Once Upon a Time in Morocco

There is a little question that Morocco has been a superpower in the Maghreb and Africa for hundreds of years. The fate of Morocco has since the Idrissid era, been closely connected to remarkable sultans whose political and religious achievements were praised in hagiographical literature. Successive Moroccan empires insured the proliferation of the Maliki school of thought, Sunni Sufism and economic prosperity in Andalusia and much of Africa. The page reflects in short the big headlines of Moroccan influence in the Maghreb and Western Africa. The page is understood by any other than one who is fair in nature. 

  

قال ابن حزم  في كتاب  نفح الطيب 3/177:" وبلدنا هذا - على بعده من ينبوع العلم، ونأيه من محلة العلماء - فقد ذكرنا من تآليف أهله ما إن طلب مثلها بفارس والأهواز وديار مضر وديار ربيعة واليمن والشام أعوز وجود ذلك، على قرب المسافة في هذه البلاد من العراق التي هي دار هجرة الفهم وذويه ومراد المعارف وأربابها. ونحن إذا ذكرنا أبا الأجرب جعونة بن الصمة الكلابي في الشعر لم نباه به إلا جريراً والفرزدق، لكونه في عصرهما، ولو أنصف لاستشهد بشعره، فهو جارٍ على مذهب الأوائل، لا على طريقة المحدثين، وإذا سمينا بقي بن مخلد لم نسابق به إلا محمد بن اسماعيل البخاري ومسلم بن الحجاج النيسابوري و سليمان بن الأشعث وأحمد بن شعيب النسائي، وإذا ذكرنا قاسم بن محمد لم نباه به إلا القفال ومحمد بن عقيل الفريابي، ولو لم يكن لنا من فحول الشعراء إلا أحمد بن دراج القسطلي لما تأخر عن شأو بشار بن برد وحبيب والمتنبي، فكيف ولنا معه رجال لا يحصون وكلهم فحل يهاب جانبه، وحصان ممسوح الغرة"

  

Under the Umayyad & Tariq ibn Ziyyad 

It was about 21/642 during the reign of the second Khalifa, Sidna Omar b. al-Khattab (may Allah be satisfied with him), when Sidna Amr b. al-'As (may Allah be satisfied with him) at the head of a large Muslim army took the initiative of entering Egypt, then under the Byzantine empire. His capture of Alexandria, the capital of the Byzantine empire, in the same year, brought an end to the Byzantine rule in Egypt and a lot of relief to its Christian subjects, especially the Copts who bore the greater brunt of the Byzantine oppression. By 21/642 when ‘Amr was recalled to Madina (upon its resident peace and blessing), he had already conquered Cyrenaica and Tripolitania further to the west. During the same period, Sidna Uqba b. Nafi' al-Fihri (may Allah be satisfied with him), then a commander under 'Amr, penetrated as far south as the oasis of Zawila. This started the process of Islamisation of the North African region as far as the Maghreb, a complex process which took over two centuries to come to fruition. Sidna Uqbah b. Nafi', the head of the Muslim army in the Maghreb  had already shown the way by leading his forces along these routes as far as Kawar which bordered Kanem in 45/666. When in 99/718 the Umayyad Caliph Omar b. Abdellaziz appointed Isma'il b. Ubayd Allah, a learned scholar of Hadith, as Amir of lfriqiya (current Tunisia), he sent with him ten scholars to teach spread Islam. This policy of the Caliph was to set the standard. Thus Abderrahman b. Habib b. Abi Ubayda b. Uqbah b. Nafi', who was appointed the governor of Ifriqiya in 127/745 ordered wells to be dug along the trans-Saharan trade route from Sijilmasa (current Errachidia) in the Morocco to Awdaghust in Ghana. This was certainly to increase not only the volume of trade but also the "volume" of da'awah in the region. 

What ever may be the gains of Uqba, he himself did not have the opportunity to consolidate it as he died in the battle of Tohuda with the Berbers in 63/683. His deputy Zuhair b. Qays, who took over from him did not find it easy either. He too died in a battle about five years later in 688/689 in an attack on the Byzantine forces that had occupied Cyrenaica during his operations in Tunisia. It was Musa b. Nusayr about twenty years after Uqba that was able to consolidate the gains of his predecessors, pacified a good part of Ifriqiya, the Sus, Dar'a and Tafilalit, and began a more systematic propagation of Islam. Musa b. Nusayr’s deputy the Moroccan Berber Tariq b. Ziyyad (d. 101/720) had led the Muslim armythe Visigothic Kingdom (comprising modern Spain and Portugal) and captured what became al-Andalus in 97/716. Tariq ibn Ziyad is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Islamic history. He was initially the deputy of Musa ibn Nusair in North Africa, and was sent by his superior to launch the first thrust of a conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom (comprising modern Spain and Portugal). According to Kitab Tadkirah by Imam al-Qurtubi, the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) said: "An island named Andalusia will be opened after me."  So it came to pass. On Rajab 7, 92 / April 29, 711, the armies of Tariq ibn Ziyad, in command of an army of 10,000 men, landed at Gibraltar (the name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic name Jabal al Tariq, which means mountain of (the) Tariq, or the more obvious Gibr Tariq, meaning rock of Tariq).

The 17th century Muslim historian Al-Maqqari wrote that upon landing, Tariq burned his ships and then made a speech, well-known in the Muslim world, to his soldiers.

“Oh my warriors, whither would you flee? Behind you is the sea, before you, the enemy. You have left now only the hope of your courage and your constancy. Remember that in this country you are more unfortunate than the orphan seated at the table of the avaricious master. Your enemy is before you, protected by an innumerable army; he has men in abundance, but you, as your only aid, have your own swords, and, as your only chance for life, such chance as you can snatch from the hands of your enemy. If the absolute want to which you are reduced is prolonged ever so little, if you delay to seize immediate success, your good fortune will vanish, and your enemies, whom your very presence has filled with fear, will take courage. Put far from you the disgrace from which you flee in dreams, and attack this monarch who has left his strongly fortified city to meet you. Here is a splendid opportunity to defeat him, if you will consent to expose yourselves freely to death. Do not believe that I desire to incite you to face dangers which I shall refuse to share with you. In the attack I myself will be in the fore, where the chance of life is always least.  Remember that if you suffer a few moments in patience, you will afterward enjoy supreme delight. Do not imagine that your fate can be separated from mine, and rest assured that if you fall, I shall perish with you, or avenge you. You have heard that in this country there are a large number of ravishingly beautiful Greek maidens, their graceful forms are draped in sumptuous gowns on which gleam pearls, coral, and purest gold, and they live in the palaces of royal kings. The Commander of True Believers, Alwalid, son of Abdalmelik, has chosen you for this attack from among all his Arab warriors; and he promises that you shall become his comrades and shall hold the rank of kings in this country. Such is his confidence in your intrepidity. The one fruit which he desires to obtain from your bravery is that the word of God shall be exalted in this country, and that the true religion shall be established here. The spoils will belong to yourselves. Remember that I place myself in the front of this glorious charge which I exhort you to make. At the moment when the two armies meet hand to hand, you will see me, never doubt it, seeking out this Roderick, tyrant of his people, challenging him to combat, if God is willing. If I perish after this, I will have had at least the satisfaction of delivering you, and you will easily find among you an experienced hero, to whom you can confidently give the task of directing you. But should I fall before I reach to Roderick, redouble your ardor, force yourselves to the attack and achieve the conquest of this country, in depriving him of life. With him dead, his soldiers will no longer defy you.” 

