Defiant letter sent by Muhammad ibn Sharif to Mohammed al-Hajj al-Dila'i

You are not cut out to handle the flames of discord that you have stoked up. In any case the Moroccan people have not perceived in you Dila folk any aptitude beyond serving dishes of gruel to each other – for you eat gruel when we eat couscous. You vie with each other in verses impossible to listen to, so horrible are your dirges. As for the sciences, we allow you their practice in the name of fairness, just as long as you don't set your sights beyond the study of the law or a teacher's salary.

An-Nasiri, Istiqsa, t. VII, p. 17.