So that we Moroccans do not and will not be forgotten
On Saturday 25 of Rabi` al-Thani in the year 583 AH corresponding to the year 1187 AD, the heroic Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi prepared an army formed by soldiers that included Muslims from everywhere to liberate Jerusalem from the Crusader occupiers who had encroached on it with oppression and corruption and seized it in 495 AH corresponding to the year 1099 CE, But he wanted to reinforce his army with an elite known to be ferocious in the fight and despair in love for Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem, so what did he do?
Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi asked the Sultan of Morocco, “Abu Yusuf Yaqoub al-Mansour,” the Almohad, to extend a helping hand by sending young men of his best army, and so it was.
Do you know why this particular request was requested from this Almohad Sultan?
Because he had great experience in fighting to support his brothers in Andalusia and liberate them from the two barbaric Crusader kingdoms, which occupied Castile and Aragon.
The Almohad Sultan did not hesitate, so he sent a fleet of 180 ships loaded with soldiers, knights, weapons and war supplies.
Saladin’s plan at the time was to confront the Moroccan army’s military reinforcements to the Crusaders from Europe, especially the Vatican, the English, Greece, Serbs and the Byzantines, whose capital was Constantinople.
The fight began, and the Moroccan army entered Jerusalem from the gate that was considered the most fortified and powerful in the city walls. Then the rest of Saladin's army entered. The unified Moroccan knights were given credit for breaking the siege, victory and liberation on a day counted from the days of God in the eternal battle of “Hattin”.
Palestine was completely liberated, and the Crusaders were defeated ...
So what was from Saladin al-Ayyubi but that the Moroccan army rewarded the Almohad army by naming one of the gates of the city walls from which the Moroccan army entered its name “The Mughrabi Gate” and by housing them in an area close to Al-Aqsa called “Al-Buraq Square”, which has a special sanctity because the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, came By the shining of the night of Isra and Mi'raj, the neighborhood was called the “Maghribi Quarter”.
Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi said on the authority of the Moroccans:
"I have dwelt here those who abide on land and go astray in the sea, and the best are those who are entrusted with the Al-Aqsa Mosque and this city."
He said, "Moroccans are a people we do not come before them."
Then after Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi came his eldest son, the “best” Ayyubid sultan, to make the Mughrabi neighborhood a stand on the people of Morocco that would not be sold or bought until the Day of Judgment.
The Mughrabi neighborhood included about 135 buildings on an area of 145 thousand square meters (5% from Jerusalem) that housed a number of religious and endowment institutions, schools and corners that played a prominent role in the scientific, intellectual and religious movement in Jerusalem during the Ayyubid era, then the Mamluk and Ottoman eras.
Mujir al-Din mentioned it: “The Mughrabi neighborhood, which is next to the mosque from the west, and attributed it to the Moroccans because it is a waqf for them and because they live there”.
However, in 1967 AD, the Zionist authorities deported Moroccans. And sending bulldozers to their neighborhood to demolish it in its entirety in 3 days, although it was known throughout history that it is one of the oldest archaeological historical monuments in Jerusalem, amidst the silence of the international community. A total of 135 buildings were bulldozed at the time.
So they leveled the neighborhood with the land and changed the name of Al-Buraq Square to become "The Western Square" where the Zionists live their prayers.
It should be noted that this neighborhood is of great importance because firstly it is very close to Al-Aqsa and because it is located near a group of luxurious palaces built by the Umayyads and similar to a large extent the palaces of Andalusia ... .. how not and the Umayyads who founded the state of Andalusia?
I would like to also point out that the people of Morocco in particular, and Muslims in general, when they performed Hajj or Umrah in Mecca and visited Medina, they had to go to the Holy House and pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Incidentally, the Mughrabi neighborhood included Andalusians as well (I will detail this later, God willing).
Jerusalem was a destination for scholars and students of knowledge, and there were no borders between the countries of the Islamic world as there is now.
The Muslims were flying like butterflies between their united states, and the individual would settle wherever his heart was comfortable, and there were neither sectarian nor sectarianism, as they were one nation with one body.
Descendants of Moroccans remained steadfast despite the occupation and most of them did not return to Morocco, so they gathered in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Among the famous Moroccan families there is a family: Alami, Sousi, Rifi …… ..and many others.
So we Moroccans have a religious, historical and cultural right in Jerusalem that cannot be waived, and it is absolutely no less important to our right to our Moroccan Sahara, and no consolation to the owners of “Taza before Gaza” …… Let them read history.
We will not betray our grandparents, we will not forget our history, we will teach it to our children, and we will not expect our canned school curricula to teach it.
Long live Jerusalem, a free Muslim Arab, and we will return, God willing, even if the time is long.
Written by: Dr. Hasna Al-Sharif Al-Kettani