The Muslim armies swept through al-Andalus and, in the summer of 711, won a decisive victory when the Visigothic king, Roderic, was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete. Wasting no time to relish his victory, Tarik pushed on with his dashing and seemingly tireless Moorish cavalry to the Spanish city of Toledo. Within a month's time, General Tarik ibn Ziyad had effectively terminated European dominance of the Iberian peninsula. Musa ibn Nusayr joined Tarik in Spain and helped complete the conquest of Iberia with an army of 18,000 men. The two commanders met in Talavera, where the Moors were given the task of subduing the northwest of Spain. With vigor and speed they set about their mission, and within three months they had swept the entire territory north of the Ebro River as far as the Pyrenees Mountains and annexed the turbulent Basque country. Tariq did however not rest with the conquest of Iberia. In 722, Moroccan forces crossed the Pyrenees and opened Gothic Gaul (France), seizing several towns in the south of that country. The Goths in Aquitaine, under their leader Eudes, were defeated at Garonne, and they were forced back into central France, carrying with them news of the might Muslim army. Ten years later, in 114/732, Muslim forces launched what was to be their final bid to overcome all of Western Europe when a massive army under the command of the Umawid governor of Spain, Emir Abderrahman, began laying waste to large parts of Frankish and Gothic France. The Frankish king at the time was Charles Martel immediately mobilized a counter attack. The armies of Charles Martel and Abderrahman met in battle between the towns of Tours and Potiers in Central France in October 114/732. Accounts have it that 375,000 Muslims were martyred - France was utterly victorious over the Muslim opening of Europe was halted in its tracks. Afterwards, Tariq was made governor of al-Andalus but eventually was called back to Damascus by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I, where he spent the rest of his life.

Under the Idrissids

The martyrdom of the Rightious Caliph Sidna Uthman b. 'Affan (may Allah be satisfied with him) in 656 and the consequent conflict between Emir al-Muminin Sidna Ali b. Abi Talib (may Allah be satisfied with him) and Sidna Mu'awiyya b. Abi Sufyan (may Allah be satisfied with him), then governor of Syria, threw this process of Islamisation into jeopardy. Not only did this conflict consumed the attention of the central government in Madina which was understandably busy trying to resolve the crisis, but perhaps more seriously, this conflict led to the emergence of break-away groups that were to continue to be at each others throats not only in the Hijaz, the scene of the crisis, but spread over to North Africa, including Morocco. Foremost of these were the unrest between Ahl al-Bayt (Household of the Holy Prophet) headed by Sidna al-Hassan ibn Ali (may Allah be satisfied with him) and the Umayyad. After the martyrdom of Sidna al-Hassan, they rallied behind his brother Sidna al-Hussayn (may Allah be pleased with him), who they recognized as the legitimate heir to the Khilafa (caliphate). It was the martyrdom of Sidna al- Hussayn at Karbala by Yazid's army led by Ubayd Allah (may Allah curse him), the governor of Kufa, followed by the desecration of Madina by Umayyad army, led by Mu'awiyya's son Yazid (may Allah curse him) and the campaign of calumny against the very person of Sidna Ali (may Allah glorify his face), sponsored by the Umayyads, that more than anything transformed an otherwise political difference into a poignant doctrinal estrangement giving birth to the rise of may sharifian uprisings in the Holy Land. Henceforth, the Ahl al-Bayt were unwilling to forget their right for caliphate and forgive the Umayyads and by extension the Abbasids, for their heinous and immortal crimes. This gave them the resolve to fight prudent enough to know when to rise against the tyrants and when to lie low. In Morocco, where the authority of the central government was precarious under the Khawarij, they managed to wrest power and established their own state under the Imamate of Mawlana Idriss ibn Abdellah al-Kamil (d. 177/762) in 172/757. Only with the work of the Imam that Morocco sent off Khawarijism for good.

When Moulay Idriss showed up in Morocco, soon, all the major Berber tribes had pledged allegiance to him. However, a lot of Morocco was still non-Muslim. When Moulay Idriss has moved to the nearby valley of Zerhoun, where he founded his capital that is now called after his blessed name, the Imam assembled an army to combat the local rebel Berber tribes who were mostly Jewish and Christian. They were soon defeated and most of them converted to Islam. He took rest for a time and then headed out to conquer more of the surrounding tribes. They either became Muslim or were taken prisoner and some were killed. The battles stopped in 173/758 when Moulay Idriss made a visit to Tlemcen. The people there pledged al-bay’ah to him and a mosque was built. His name was carved into the pulpit there. Soon after, the whole Berber tribes fell under his cause. Tilimsan is to become the new capital of Idrissid Morocco before the Imam’s foundation of the great city of Fez in 213/789.

 

Imam Moulay Idriss died in Rabee’ al-Thani 177/762; he left behind his Berber wife, Lalla Kanza bint Uqba al-Awrabi, 7 months pregnant with his heir.  The child was born three months after Moulay Idriss’ death. However, Raachid had been killed two years before Moulay Idriss was issued a Caliph. Berbers who had been paid off by Ibrahim al-Aghlab, the ruler of Tunisia (Ifriqya) at the time, killed him. They carried his head to Tunisia. Harun Rachid had appointed Ibrahim al-Aghlab over Tunisia in 184/800. Moulay Idriss II (said “al-Azhar”, the blossomed) was born on Monday the 13th of Rajab or the third 175/791 or 177/792. It was said that he was born with the declaration of Shahada, i.e. ‘There is no God but Allah (La-ilaha illa-Allah) and the saying of al-Hawqala, i.e. ‘There is no Strength or Might except through God’ (La-hawl-a wa-la quwwata-illa-bi-Allah) written between his shoulder blades. Raachid took him under his wing. He memorized the Quran by the age of eight. Raachid then taught him the sciences of Hadith, Islamic law, language, poetry, literature, horse riding, archery and other forms of the art of war. At the age of 11, he was ready to take up the responsibility of Imamate. The Berbers pledged al-bay’ah to him on Friday 7th Rabee’ al-Awwal 188/804-5. The Imam addressed the people with a powerful speech calling them to God and His obedience. The exclusivity of Ahl al-Bayt’s claim to the Caliphate continued in the admonition of Moulay Idriss al-Azhar when he pledged their allegiance to his Imamate:

Do not submit to anyone other than ourselves, for the establishment of God's truth (imamat al-Haqq) that you seek is only to found in us. 

