1900
The possession of manuscripts of famous writers remained the pride of courts and zawiyas throughout the history of Morocco until the modern times. The great Saadian ruler Ahmed al-Mansour (r.1578–1603) was a poet king. Poets of his court were Ahmad Ibn al-Qadi, Abd al-Aziz al-Fishtali. Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari lived during the reign of his sons. The Saadi Dynasty contributed greatly to the library of the Taroudant. Another library established in time that was that of Tamegroute. A large part of it remains today. By a strange coincidence the complete library of another Saadian ruler has also been transmitted to us to the present day. Due to circumstances in a civil war the sultan Zidan (r.1603–1627) had his complete collection transferred to a ship. The commander of the ship stole the ship and brought it to Spain where the collection was transmitted to El Escorial.
Some of the main genres differed from what was prominent in European countries:
- Songs (religious poetry but also elegies and love poems)
- biographies and historical chronicles like the "Nuzhat al-hadi bi-akhbar muluk al-qarn al-hadi" of Mohammed al-Ifrani (1670–1745), and the chronicles of Muhammad al-Qadiri (1712–1773).
- accounts of journey's like the rihla of Ahmed ibn Nasir (1647–1717)
- religious treatises and letters like those of Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823) and Ahmad Ibn Idris Al-Fasi (1760–1837)
Famous Moroccan poets of this period were Abderrahman El Majdoub, Al-Masfiwi, Muhammad Awzal and Hemmou Talb.
Read more about this topic: Moroccan Literature, 1500