De la sujétion à la citoyenneté itinéraire du concept de ra’iya

Abstract

In traditional Moroccan political thought, the word ra'iya is commonly used to
describe those who are governed and also to define their obligations towards
the sultan. Ra'iya, as object of the sultan’s power, must first and foremost refrain
from any political action, as written in the political literature. of the
sultanate. The use of such a concept is in consonance with a given conception
of political space; it is a specific vision of the relationship between the state and
society. In the whole sultanian political literature, there is no mention of the
words ‘people’ ‘nation’, citizen’, which are concepts belonging to another social
and political context. This traditional approach dominated Moroccan political
thought up to at least the end of the nineteenth century. It is in contrast to the
Greek thought which sees the citizen as the foundation of the city state. Indeed,
the spirit of this approach excludes the Greek political concepts, which were
then revived and disseminated by Renaissance Europe; Moroccan thinkers seek
to position themselves vis a vis this new conception of politics. Abdallah Laroui,
a great thinker, is surprised that in the nineteenth century, Moroccan thinkers
did not contribute any thing new to the classics, contenting themselves with
quoting Aristotle’s famous ‘circular law’ to address critical problems. These
changes were reinforced by the first constitutional acts (1906/1908), and also
with the writings of a few Moroccan reformist and Salafist authors. This paper
analyses the strategy followed by Moroccan political thinkers, in reconciling
themselves with a new conceptual system. Was it partially or totally rejected?
Was there an attempt at endogenisation? Is it about accommodating these
concepts or of swallowing up ‘indigenous’ concepts? In a nutshell, the paper
follows the evolution of the concept of ra'iya (subjects).