In 193/809, Moulay Idriss al-Azhar re-founded the city of Fez on the left bank of the river Fez. During the next nineteen years of his reign until his death in 213/829 at the age of 36, the Imam reunified Morocco, re-established its firm allegiance to Islam, and prepared the way for the Arabization of an amorphous and mainly tribal society. Doing so, he brought together in one faith and under one banner the kernel of a Sharifian state. For the next generations, the Idrissid concept of Imamate re-established especially by Moulay Idriss II maintained its hold in the political and spiritual system of Morocco. Although sharifism attained its own glory under the rule of the Imam Moulay Idriss II, the Idrissid dynasty did not stay in power for long (788-974). As a result Morocco entered into ciaos and rule of shattered states notably the ones of Barghwata, Maghrawa and Bani Yafran. The age of the Berber dynasties was soon to be launched. The heyday of Moroccan history corresponds to the rule of the three Berber dynasties that succeeded to the throne from the fifth/eleventh to the eighth/fourteenth centuries: the Almoravids (“al-Murabitun”; 1061-1147), the Almohads (“al-Muwahhidun”; 1130-1269), and the Marinids (“al-Mariniyun”; 1244-1398) corresponding to the three major Berber tribes Sanhaja, Masmuda, and Zenata.

Under the Almoravides

The Murabitun (Almoravid dynasty), the veiled tribe of Lamtouna that lived in the Sahara desert, was founded by the Sufi Sidi Abdellah ibn Yassin (d. 451/1036), the student of Sidi Waggag ibn Zulu who took the Tariqa from Sidi Abu Imran al-Fasi (d. 430/1015) who had it himself from Imam al-Junaid of Baghdad. The Murabitun came up north and settled in Aghmat. They built the city of Marrakech and created a strong and unified empire which extended from the Senegal river to the Erbe river in Muslim Spain. After the Murabitun replaced heresy with orthodoxy and institute a proper Islamic state in Morocco, first they headed to Andalusia under the Commander of Faithful Yusuf ibn Tachafin. The armiy of Yusuf ibn Tachafin entered the Andalusia on several occasions (479/1086, 481/1088, /4861093) and defeated King Alfonso at the Battle of Sagrajas (Zallaqah) in 479/1086. The event occured when Yusuf ibn Tashfin replied to the call of three Andalusian leaders (Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad and others) and crossed to Andalusia. He marched with his army to the north of al-Andalus until he reached az-Zallaqah. The Almoravid army accumulated warriors from all over al-Andalus. Alfonso, realising that he should be ready to confront his enemy went back to his stronghold in Toledo. He called the King of Aragon for help. Some more help came from France and Italy and the two armies started their preparation for the battle, they had their confrontation in Toledo in 479/1086. The two leaders exchanged messages before the battle. Yusuf ibn Tashfin is reputed to have offered three choices to the Castilians: convert to Islam, to pay tribute (jizyah), or battle. The battle started on Friday at dawn with an attack from Castile. The battle was a decisive victory for the Almoravids. The battle resulted in the defeat of Alfonso and his army and extended the life of the Muslims in Andalucia for three centuries. Ibn Tachafin's actions halted the southward expansion of the Christian kingdoms. Ibn Tachfin, the victorious was now called the Prince of the Faithful. He was hailed as the saviour of Andalusia and Islam. Marrakech became the capital of that empire in 484/1091. He was also the first Moroccan king to cross the Straits of Gibraltar.

Under Abu Bakr b. Omar (d. 480/1087), the cousin of Yusuf ibn Tachafin, however, the movement proceeded to Africa in the pursuit of its objectives. They continued their campaign against the infidels until the latter agreed to abandon their heretical beliefs.  On arrival to the south, Abu Bakr made a base at Azzugi a town on the edge of the Sahara, north of the Senegal River. As the south became Islamised, it became more secure, boosting trade and guaranteeing the flow of gold northwards, enabling the Murabitun there to continue to strike such a coinage in the Maghreb and Andalusia. Certainly, trade could not be the only beneficiary of the Islamisation and pacification of the Sahel and Western Africa. There must have been scholars from the north coming to the south to give a hand in the obviously expanding teaching opportunities and perhaps students from the south going north for further studies. Dearth of written records at this stage of the history of the region will not allow us to say with certainty the volume of traffic of these scholars and students. But the ultimate transformation of the region bears a clear testimony to this scholarly traffic. Similarly, the details of the campaigns of Abu Bakr are not available. It is easy to understand why. The level of education and literacy was low as the culture of learning was just spreading. Scholars must have been busy teaching the basics of Islam with little or no time left for the luxury of compiling chronicles and biographies. But here again the effects of Abu Bakr's campaigns and the impact of the teachings of the Murabitun scholars was to reveal itself in the speed with which Ghana and its environs became Islamised and the pagan power base withered away paving the way for the emergence of Mali with a clear Muslim power base and unmistakable Islamic leadership. We have been assured, however, that Abu Bakr continued his campaigns non-stop until he died in the year 480/1087. This means Abu Bakr campaigned in the area for some fifteen years.  

Under the Almohads

The figure of the Idrissid Sharif, Sidi Mohammed al-Mahdi b. Tumart(d. 524/1130), Mahdi of the Almohads (al-Muwahhidun), continues to loom large over the Maghreb seven hundred years after the passing of the state created by his successor Abdelmumin ibn Ali (d. 551/1136). Massive monuments of brick and stone, physical reminders of a century and a half of Almohad power (515-674/1100-1259), attest to the vitality of a movement that for a time united the Muslim West from Ifriqiya (Tunisia) to the Atlantic coast of Spain (Andalusia), whose army posed a threat to Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi in Egypt, and, but for the untimely death of its first "Caliph," very nearly succeeded in extending Islamic rule once again to the Pyrenees. Muslim historians tell us of the horror Ibn Tumart's movement inspired in its enemies, such as that which compelled a Maliki jurist to flee from the Andalus to Egypt, and thence to India before he felt safe enough to die in peace. Scholars from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century have discussed Almohad politics and administration, as well as the roles played by figures like muhtasibs, mizwars, huffadh, and tullab in spreading the Mahdi's doctrine of tawhid (Oneness of God) throughout the region.

