Mohamed Chafik (born 17 September 1926, in Ayt Saden (close to Fes), Morocco) is a Moroccan writer and specialist in Berber language and literature.

Career

He is the author of a Berber-Arabic dictionary (3 volumes).

Chafik is also considered as one of the major figures in the Moroccan Amazigh Movement. He taught at university, participated in many conferences about the Amazigh case and wrote many books. He is also known as the author and first signer of the 2000 Amazigh Manifesto in which he and thousands of Amazigh activists demanded, from the Moroccan government, the official recognition of the Amazigh language as a national and official language of the kingdom.

Since 1980 he has been a member of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco.

In 2001, Chafik was appointed by the Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, to be the first rector of the newly created Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture. He accepted the job but refused to receive any salary for it.

Chafik is also a member of the Moroccan advisory council on human rights.

Awards

He received the chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 1972.

In 2002 Chafik received the Principal Award (Laureate) from the Prince Claus Fund for his academic achievements.

Bibliography

• The Arabic Amazigh dictionary / 3 volumes/ published by the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco.

(Dictionaire bilingue arabe-amazigh, tome 1 (1990), tome 2 (1996), tome 3 (1999), Publications de l'Académie marocaine.)

• 33 centuries of Amazigh History.
• Chafik, M, Trente trois siècle de l’histoire des imazighen, Boukili éd. 2000 (3e éd.).
• Chafik, M, La poésie amazighe et la résistance armée dans le Moyen Atlas et l’Est du Haut Atlas, revue de l’Académie du Royaume, no4,1987.
• The Amazigh Language's Linguistic Structure.
• Diggings in the Amazigh Language.
• 44 lessons in the Amazigh Language.

External links

• Interview with Mohamed Chafik in TelQuel-Online by Driss Ksikes (in French): "L'Islam prône la Laïcité" [377849]
• Aitsadden.com [377850]
• http://www.tawalt.com/monthly.cfm
• twaiza.ifrance.com

See also

• Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture
• Berber mythology

References

1. Dictionaire bilingue arabe-amazigh, tome 1 (1990), tome 2 (1996), tome 3 (1999), Publications de l'Académie marocaine.
2. Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development

• A Brief Survey of Thirty-Three Centuries of Amazigh History, 2005