Abdesslam Yassine (Arabic: عبد السلام ياسين; 1928 – December 13, 2012) was the leader of the Moroccan Islamist organisation Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane (Justice and Spirituality).[1][2]
Yassine was born in Marrakesh. He worked as a teacher and a school inspector for the Ministry of Education, and from 1965 on, was a member of one of the most famous Moroccan Sufi brotherhoods, the Boutchichiyya.[2][3] Yassine reportedly fell out with the leadership of the brotherhood over its refusal to engage more directly in political matters, and founded his own organisation.
Yassine was jailed in a mental asylum for three years[when?] for publishing an open letter to King Hassan II denouncing his rule as un-Islamic. Following his release he was kept under house arrest for many years, before eventually being released in the early years of the rule of King Mohammed VI.[4]
Yassine's many publications include L'Islam ou le Deluge (Islam or the Flood),[5] probably the best known of his works.
Yassine died on 13 December 2012.[1][2] He was married to Khadija Al Malki who died in late March 2015.[6]