Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi
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President Muhammad Ibn 'Abd El-Karim El-Khattabi |
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| Nickname(s) | Abd el-Krim or Abdelkrim |
| Born | 1882 Ajdir, Morocco |
| Died |
(aged 80) Cairo, Egypt |
| Allegiance | Republic of the Rif |
| Rank | Emir |
| Battles/wars | Rif War Battle of Annual |
Abd el-Krim (1882–83, Ajdir – February 6, 1963, Cairo) was a Riffian political and military leader. He and his brother Mhemmed led a large-scale revolt by a coalition of Berber-speaking Rif tribes against French and Spanish colonization of the Rif, an area of northern Morocco. The rebels established the short-lived Republic of the Rif. Abd el-Krim's guerrilla tactics influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara.
Abd el-Krim was born in Ajdir, Morocco, across Alhucemas Bay from the Spanish army’s island presidio of Peñón de Alhucemas, the son of Abd al-Karim El-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge) of the Aith Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe. Abd el-Krim received a traditional education at a mosque school in Ajdir, then attended a religious institute at Tetouan. At the age of twenty, it appears he studied for two years in Fez at the Attarine and Seffarine madrasah, in order to prepare to enter the famous Qaraouiyine University. Both he and his brother M'Hammad received a Spanish education, with his brother studying mine engineering in Málaga and Madrid. Both spoke fluent Spanish and Riffian. After his studies, in 1906, Abd el-Krim was sent to Melilla by his father. He worked there as a teacher and translator (until 1913), working for the OCTAI – the Spanish 'native affairs' office – and became a journalist for the Spanish newspaper Telegrama del Rif (1906–1915). Additionally, in 1907 he was hired to edit and write articles in Arabic for El Telegrama del Rif, a daily newspaper in Melilla. There he defended the advantages of European—especially Spanish—civilization and technology and their potential to elevate the economic and cultural level of the Moroccan population. His association with El Telegrama lasted until 1915. In 1910 Abd el-Krim took a position as secretary-interpreter in the Native Affairs Office in Melilla, which brought him into close contact with the Spanish military bureaucracy and the town’s civil society. In that post he gained a reputation for intelligence, efficiency, and discretion.
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