Before beginning to discuss
the identity, it is noteworthy to state some characteristics and determinants
of this term. Because these characteristics are the basic principles which shape
the identity. Every nation has its own characteristics which define and
contribute to make it different to other nations. Accordingly, there are some
determinants and aspects which are considered to be primary and fixed while the
others are secondary and variable. However, most philosophers say that identity
relies on a plenty of elements such as land, language, history, ethnic, people,
and religion in some cases.
But, what we can infer from the
aforesaid determinants is that there is only one aspect which seems to be
primary and invariable which is land. Because all the aforementioned
determinants are in need of land while the latter can exist without the
existence of the other elements.
So, land is the main determinant
that defines the identity of a nation since it is fixed and invariable. We can
take into consideration a language, anyone of us is free to speak whatever he
or she likes and how many people were speaking Tamazight and they become
speaking Arabic and vice versa. Again the same thing for religion, we are free
to convert any religion. You can see how many Jews become muslems and how many
muslems become Jews and so on.
Subsequently, people can change his
language and religion but can not change his land and origin. For that reason
we say that identity is something fixed not variable. And it is an obligation
for anyone who lives on that land should be identified according to it. If you
live in Tamazgha or North Africa you are obliged to say that I’m Amazigh because
you live on the land of Imazighen , no matter what language you speak , or what
religion you convert, or the way you dress or eat ; all these things have
nothing to do with identity but have to do with culture. The latter may differ
from one society to another within the same nation.
So, all people who live in Tamazgha
may be they have something in common and they differ in other things but at the
end of the day they share the same land. There is only one land which is an
amazigh land. There is no land for Arabs and other one for Azmazighs in North
Africa.
Thus, the identity of any nation
should be taken from its own land. So, when we talk about Morocco and we say
that its identity is an amazigh not because of Amazigh Language or ethnic or
something like that but because of Amazigh land. The land which our
grandfathers lived in for a long time ago. And we have never heard that one day
this land is vanished or destroyed by any nation. But we know that our
grandfathers fought the enemies and kept speaking Tamazight up to now.
Imazighen gave lessons in fighting and struggling and in every field. And they
established and built great civilizations with rich history.
More importantly, the proof that
indicates the truth of Amazigh Identity is those names that Imazighen gave to
things, places and even for time. They named everything by Amazigh names. Again,
If we take into account the word Morocco; you can check the dictionary English
Arabic, you will see that Morocco in Arabic means mourakouch not Maghreb.
“Mourakouch” in Amazigh language means the land of God. “Amour” means land and
“Akouch” means God in Tamazight.
So, the invasion and the coming of
Arabs to Tamazgha destroy everything. Arabs tried to arabize everything. 50
years of blind arabization make Morocco an Arab nation as they assume. They
usually tried to convince Imazighen to get rid of their mother tongue Tamazight
and to speak Arabic by claiming that Arabic is language of prophet and paradise
and forbade everyone who wants to name his child an Amazigh name, Arabs claim
that the Amazigh names are forbidden in Islam.
The Arabs who came to Tamazgha
pretend that they are “chorfa” and they belong to prophet’s family and so on.
All these things contribute to make Imazighen convinced. The latter gave Arabs
the power and everything they want until they become rulers and kings and so on
. At that moment Arabs seized the opportunity to do whatever they like. The
first thing they start doing is arabizing everything in Tamazgha since they are
able to do so.
I wonder why Arabs wanted to change
and arabize the whole nation. Surely this will never be achieved since the
wisdom of Allah wanted this nation to be an amazigh land with Amazigh Identity.
No one has the ability to change the destiny because everything is written and
designed by Allah; if someone wants to change the Allah’s wisdom he will be
unbeliever because he does not like this fact.
Arabization is a bad habit that
Arabs applied in North Africa to make all non-Arabs in general and imazighen in
particular become Arabs and make them neglecting and humiliating their mother
tongue especially by destroying their identity using different ways and
arabization was one of the worst way that Arabs commit.
Once I was reading some articles and
I came across one debate. It was about Moroccan identity. When I read the whole
article and the discussion under it I conclude that those people are still
mixing bananas and apples. They still can’t differentiate even between
nationality and identity. As we know that nationality is related to a nation
such as Morocco its nationality is Moroccan and America its nationality
American and so on and so forth.
Again I noticed one person said that
our identity in Morocco is what we call it in Moroccan dialect “chladha” Salad.
I was just laughing and asking those people who discuss this topic are they
really Moroccans. They have no idea about what identity means, and they just
mix things up. They jump from one topic to another without saying anything important.
They talk about nationality, beliefs, traditions, values, and so on. Then, they
conclude that our identity is “chladha”.
Finally, I deduce that they really
destroy our identity according to the way they discuss it. They deceive us and
they try to distinguish between us by naming us this is Riffian , that is
Soussian, and other one is jeblian and the others are 3roubiya and so on.
On Facebook : AliGallouj
Gallouj2959@hotmail.fr
Gallouj2959@hotmail.fr
