Mendoub
{{Short description|Former Moroccan official title}}
File:Morocco Tangier Mendoubia.jpg, former office of the Mendoub on Tangier's Grand Socco square]]
File:Morocco Tangier Mendoub Palace.jpg in Tangier's Marshan neighborhood]]
The Mendoub or Mandub ({{langx|ar|مندوب}}, "delegate" or "representative") was a key official in the governance of the Tangier International Zone between 1925 and 1956, with a wartime interruption from 1940 to 1945.
Overview
The Mendoub represented the symbolic authority of the Sultan of Morocco in the International Zone even though its government was led by the separate {{lang|fr|Comité de Contrôle}}, which brought together the main foreign powers. He was directly in charge of the affairs of the Muslim and Jewish communities which together formed the vast majority of Tangier's inhabitants. He also chaired the Zone's parliamentary assembly, a largely symbolic role since he did not have a vote.{{R|Tamburini|p=310}} His autonomy was limited by close oversight by a French official, the {{lang|fr|Contrôleur des Autorités Chérifiennes}},{{citation |title=L'amministrazione della giustizia nella zone internazionale di Tangeri (1923-1957) |author=Francesco Tamburini |journal=Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente |volume=60:3/4 |date=2005 |issue=3/4 |pages=305–339 |jstor=40761805 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40761805 }}{{rp|310}} operating under the powerful {{lang|fr|Direction des Affaires Indigènes}} in Rabat.{{R|Tamburini|p=311}}
Muhammad ben Abdelkrim at-Tazi Bu Ashran was the first Mendoub from the office's creation to his death in 1954. He stayed in Rabat while the Zone fell under Spanish occupation during the Second World War.{{citation |title=Aproximación a los edificios históricos y patrimoniales de Málaga, Tetuán, Nador, Tánger y Alhucemas / Un Rapprochement entre les édifices historiques et patrimoniaux de Malaga, Tétouan, Nador, Tanger et Al Hoceima |publisher=Servicio de Programas del Ayuntamiento de Málaga |editor=Silvia Nélida Bossio |url=http://malagamarruecos.com/upload/permanent/a365b7/Especerias-Catalogo-Edificios-Historicos.pdf |date=2011}}{{rp|275}} He had previously been the Naib, or Sultan's representative, to the foreign communities in Tangier, from 1913 to 1925. He was succeeded in 1954 by his son Ahmad at-Tazi, who held the role briefly until its termination in 1956.
Properties
The Mendoub's ceremonial office was installed in the former German consulate building, which had been confiscated after the First World War and used by the Naib from January 1920.{{cite news |journal=L'Illustration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6upSAAAAYAAJ |date=January 1920 |title=L'exécution du traité de paix au Maroc }} This property was subsequently known as the Mendoubia.
From 1929, the Mendoub resided in a palatial residence in the waterfront neighborhood of Marshan from which he proceeded to the Mendoubia in a colourful ceremonial, which became a tourist attraction.
Also in the 1920s, a suburban property was built for the Mendoub in the hills above Rmilat to the west of Tangier. It later fell into disrepair before it was eventually purchased by Katara Hospitality. It was subsequently renovated on a design by OBMI/CCCRA Architects and integrated in a hotel development opened in November 2022 as Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier.{{cite web |website=Le Figaro |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/voyages/hotels/on-a-pousse-les-portes-du-fairmont-tazi-palace-tangier-palais-perche-dans-le-ciel-de-tanger-20230120 |title=On a poussé les portes du Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier, palais perché dans le ciel de Tanger |author=Anne-Claire Delorme |date={{date|2023/01/20}}}}