Morocco defeated Portugal 1-0 in World Cup soccer and Arabs from the Atlantic to the Gulf, and all over Western Europe, went wild. In French cities, the indigenous French were kept awake all night by the Arabs honking horns, running in packs through city streets shouting, banging on drums. The entire Champs-Élysées was filled with Arabs – not just Moroccans, but Algerians, Tunisians, Libyans, Arabs from everywhere. This was seen as some kind of collective victory for Arabdom over not just Portugal, but over Europe, over the West.
And there was one aspect of the celebration that deserved greater notice. The Times of Israel article on this subject carried the following bit of misinformation:
Jubilant soccer fans across the Middle East and Africa have adopted the team as their own, with many noting that the Moroccan side — which also beat Spain in the round of 16 — has proved victorious against teams from countries that historically had colonized the North African kingdom.”
Portugal never colonized Morocco. And Spain did not colonize Morocco, either; there was no wholesale movement of Spanish people to Morocco, as there were of French who settled in Algeria after 1830. There was, rather, a protectorate, not a colony, which lasted only from 1912 to 1958, and it included only 4.69% of Moroccan territory.
The real colonizing was achieved by the Moroccan Muslims, both Arabs and Berbers, who, after the Islamic Conquest of the Iberian peninsula, ruled both areas that would later become Spain and Portugal. This historic memory was expressed by some of the celebrating Moroccans. “Moroccan ecstasy at World Cup win shared by Africa and Arab world,” by Ahmed Eljechtimi and Andrew Mills, Reuters, December 10, 2022:
Outside the stadium a drummer led fans in a chant of “Go, go, go” before they sang “Al-Andalus al-Andalus” – the name of the historic Muslim state once ruling Spain and Portugal, the two teams Morocco has now knocked out.
“Al-Andalus Al-Andalus ” is meant to evoke the triumph of the Muslims when they conquered the Iberian peninsula beginning in 711, and formed the Kingdom of Al-Andalus, where Muslims ruled over Christians and Jews.
The Arabs, in chanting “Al-Andalus Al-Andalus,” have endowed this win at a soccer match with some kind of civilizational significance: triumph, finally, over the Infidels whom we, the Arabs, once subjugated in Al-Andalus. No Western country endows the wins or losses of its sports teams with civilizational or geopolitical significance. We like to keep score, of course, hoping that, for example, our country ranks high in the total number of gold, silver, and bronze medals won. During the Cold War we would compare American Olympic winners with those of the Soviet Union, or the wins by Western countries compared to those won by Warsaw Pact countries, hoping to come out ahead. That was the extent of endowing these sports events with political significance. But the kind of wild ecstasy, and the sense that this was much more than just the winning of a soccer game, that we saw from the frenzied reaction of Arab fans, is completely foreign to the West.
The Moroccan team now represents Arabdom and Islam. France and Morocco are now due to meet in the semifinals on Wednesday, December 14. If Morocco wins, there will be triumphant crowds of maghrébins making even more noise than they did after the win over Portugal, with endless honking of horns, and packs of young male Arabs running frenziedly through streets, yelling at the top of their lungs “Allahu akbar” and “Al-Andalus.” Some over-exuberant fans may express their excitement by passing an entire night in drinking, smoking hashish, and noise-making. Deliberately annoying the French by keeping them awake throughout the night will only add to the fun. The police will not dare to intervene.
And the alternative – a loss by Morocco to France on December 14 – is likely to lead to much greater disturbances, some of them violent, in French cities. If the French team defeats Morocco, and even though the French team is known to be “black, blanc, et beur,” that is, its players consist of black Africans, white French, and Arabs (“beur” being slang for “Arab”) the Arab rage inside France will be as frenzied as was the display of joy after Morocco’s defeat of Portugal. It is possible that angry maghrébins will express their disappointment by smashing shop windows, overturning and setting fire to French-owned cars, and even roughing up any French man or woman who has the misfortune to be out on the streets when a group of furious Arabs is running by, and decides to take out its anger on such innocent passersby.
The French forces of order are no doubt preparing for either outcome right now. Whether it wins or loses in Qatar, France now has to batten down the hatches while the millions of Arabs now in the country’s midst express themselves, with joy or anger, frenziedly.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Andalusia is, bizarrely enough, the name of the southernmost Spanish province that includes Seville, Cadiz, Granada, Cordoba and so on. It’s strange that the Spaniards, the same people who came up w/ the Inquisition, couldn’t think up a new name for that province
Also, it’s not just the Arabs: it’s muslims even outside dar-ul-Arab. Pakistan is celebrating it, since they are a non-existent force in soccer and can only cheer for a muslim country. Same would probably be true of Turks, Malaysians and others. Essentially, not just off the field, w/ Qatar’s dawa activities, but now even on the field, via Morocco, this world cup has become a jihad. After almost every Moroccan victory, be it Belgium, Spain, Portugal, there have been riots (although not after Morocco’s matches against Canada or Croatia, the latter which was drawn). Which is why I was hoping for Morocco to be knocked out earlier, so that subsequent matches that excluded them wouldn’t trigger riots in Europe
So their game is tomorrow, and if they get to the finals this Saturday, let alone win, there will be more riots in Europe. If they actually lift the cup, I expect muslims everywhere to riot – be it all over Europe, Mid East, the subcontinent, the East Indies and so on
wpm says
With stadiums built with slave labor ,in a country run under sharia law ,with the dhimmi MSM kissing Islamic ass every chance they get on how wonderful it is having the world games of football (soccer really) in this repressive Islamic hellhole of a country the Moslems already won the day on this one. When the games are over will they used these stadiums be remade for public floggings and beheading for Islamic style entertainment?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yeah, but so far, their victories were only off the fields – in stadiums, on the streets and so on. Now, w/ Morocco looking increasingly like it may lift the cup, those victories will be on the field as well, unless Argentina stops them
Increasingly, muslim fans of various sports – soccer, cricket – are making the games about islam, celebrating wins by countries like Morocco or Pakistan as victories of islam. Maybe the OIC should create separate sports leagues for them so that there are no ‘defeats’ of islam. In soccer, they can have Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey and Egypt, in cricket, they can have Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and so on
david1508 says
France v Morocco will be interesting, with so many Moroccans living in France. I predict riots in France whoever wins.
mick says
Another fine piece.
The original people of Morocco were Berber, both Christian and Jew, plus I guess, a trace of black African, a result of the Tuareg (mixed Berber/Black) slave raids south of Senegal.
From the 15th C the Portuguese seized the Berbers of Morocco and Mauritania and sold them as slaves in Iberia, Canaries, Azores mainly. See the Slave Trade by Hugh Thomas.
Alkflaeda says
Islam did their share of enslaving people – the skills they use today have been honed by centuries of experience https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2020/02/10/exposed-islams-role-in-the-transatlantic-slave-trade/