Historian Mohamed Kably honoured in Asilah

ASILAH - The Asilah Forum Foundation honoured Thursday Moroccan historian Mohamed Kably for his lifetime achievements in the presence of several Moroccan professors and researchers.

“King Mohammed VI preceded in honouring professor Kably and drew our attention to his academic and intellectual integrity and his true patriotism when he appointed him as director of the Royal Institute for Research in the History of Morocco (IRRHM),” said Secretary-General of the Asilah Forum Foundation and former Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa.

IRRHM is a national scientific research institution that seeks to encourage research on the history of Morocco and promote knowledge of its past and near past in order to anchor Moroccan identity and strengthen the collective memory, while opening up on the other different historical partners.

Kably, who is considered as one of the best historians of his generation, has headed IRRHM since 2005.

“This honour is part of the Foundation’s opening on Moroccan universities,” said Benaissa, adding that Kably’s work was known for its scientific strictness and comprehensive consideration of the topics he has devoted to his founding research.

Kably said that he was thrilled to receive the honour especially at a time when the Asilah Cultural international Moussem was celebrating its 40th anniversary.

He praised Asilah’s summer University of Al Mouâtamid Ibn Abbad for becoming a high international cultural forum in all its aspects which he said “is representing traditional universities.”

Born in 1938, Kably completed his primary and secondary studies in Morocco before moving to France to obtain a degree in the Arabic language in 1962 at the University of Paris. In 1984, he obtained his doctorate in History. In the meantime, he taught at Mohammed V University in Rabat and carried out various research works around the central theme: Social and Socio-religious History of the Medieval Maghreb.

He is the author of several publications in Arabic, French and English. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Rabat from 1975 to 1979, Kably became rector of the University of Tetouan (1989/1993) and of the University of Fes (1997/2003).

The historian is a member of several national and international scientific bodies. He has received several awards throughout his career, including the Palmes académiques in Paris in 1979, the Prix du Maroc 1987 for “Société, Pouvoir et Religion à la fin du Moyen-Age” (Society, Power and Religion at the end of the Middle Ages), the Prix du Mérite (1994) and recently the Grand Atlas Award in 2000 for “Etat, Sainteté et Espace au Maroc medieval” (State, Holiness and Space in Medieval Morocco).