Alaouite Dynasty I

  General Description  
“In 1666 Mawlay al-Rashid was proclaimed sultan in Fez as the first ruler of the new ’Alawi dynasty. In 1669 he conquered Marrakesh and two years later, in 1671, his envoy came to Timbuktu and ’the army pledged allegiance to Mawlay al-Rashid’.2 In other words, as soon as a new Sharifian dynasty assumed authority in Morocco, the arma in Timbuktu renewed nominal and symbolic allegiance.” ^[1]
“As the two Sa’did makhzans based on Marrakech and Fez crumbled in the middle years of the seventeenth century (see above, no. 20), Morocco was rent by internal factions, usually with strong religious, maraboutic bases. It was the ‘Alawids or Filālī Shorfā, of the same Hasanī descent as the declining Sa’dids, who finally succeeded in imposing order from an original centre in Tafilalt, the valley of the Wādī Zīz in south-eastern Morocco (whence the name Filālī). Mawlāy al-Rashīd was the first of the family to assume the title of sultan. He began the work of pacification and attempted a a restoration of central authority throughout Morocco, but this proved an extremely lengthy process, so deep-rooted had become provincialism and anarchy. A strong figure like Mawlāy Ismā’īl tried in vain to solve these problems by recruiting, in addition to the gīsh ( [2]
Isma’il ruled between 1672-1727 and was one of the longest reigning Moroccan sultans. Upon his death his sons fought over the succession and the country went to war until 1757. Isma’il had fathered hundreds of sons, most of whom were eligible for the throne. While the sons were fighting for control of the throne, the country was rebelling against the taxes that Isma’il had imposed. The ’Abid had also grown incredibly powerful during Isma’il’s reign and were able to install, influence and depose of sultans. Three of Isma’il’s sons ruled on and off between 1727-1733 during which time installations and depositions of sultans were controlled by the ’Abid and in the meantime, north Morocco became almost completely independant of central governement, being ruled by the son of a local governor. . Abu’l Abbas Ahmad was deposed in 1728, only to be reinstated shortly after, but then deposed again on the day of his death on 5 March 1729 - he was smothered to death by his wives in a palace conspiracy. (El Hamel 2014: 213) His half-brother Moulay Abdelmalik was proclaimed sultan before Ahmad was deposed but was murdered three days before his brother died. (El Hamel 2014: 213) His brother and successor, Moulay Abdallah, was made Sultan and deposed six times between 1729 and 1757 (1729–1734, 1736, 1740–1741, 1741–1742, 1743–1747 and 1748–1757). Upon Abdallah’s death his sole surviving heir, Mohammed ben Abdallah, became sultan in 1757 and full order was restored across the country. ^[3]

[1]: (Fage and Oliver 1975: 150) Fage, J. D. and Oliver, Roland Anthony. 1975. eds., The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 4, from c. 1600 to c. 1790. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z6BCU87M

[2]: (Boswroth 1996: 115) Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. 1996. "The ’Alawid or Filali Sharifs". The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B6JRSLIB

[3]: (El Hamel 2014: 213) El Hamel, Chouki. 2014. Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T9JFH8AS