A companion of of Sidi Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 526/1111), his successor Abdelmounin ibn Ali al-Ghumi was an Idrissid sharif via his mother, Lalla Talu bint Atiyya, who descended from Lalla Gannuna (Berber. “Shining Moon”), daughter of Moulay Idriss II, the founder of Fez. Indeed the Bani Ganuna clan of the Gumiya tribe of the Eastern Desert. The Almohads gradually took over Morocco, extinguishing the Almoravids (Murabitun) there and making Marrakech their own capital. In Andalusia, there was a vacuum of power after the decline of the Almoravides, in which some local groups like the Taifas of the previous century reappeared (e.g. Valencia, Cordova and Murcia); then in 540/1145 Abdelmumin dispatched an army to Andalusia and soon occupied all the Muslims territory there. A powerful Almohad kingdom, now with its capital at Seville, was constituted; Abdelmumin concurred as far as Tunis and Tripoli, the Ayyubid Salahuddin (Saladin) sought his alliance and naval assistance against the Franks. A famous adage of Salahuddin: “I trust none but Moroccans”.  Thus, in wars against the Christian Crusaders, he achieved great success with the capture of Jerusalem (Friday 21, Rajab, 583 / Oct. 2, 1187), ending its nearly nine decades of occupation by the Franks.

According to Ibn Abi Zar's Rawd al-qirtas:

“Abdelmumin ruled with wisdom and goodness. He excelled over all the Almohads in his virtue, knowledge, piety and horsemanship. The colour of his skin was white, and his cheeks were reddish; he had dark eyes, a tall stature, long and fine eyebrows, an eagle nose and a tick beard. He was fluent in speech, familiar with the sayings of the prophet, well-read and indeed learned in the things of the faith and of the world, and a master of grammar and history. His morals were beyond reproach and his judgment sound. He was a generous warrior, enterprising and imposing, strong and victorious. Thanks to God's help he never attacked a country without capturing it, nor an army without vanquishing it. He was particularly fond of men of letters and scholars, and was himself a good poet… He was as infallible in his judgment as he was powerful. He was so modest that he gave the impression that he possessed nothing. He liked neither diversions nor distractions and never rested. The whole of the Maghrib was subject to him, and Spain feel into his hands, from the Christians he took Mehdia in Tunisia and Almeria, Evora, Baeza, and Badajoz in Andalusia…”

Under the Marinids

In 1169, the Marinids began their pursuit of taking Morocco from the Almohads, the ruling dynasty at the time. Following their expulsion from the south, they moved northwards under command of Abu Yahya ibn Abd al-Haqq and took Fes in 1248, making it their capital. This marked the beginning of the Marinid dynasty. The Marinid leadership installed in Fes declared war on the Almohads with the aid of Christian mercenaries. Abu Yusuf Yaqub (1259-1286) captured Marrakech in 1269, and then took control of most of the Maghreb towards the end of 1268, including present-day Morocco, Algeria and part of Tunisia. After the Nasrids cession of Algeciras to the Marinidas, Abu Yusuf went to Andalusia to support them in their struggle against the Kingdom of Castile. Having obtained this control, the Marinid dynasty tried to extend its control to the commercial traffic of the Strait of Gibraltar. To this end, they declared jihad on the Christians and occupied the cities of Rota, Algiers and Gibraltar successively, surrounding Tarifa for the first time in 1294. Internal power struggles among the Marinids followed, which didn't however prevent Abu Said Uthman II (1310-1331) from substantial construction work in Fez. Several madrasas for the education of public servants were founded, in order to support the centralization of administration and to reduce the influence of the Marabous. The Marinids also strongly influenced the policy of the Kingdom of Granada, from which they enlarged their army in 1275. In the mid 699/1300, Castile made several incursions into Morocco and in 665/1267 a full-scale invasion of Morocco, but the Marinids successfully defended Morocco and drove out the Castilians. Under Abu al-Hasan (1331-1348) another attempt to reunite the Maghreb was made. In 1337 the empire of the Abdalwadids in (what is now called) Algeria was conquered, followed in 1347 by the empire of the Hafsids in Ifriqiya (Tunisia). However in 740/1340 the Marinids suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a Portuguese-Castilian coalition at the Battle of Rio Salado, and finally had to withdraw from Andalusia. There was Portuguese activity in northern Morocco: Ceuta (Sebta) was conquered by the Portuguese in 817/1415, taken by Spain in 987/1580. Mellilla was conquered by Spain in 902/1497. (Both these territories are still occupied by Spain - the last remaining European colonies in Africa.)

Abul Hassan was deposed by his son Abu Inan Faris (1348-1358), who reconquered Algeria and Tunisia. Despite several successes, the dynasty began to decline after the murder of Abu Inan Faris, strangled by his own vizier in 759/1358. Patron Saint of Salé of that time was of course Shaykh Sidi Ahmed ibn Achir (d. 764/1349). He was a contemporary of Sultan Abu Inan Faris. The biographer Ahmed Ibn Qunfudh (d. 810/1407) testifies that the Shaykh fled from the presence of the sultan when they first met in 763/1361. Since Ibn Qunfudh was then employed as a judge for the Marinids, Sidi Ben Achir's reaction may have been due to his fear of exposing himself to the sins of one who passed judgment over others. When the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris, who had come to power by deposing and eventually murdering his father, sought Sidi Ben Achir's counsel in 757/1342, the Shaykh went to extraordinary lengths to avoid meeting him. Sidi Ben Achir's reclusiveness, however, did not prevent him from speaking out on matters of principle. Soon after Abu Inan's aborted visit, the Shaykh wrote a brutally frank letter to the Sultan, in which he criticised the deposition of Abu Inan's father, Abul Hassan al-Marini, and condemned Abu Inan's luck of social justice. After disavowing any political motives of his own, Sidi Ben Achir admonished the Sultan with this warning: "Know that God watches over you at every moment in time, at every hour, at every breath, and at every blink of the eye. [Know that] you must encounter Him, that He will ask you about what you have done, and that His justice will envelop you. He will also ask you about the affairs of your subjects and what you have done for them." To prevent Abu Inan from failing further into error, Sidi Ben Achir advised his to study al-Muhasibi's Kitab ar-ri'aya li huquq Allah, so that "perhaps through the baraka of this [book] God will enable you to acquire the fear of God and mercy, which will be the means of your deliverance." Finally, the Shaykh gave the Sultan some practice advice: "The Commander of the Faithful must remember that neither his servants nor his bodyguard will save him. Instead, they will flee from him on the Day of Judgment as he will flee from them. God will not grant you anything unless you maintain Him in your heart and act according to what He has commanded and forbidden you to do. In a reply to Sidi Ben Achir, Abu Inan accepts the Shaykh's criticisms but offers the excuse that "all who hold power are unjust and despotic, are delivered by their confidants, and allow their intimates to carry them away with their passions." Less than two years later, in 759/1358, the Sultan would be assassinated by these very intimates, the "Shaykhs of Banu Marin," who feared his attempts to replace the Marinid system with an Almohad-style centralised state. 

