Mohammed Ben Brahim

Who was Mohammed Ben Brahim?

El Houari Mohammed Ben Brahim Assarraj was a poet from Morocco. He is especially well known as the poet of Marrakech of the first part of the 20th century. He wrote poems for both king Mohammed V and for his opponent El Glaoui.

According to his biographer Omar Mounir he was "considered a nationalist by the French, a traitor by the nationalists, a alem by the man in the street and a rascal by the ulemas." Mohamed Ben Brahim studied at the Ibn Yousouf University in Marrakech and the Al-Qarawiyyin University of Fes. He worked as a university professor for a short period and, after that as a journalist.

Many of Ben Brahim's poems are put to music and still popular in present-day Morocco. Karima Skalli is one of his work's interpreters.