Amina El Mestari
Douar Akhannouch gave birth to “Akran Awad” in Tafraout, well-known personalities and names in the field of science, economy and politics… Perhaps one of his righteous children is Hassan bin Abdullah bin Ibrahim al-Raji, who was born in 1914 in this village of Saghira, where the rocky landscape “Chapo de Napoleon” stands tall, and he died in 1996 In Casablanca after a life of self-made, steadfastness and challenge.
He grew up in a family whose master was known for knowledge and jurisprudence. He is Hajj Abdullah Akhnoush, who taught and studied him, and even followed his example in his struggle against the colonialists. . The father knew a fighter on the side of Abdallah Zakour, and he participated in the battle of Ait Abdallah, just as his grandfather, the jurist, the fighter Ibrahim Akhannouch, who was part of the prestige army, lived and fought the colonialists in the battle of Sidi Bou Othman in Marrakech..
Thanks to his upbringing and knowledge, Hassan moved to Casablanca on foot, as is the case with most of the people of his region, to join his brothers..
He learned the basics of trade, and was able to run his own shop and manage it successfully, which aroused the approval of the owner. He worked hard on the principle of “grass trees”, which enabled him to save a decent amount that he shared with the owner of the shop in an agreement. Years later, Hassan became the owner of a shop through which he resisted a company The French “Sama”, which was fighting Moroccan merchants by opening shops as part of a colonial plan to eliminate the Moroccan economy, Hassan and Ahmed Olhaj, the father of Aziz Akhannouch and others, had no choice but to stand up to the plan. .
Hassan Al-Raji was exposed to difficult situations from which he emerged strong, as stated in the book of Dr. Omar Amirer, such as obtaining a large loan from banks to buy large quantities of tea from China, but the ship loaded with tea faced battles at sea during World War II, so it diverted and did not Hassan arrives with his goods, which makes the banks force him to pay the dues, and he becomes bankrupt..
The matter did not take long, so soon after a few days he received the news of the arrival of the ship to Casablanca, so that Al-Raji could sell his goods with double profits and turn in a short time into one of the wealthy people of the city..
This crisis was the beginning of a new journey for Hassan Al-Raji, who turned into the largest importer of tea known as “Atay Al-Sultan”. In 1993, the state decided to liberalize the sector, encouraged Hajj Hassan Raji and managed to raise the name of his “brand” high after owning more than a third of the Moroccan market share in this field, thanks to his reputation.
Hassa Al-Raji was able to win the respect of the late King Hassan II, who awarded him the Order of Al-Ridha, in honor of his efforts and tireless work to support the national resistance.After the death of Al-Raji in 1996, his son Hamid Al-Raji completed his father’s path in leading the institution to occupy a prominent position.