Under the Saadis

The early rise of sharifism in Fez took place again under the Marinids (1269-1465), with the Idrissids still playing an important role and with a pronounced mythical dimension that was symbolized by the miraculous discovery of the body of Moulay Idriss in Fez and the extension of his sanctuary. The Battle of the "Wadi al-Makhazin", also known as “Battle of Three Kings” marked the Marinid Dynasty. “Wadi al-Makhazin” was a major battle fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir between Tangier and Fez, on 22, Jumada Thaniya, 986/ 4, August 1578, between the Moroccans and the Christians (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and German) under King Sebastian who attacked northern Morocco with 125.000 men and 200 cannons. They wanted to occupy Morocco and christianise it as they have done with Andalusia. The combatants were the army of the King Sebastian of Portugal and the Moroccan army nominally under Abd Al-Malik Saadi. The militantly Christian king had planned a crusade after al-Mutawakkil asked king Sebastian to help him recover his throne, which his uncle Abd Al-Malik had taken from him. Sebastian wished to subject Muslim Morocco to Christian rule. Allied with the deposed Moroccan sultan, al-Mutawakkil, he landed at Tangier weighed down by much artillery and an army of 20,000 men. At the Wadi al-Makhazin near Ksar el-Kebir, between the Loukkos River and one of its tributaries, Sebastian struck at Abd al-Malik and his brother Ahmed. The Muslim forces, though not as well equipped as the Portuguese, numbered 50,000 men—infantry and cavalry. They forced the Christians to retreat to Larache on the coast, but, in crossing the Wadi al-Makhazin, which was then at high tide, many drowned or surrendered. Both Sebastian and al-Mutawakkil were drowned, and Abd al-Malik, seriously ill from the beginning of the encounter, died during the battle —hence the name of the battle. The victory provided the Muslim soldiery with a rich booty and the country with a new sultan, Ahmad, now known as Ahmed al-Mansur Dahbi (Ahmed the Victorious the Golden); it gave Morocco a new prestige in Europe, furthering its diplomatic and commercial status. The death of the young Sebastian without heir, on the other hand, brought the Portuguese empire under Spanish control for the next 60 years. 

Shaykh Sidi Mohammed Sharqi al-Umari ("Boujad"; d. 1010/1595) was the Qutb of the Time. Hence Shaykhs of the orders participated in the battle. Shaykh Abul Mahasin al-Fasi of the Shadhiliya order has himself attended Wad al-Makhazin along with the Jazulite masters Sidi Abdellah Benhassoun (d. 1013/1598) and Sidi Mhammed ibn Ali ibn Raysun (d. 1018/1603), which took place in 986/1571). We want to mention here the three positions of Sidi Abul Mahasin al-Fasi during and after the battle. The first position was when people were alarmed by the army of the Portuguese which was occupying Moroccan lands, and which had almost reached al-Qasr all-Kabir, the birthplace of Shaykh Abul Mahasin. People decided to leave the land and flee to the mountains since the Sultan of Morocco was still in Marrakech about 100 kilometres from there. Shaykh Sidi Abul Mahasin spoke to people and encouraged them to remain firm. He said: "Stay in your towns and homes. The King of the Christians is confined where he is until the Sultan comes from Marrakech'. The Christians will be booty for the Muslims. Whoever wishes will be able to receive 50 uqiyyas for each Christian," indicating their price. The second position was during the battle itself. We read in Ahmed ibn Khalid Nasiri's (d. 1312/1897) Kitab al-Istiqsa, "On that day Shaykh Abul Mahasin was in one of the flanks. I think that there was some movement by the Muslim army and there was a break on that side. The Muslim lines broke and the Christians attacked them, but the Shaykh stood firm as did those with him until Allah give victory to the Muslims." The third position was when Shaykh Abul Mahasin was present on an expedition in which he fought, but refrained from the booty, not taking any of it because it was looted and not taken in legal manner due to the death of the Sultan that day.

Ahmed al-Mansour Dahbi (1012/1603 in Fez) ruled the Saadi dynasty from 986/1578 to his death in 1012/1603, the sixth and most famous of all rulers of the Saadis. He was the third son of Mohammed Shaykh (d. 910/1505) who had seized Fez from the Idrissids in 876/1471. Ahmed al-Mansur was an important figure in both Europe and Africa in the sixteenth century, his powerful army and strategic location made him an important power player in the late renaissance period. Al-Mansur began his reign by leveraging his dominant position with the vanquished Portuguese during prisoner ransom talks, the collection of which filled the Moroccan royal coffers. Morocco's standing with the Christian states was still in flux. Ahmed al-Mansur developed friendly relations with England in view of an Anglo-Moroccan alliance. In 1600 he sent his Secretary Abdelwahid ibn Masoud as ambassador to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I of England to negotiate an alliance against Spain. But al-Mansur knew that the only way his regime would survive was to continue to benefit from alliances with the Christian economic powers. To do that Morocco had to control sizable gold resources of its own. Accordingly, al-Mansur was drawn irresistibly to the trans-Saharan gold trade of the Songhai. The Songhai Empire, was a pre-colonial African state centered in eastern Mali. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, it was one of the largest African empires in history. On October 16, 1590, Ahmed took advantage of recent civil strife in the empire and dispatched an army of 4,000 men across the Sahara desert under the command of converted Spaniard Judar Pasha. Though the Songhai met them at the Battle of Tondibi with a force of 40,000, they lacked the Moroccan gunpowder weapons and quickly fled. Ahmed advanced, sacking the Songhai cities of Timbuktu and Djenné, as well as the capital Gao. Despite these initial successes, the logistics of controlling a territory across the Sahara soon grew too difficult, and the Saadians lost control of the cities not long after 1603. The absence of the restraining force of the state of Songhay meant a free-for-all situation, with various groups vying for control. The nomads, especially the Tuaregs, seemed to have had a field day, ceaselessly harassing the settled groups, creating an atmosphere of insecurity and uncertainty. Predictably this situation affected trade and caused movements and dislocation of peoples. It was to continue until the emergence of the Qadiri Sufi Shaykh, Sidi Mukhtar al-Kunti (1729-1811), about the mid eighteenth century.

