on Facebook.
The Egyptian journalist emphasized that using vocabulary such as the Maghreb and North Africa, Amazigh, Arab or Islamic is a method used by “neighboring countries to jump on the history and heritage of others unjustly. Igudar is Soussi Amazigh heritage, not North African,” the Egyptian journalist argued.
In 2021, Reuters posted a documentary on Igudar, attributing its history to the Amazigh communities in Morocco.
These ancient Berber granaries used by Amazigh communities in Morocco could be the world’s first banks pic.twitter.com/YqjoFaMQ6w
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 21, 2021
“These ancient Berber granaries used by Amazigh communities in Morocco could be the world’s first banks,” Reuters wrote on Igudar.
The news outlet also quoted researchers, such as professor Khalid Alaroud who said that Igudar is “as old as these mountains, it is difficult to even determine the date of their establishment.”
Many Moroccan citizens also responded to Al Jazeera’s post, emphasizing that the root of Igudar is Morocco’s Amazigh.
“Igudar granaries is located exactly in Morocco. It appears like mentioning Morocco causes hallucination among you,” some of the Twitter users wrote.
Another one asked Al Jazeera about the reason why “they are not citing Morocco and attributing everything to North Africa or the Maghreb.”
لماذا تتجنبون دائما دكر المغرب ؟ وتنسبون اي شيء لشمال افريقيا او دول المغربي ؟ تاريخنا ليس مشترك تاريخا عريق وضارب فالتاريخ وليس مشترك ،،، كفى من هذا العبت في تاريخ المملكة العريق ??
— Mohamed Mouloua (@mouloua90) April 24, 2022
“Igudar is in Morocco, a name that hurts some of you,” another Twitter user said.
في المغرب فقط و مغرب قدم ملفه لمخازن اكاظير لليونسكو
— ❤️??ايلماس (@ilimasseben) April 24, 2022
Not the first time
This is not the first time Al Jazeera’s inaccurate information ignoring Morocco’s history has sparked controversy.
Following a wave of backlash from readers, Al Jazeera has recently modified Facebook and Twitter posts to highlight the Moroccan, Andalusi heritage of the architecture of the Paris Grand Mosque.
Al Jazeera published its posts about the central Paris-based mosque on Saturday, claiming it has Andalusi, Tlemcen heritage.
The original post read: “The grand mosque was founded in 1926 as a tribute to Muslim troops who defended France during World War I. It took 450 craftsmen from Morocco to build the structure according to the Andalusi Tlemcen architecture. The gardens within the mosque are strikingly similar to those in the palace of Granada.”
It instantly ignited a tense social media debate for appearing to imply that the architecture of the Grand Mosque is in fact of Algerian rather than Moroccan heritage.
In comments on social media, many Moroccans accused Al Jazeera of conspiring with Algeria to appropriate Morocco’s historic and cultural heritage.
Moroccan craftsmen helped build the mosque
Oualid Kabir, an Algerian journalist and a fierce critic of Algeria’s cultural appropriation of Moroccan cultural and historical heritage, notably tweeted that architecture should be attributed to those who built it.
مُصر على الوصف الدقيق بقول الطراز المغربي وفقط لأن الحضارة تنسب لبانيها ولمن حافظ على الموروث
المعمار الاوروبي في الجزائر لا نقوله عنه طراز جزائري او وهراني او عنابي نقول عنه اوروبي وفقط
نفس الشيء بالنسبة للمعمار المغربي في الاندلس او في تلمسان او مسجد باريس هو معمار مغربي! pic.twitter.com/diEYBNyp9I
— وليد كبير – Oualid KEBIR ?? (@oualido) April 23, 2022
“Since 450 [Moroccan] craftsmen had participated in building the mosque, the architecture is therefore Moroccan. A civilization is attributed to those who founded it,” Kabir explained.
“What was built in Tlemcen and Andalus originated in Fes, and today the only people who can replicate such craftsmanship are Moroccans! We cannot attribute European architecture to Algerians just because there are European-style buildings in Algeria as it was Europeans who founded the buildings.”
Al Jazeera modified its posts hours after triggering a wave of online backlash, with the outlet now acknowledging that the Paris Grand Mosque’s architecture is in fact deeply rooted in Moroccan heritage as it was Moroccan craftsmen who built the mosque in the first place.
“An Islamic Menara at the heart of Paris: The grand mosque was founded in 1926 as a tribute to Muslim troops who defended France during World War I,” reads Al Jazeera’s updated post.
“It took 450 craftsmen from Morocco to build the structure according to Moroccan Andalusian architecture. The gardens within the mosque are strikingly similar to those in the palace of Granada.”
Read also: Air Algerie’s Tlemcen Gaffe Reveals Algeria’s ‘Historical Complex’
The Paris mosque was originally inspired by and modeled after the el-Qaraouyyîn Mosque in Fez, Morocco. Built in the 9th century, the Fez mosque is one of the oldest in the world.
When building the mosque, all of the decorations in the courtyards, horseshoe arches, and the zelliges, were done by specialized Moroccan craftsmen who used traditional materials.
This controversy about the heritage of the Paris Grand Mosque is the latest in a series of apparent attempts by Algeria to rewrite history and claim Moroccan history and culture as its own.
Earlier this month, the Algerian national carrier, Air Algerie, came under fire after it launched a campaign referring to the Moroccan heritage of Tlemcen, a city in modern-day Algeria.
Air Algerie had shared a Facebook post that paid tribute to the Spanish-Moroccan roots of Tlemcen in a marketing campaign, only for all parts mentioning Morocco or Spain to be deleted hours later.
Algerian authorities fired top officials of Air Algerie days after the incident, attributing the decision to mismanagement.
But the incident strongly indicated the depth of Algeria’s determination to appropriate Morocco’s culture and historical heritage, including Moroccan cuisine and traditional outfits.