Rise of the Alawid

At the end of 1660's, the Alawi Imam and admirable warrior Moulay Rachid I ibn Mohammed (d. 1087/1672) was able to seize power. He completed the conquest of the major part of today's Morocco. His successor sultan Moulay Ismail (d. 1139/1727), the second king of the Alawite dynasty and founder of the city of Meknes, extended the borders of the Moroccan empire south to Mauritania, during which it is often reported that during his reign a woman or a Jew could travel alone from the farthest south of the country to its farthest north without being in fear about his safety. His long reign (1672-1727) saw the consolidation of Alawi power and the development of an effective army trained in professional military techniques. In 1672, with the sudden death of his half brother, Mawlay Rashid, founder of the dynasty, Sultan Ismail, then acting viceroy in Fez, immediately seized the treasury and had himself proclaimed ruler. His claim was challenged by three rivals--a brother, a nephew, and al-Khidr Ghilan, a tribal leader of northern Morocco. These rivals were supported by the Ottomans, acting through Algiers, who hoped to weaken the Alawis by supporting internal subversion so that they could extend their rule over Morocco. As a result, relations with the Ottoman regent of Algiers were strained throughout Sultan Ismail's reign. The succession war lasted five years. Al-Khidr Ghilan was defeated and killed in September 1083/1673, but Sultan Ismail had greater difficulties with the brother and nephew. He finally included them in the Moroccan power structure by recognizing them as semi-independent governors of important provinces. He completed the internal pacification of Morocco in 1097/1686 with the final defeat and death of his nephew Ahmad ibn Mahraz.

In 1083/1673 Sultan Ismail created the ‘Abid al-Bukhari, or slaves of Bukhari, who gained fame by this title for swearing allegiance to the Sultan on the Sahih of Imam Bukhari. The ‘Abid al-Bukhari army made up of slaves bought from their masters and enlisted into this army together with freeborn blacks. The contingent was provided with women, and the offspring of these unions were entered into special schools and given specialized military training. Toward the end of his reign he had a black army of more than 150,000 men, of whom about 70,000 were kept as a strategic reserve in and around Meknès. His army was equipped with European arms, and his officers learned to combine artillery with infantry effectively. He used these forces against the Ottomans in Algiers in the years 1089/1679, 1092/1682, and 1695/96 in expeditions designed to pacify his frontiers and to punish the regent of Algiers. In the end the Ottomans agreed to respect Moroccan independence. Mawlay Ismail’s relations with the European powers were much more complex. He hated the Europeans as infidels, yet needed them as suppliers of arms and other finished products. Throughout his reign there was intermittent warfare with the European settlers of the Moroccan seaports: in 483/1091 he captured Mamora Forest from the Spanish, and in 1684 he expelled the English from Tangier. In order to challenge Spain for possession of its settlements within Morocco, he became increasingly friendly with Louis XIV of France, the enemy of Spain. France was to reap great commercial benefits from this friendship. French influence became paramount in Morocco; French officers trained Moroccan artillerymen and helped in the building of public works. The palace of Meknès, styled on that of Versailles, was a massive monument to Ismail’s will and determination.

But it is was  Sulan Sidi Mohammed b. Abdellah's  (1170/1757-1204/1790) who tried legitimizing his role in the Muslim East. To begin with, most Mashariqa were unfamiliar with the Maghrib, often seen as a far western dependency of the Ottoman Empire. Indeed the first embassy sent to the Othmani Court in 1175-76/1761 headed by al-Hajj al-Khayyat al-Fasi and al-Tahir Bannani, was not well received. When the second Sharifian delegation headed by Faqih al-Tahir b. 'Abd al-Salam al-Salawi and al-Tahir Bannani al-Ribati arrived in Constantinople in 1179-80/1766-67. Sultan Mustafa III was this time impressed, particularly by the return of Turkish captives from Spain whom Sidi Mohammed had helped liberate. Realizing Sidi Mohammed's influence in European circles, the Padishah obliged the latter's request for arms. From then on, Sidi Mohammed was often represented at the court of Constantinople, particularly during the Ottoman-Russian crisis. In 1198/1783, at the height of Catherine II's aggressive policy toward La Porte, Sidi Mohammed sent a large deputation headed by al-Tahir b. Abd al-Haqq Fannish to Constantinople, in order to transmit his 'full support' to Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid I. At the same time Sidi Mohammed helped La Porte establish contacts with Spain over the problem of captives. 

Sidi Mohammed was anxious to bring about a peaceful solution to the Algerian-European contention over piracy. When the Algerians scorned at his interference and politico-religious pretensions, Sidi Mohammed reacted with acerbitude, by trying to discredit the Regency at the Ottoman Court. What Sidi Mohammed had hoped to achieve was the allusive if not tacit agreement from La Porte to annex the Regency of Algiers to his realm, this in view of Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid's preoccupation with the Russian threat. At the same time Spain was notified of his pretensions which the Moroccan Sultan presented as an efficacious remedy against Algerian piracy. The plan however was not pursued and Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid I only appealed to the Algerians to show more respect to the Moroccan ruler.

In 1200/1786, Sidi Mohammed sent another delegation to Constantinople, headed this time by his secretary and historian al-Zayyani; al-Zayyani carried among other gifts destined to Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid, copies of Sidi Mohammed's al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyya. But the purpose of the deputation seemed to have centered on the Ottoman-Russian conflict and the possibi¬lity of a Moroccan loan (650,000 gold riyals) to Constantinople. Upon his return, al-Zayyani convinced his master of the necessity to help the beleaguered Ottoman sultan financially. 650,000 gold riyals (duros) were consequently sent to La Porte via Spain and France, in a gesture of grandiosity, certain to increase Sidi Mohammed's prestige. Moreover, another sum of 270,000 gold duros destined originally for the liberation of Muslim captives in Malta and Naples were diverted to the Ottoman Court for the purpose of Jihad. In 1201/1786 and 1202/1787 two Ottoman delegations arrived in turn in Morocco for further talks on military cooperation. The following year, Sidi Mohammed sent his Qa'id Mohammed al-Zawin b. Abd 'Allah with more arms and thirty slaves to the Padishah, while four ships led by al-Hajj al-Makki Barghash al-Ribati left Sale for Constantinople with a shipment of gun powder.

In 1777 Sulan Sidi Mohammed b. Abdellah (d. 1204/1790) made history to be the first statesman to recognize the fledgling United States as an independent nation. On December 20, 1777, Sidi Mohammad declared that the American merchant ships would be under the protection of the sultanate and could thus enjoy safe passage. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship treaty. It was signed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Renegotiated in 1836, the Treaty of Marrakech is still in force, constituting the longest unbroken treaty relationship in US history. As testament to the special nature of the US-Moroccan relationship, the city of Tangier is home to the oldest US diplomatic property in the world, and the only building on foreign soil that is listed in the US National Register of Historic Places, the American Legation in Tangier (now a museum).

Sidi Mohammed's deep religiosity and attachment to the Sunna led him to undertake the thorough analysis of Hadith and Fiqh, from which he emerged convinced that the two Madhahib most suited for Morocco were Malikism and Hanbalism for their rectitude and uncompromising stand on matters of law. Sidi Mohammed favored however the unification of all four Madhahib, a mood of the time characterized by a marked reluctance towards 'Madhhabism". As an accomplished 'Alim, he displayed the full range of his erudition in a series of scholarly productions. Sidi Mohammed's most celebrated books are: al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyya, [completed in 1198/1783] His al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyya, is arguably the best and most famous of his scholastic accomplishments and perhaps the only one to compare in both literary quality and scope with the Zabidi's and the Kuranis’. Completed in 1198/1783, it was widely circulated throughout the realm. Both Shaykh al-Tawdi b. Suda (d. 1209/1794) and Abi al-Qasim al-Sijilmasi (d. 1214/1799) helped propagate the work. Commentaries on the Futuhat were also written, particularly during the reign of Mawlay Sulayman (commentary by Ibn Qaddur d. 1231/1815). Great efforts were also made by the sultan to help disseminate his religious convictions in the Muslim East, as reflected in the Futuhat and the Jami' al-Sahih; it was designed to boost his prestige abroad, as part of his campaign to identify himself with the Ahl al-Hadith movement. The first copies of the two books reached Egypt, the Haramayn and Constantinople during al-Zayyâni's mission to the East in 1200-1201/ 1786-87. To encourage the 'Ulamâ' and their Talaba to read his Fututet,Sidi Mohammed promised 100 dinar for each Faqih who would complete his assignment. He also distributed money to the religious endowments of Alexandria and the Haramayn. Two well known Egyptian 'Ulama, Mohammed b. Mohammed al-Amir al-Maliki al Azhari and Mohammed b. 'Abd 'Allah al-Ma'ti al-Hariri al-Hanafi were among the first to praise the Futuhat, calling it a 'ray of Sunnism’. 

After 922/1517, despite the Ottoman turning from Persian to Arab culture, Egypt and its capital lost much prestige. Istanbul was now the capital of the Islam world: Cairo was merely an appendage. Already bleak, the Egyptian situation had been made worse by unfortunate political developments, i.e. the echoes of the anti-Sufi activities of the Wahhabis, and worsening of overall religious applications in the East.  No other writing depicts the superiority of the Maghreb over the Mashriq than Moroccan journey literature. Shaykh Mohammed ibn Hajj al-Abdari al-Fasi’s criticism of the East is perhaps the most severe. What is striking in al-'Abdari's writing is his deep pessimism coupled with an unmistakable feeling of abhorrence at the state of affairs in the Muslim East. His ability to write poetry adds another dimension to the impression of despondency his Rihla conveys. The sense of unease toward certain answerable innovations practiced in the Mashriq is tangible everywhere. The decadence that has begun to engulf Dar al-Islam is depicted with rare perspicuity. His depiction of the religious fervor of the populace, touching, rubbing, and licking the blackstone as well as the mass hysteria around the well of Zamzam is equally grotesque. Al-'Abdari has nothing but contempt for these "Bida' wa Manakir" as he calls them. He is par­ticularly appalled by the dirt that is disgracing the Holy Mosque (as black as a kitchen), and the little care people take of the most sacred places matters of religious decisions. Abu al-Hassan Mohammed b. Ahmad b. Jubayr al-Kinani al-Andalusi al-Shatibi al-Balansi, otherwise known as Ibn Jubayr, gives us detailed information about the state of lawlessness in the Mashriq and the exploitation of pilgrims by unscrupulous profiteers. However, as a true Maghribi nationalist, Ibn Jubayr insists that only the Maghrib (Andalusia included) knows true Islam.

Abi al-Qasim al-Tajibi was also greatly amazed at the way the people of the Mashriq recite the Quran, particularly the Egyptians. Ibn Batuta's Rihla to the East is of course a masterpiece. He was a native of Tangier, and spent 28 years of his life traveling throughout the Muslim East. He was also named Qadi of the Moroccan Rakb to the Hijaz. In his conclusion Ibn Batuta reasserts the superiority of the Maghrib over the Muslim East in matters of religion, good government and prosperity. In his Ma' al-Mawa'id (al-Rihla al-'Ayyashiyya), the Imam Sidi Abu Salim al-'Ayyashi (1038/1628-1909/1679) described his difficulties in hiding his exasperation at not being able to hear the Khutba due to a shouting mob (Su'arb nun darb wa shatm bi al-alfaz). In al-Madinah, he takes umbrage at the vociferous Egyp­tian contingent and its trumpet blasting when celebrat­ing the East. He is particularly ireful at the Egyptian women who mingle with men immodestly. He then con­cludes sententiously, "Wa bi’l jumla fa ‘awwam al-Misriyyin min ab'ad al-ghawgha' 'an isabat al-sawab."

As most Maghribi Journeyers, al-Ishaqi is a vehement critic of the Muslim East, due to conflicting reactions to certain practices deemed unorthodox and deviationist. However, what is new in al-Ishaqi's trenchant polemic is a statement he makes regarding the state of knowledge in the Mashriq which he pessimistically dismisses as decadent of not altogether absent. The people of the Hijaz, claims al-Ishaq, are "A'ajim," that is "Barbarians," who have no heart and know no religion. He then remarks laconically that Islam exists only in the Maghrib, because its people strictly follow Malikism (fi al-furu') and Asharism (fi al-'aqida), which has enabled them to avoid religious aberrations, unlike the Mashriq where "Bida', wa firaq dalla, wa shiya'..." are everywhere to be found; Maghribi ulama', adds al-Ishaqi, are free from preposterous dogmatic inter­pretations, but know instead their Fiqh, Usul, Tafsir (commentaries) and i'rab (grammar).

And when Mashriqi Wahhabism which reached Fez between 1218/1803 and 1222/1807, it engendered cynicism and anger among the 'Ulama. In an unprecedented move destined to secure the pilgrimage for his subjects, Mawlay Sulayman resolved to send a delegation to the Haramayn. The Sultan's decision must have been inspired by several motives: a desire to increase his prestige at home by avoiding any forced curtailment of the traditional Maghribi caravan to the holy cities; a visible interest in the Wahhabi doctrine as a portent force against the Siba; a hope to temper the Wahhabis' excessive religious zeal by a congenial gesture; an intent to have his 'Ulama confront those of the Wahhabis, in the hope that they may come to a better understanding of Wahhabi articles, which would mollify their initial acrimony, and would in turn support Sulayman's revolution to promote Wahhabism in his empire, Consequently, Sulayman entrusted his Faqih, the Tijani Companion, Shaykh al-Tayyib b. Kiran (d. 1229/1813) with the task of scribing a commendatory letter addressed to Imam Su'ud b. Abdellaziz.

The stand on Wahhabism by Sultan Moulay Sulayman’s (d. 1238/1822) minister, Sulayman al-‘Hawwat, is in a sense more parochial and consequently ill-disposed to the excesses by the Wahhabis. The author extols the merits of Sultan Moulay Sulayman’s erudition and suavity, an obvious attempt to dissoci­ate the Sultan from Wahhabism. Moreover, Sulayman's affability and conciliatory posture according to al-Hawwat, "enabled Mawlay Ibrahim son of Sultan Moulay Sulayman and his entourage to perform the pilgrimage in 1227/1811 (during the time of the residence of the Concealed Pole Sidna Shaykh Abil Abbas Ahmed Tijani in Fez) in the land of Sulayman where they arrived in safety protected by the glory of religion. His host (Ibn Su'ud) presumably hastened to welcome his eminent visitor.

“It is little wonder that the East scintillated in bedazzlement of Mawlay Sulayman's glory, the inheritor of the land of the West. Sa’ud [comments al-Hawwat] is that Sultan of al-Yamama, a sectarian who has repudiated the edicts of Malik... Malik whose doctrine is faultless... Praise the Lord we have an Imam (Sulayman) whose rule was based on cognition and who gave the caliphate to the more meritorious.”

Al-Hawwat dwells then on the greatness and superiority of the Maghrib,

“The East [proclaims al-Hawwat] wishes to be the West... Muslims, praise Sulayman for his impeccable rule... the Maghrib prides itself over the East for its religiosity... for the absence of Maks tax and other accretions... this has encouraged Easterners to travel to the West... wishing to be ruled by our praiseworthy Sultan whose radi­ance has glimmered in the Hijaz... and Saud could only bow to the lion's cub [Mawlay Ibrahim].”

The author of the Salwa, Shaykh al-Kattani, quotes another saying of the great scholar Sidi Ali ibn Maymun al-Idrissi al-Hassani al-Fasi (d. 917/1502 in Damascus), who spread the path of Abu Madyan al-Ghawt in Anatolia and the Sham, wrote about Fez as follows,

“In my whole life, I have never seen its equal not have I seen any other scholars who have so perfectly preserved the sacred law in word and deed (as well as the writings of its formulator, Imam Malik), and who have so perfectly mastered the the other sciences, such as jurisprudence, Quranic exegesis, and expertise in hadith. In Fez one finds masters of all branches of intellectuality, such as grammar, law of inheretence, mathematics, chronometery, geometery, metaphysics, logic, rhetoric, music, etc., and these masters know all the relevant texts by heart. Whoever does not know by heart the basic text relating to science about which he speaks, and who cannot, on any question, quote its verbatism, will receive no attention; as a scholar, he will not be taken seriously. Since I left the city –it was in the year 901/1495– I have seen nothing that can be compared with Fez and its scholars, either in the other cities of the Maghreb such as Tlemsen, Bujaya, or Tunis, or any part of Syria.

In 1220/1805, Tension returned to mark Moroccan-Ottoman relations following the Darqawi Muqaddam Sidi Mohammed Benshrif al-Falliti al-Wahrani’a mutiny against the Dey of Algiers, the latter solicited the Moroccan Sultan Mawlay Sulayman's intervention in the dispute. The Sultan ordered the Shaykh Mawlay al-Arabi al-Darqawi (d. 1239/1823) to leave for Oran accompanied by al-Hajj al-Tahir Badu, with the task of persuading the rebellious Muqaddam to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict. But al-'Arabi al-Darqawi joined the rebels in Oran and Tlemcen and convinced them to say the Khutba in the name of Mawlay Sulayman, thus infuriating the Dey. The delegation then returned to Fez accompanied by a deputation from Tlemcen to offer the Bay'a to the Sultan. Although flattered by the request, Sulayman rejected it as being unworthy of him. He sent the mission back to Tlemcen after recommending its members to the clemency of the Dey.

Influence of Morocco continued under the reign of  the Sultan Moulay Abdurrahman (d. 1274/1859) even after the colonization of France to Algeria in 1245/1830. In 1256/1840, the sultan fearing that the French would attach Touat (Tuwat) to Algeria, charged the Wazzani Shaykh Sidi al-Haj al-Arbi al-Wazzani (d. 1266/1851) by formal decree (dahir) to administer it for him. The Moroccan-origin Sufi shaykh, Sidi Mohammed Ma' El Aynain (“his nickname he received as a child, meaning ‘water of the eyes’ in Arabic”; d. 1246/1831 in Tiznit, Sus), who is better remmebred for his inspiration and leadership of a Sahrawi resistance movement in a six years holy war against French and Spanish colonization in North Africa, have proclaimed that the Trab al-Beidan— a desert area that includes today's Mauritania, Western Sahara and large swaths of Mali and Algeria —was under the Moroccan rule. While the Shaykh was appointed as the Sultan’s representative in the Sahara and given control over his forces, this display of effective cooperation helped assemble a large coalition of tribes to fight the colonizers. After an agreement among the European colonial powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884 on the division of spheres of influence in Africa, Spain seized control of the Moroccan Western Sahara and established it as a Spanish protectorate after a series of wars against the local tribes reminiscent of similar European colonial adventures of the period, in the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere. 

Sidi Maa’ al-Aynayn began acquiring firearms and other materials, both through channels in Morocco and through direct negotiations with rival European powers such as Germany and Spain, and quickly built up an impressive fighting force. Increasingly disturbed by Western penetration of the area, which he viewed both as an intrusion by hostile foreign powers and as a Christian assault on Islam, Shaykh Sidi Maa’ al-Aynayn started to advocate resistance. Sahrawi tribes performed raids against the foreign forces even before that, but French troops drew ever closer, conquering one local ruler after the other. In 1904, the Shaykh proclaimed himself imam, and called for a holy war (Jihad) against the colonizers. His charisma as both a religious and political leader allowed him to gather tribes around him.

French activity in Morocco began during the 19th century; in 1321/1904 France and Spain secretly partitioned the territory of the sultanate, with Spain later creating Spanish Morocco from its portion. In 1327/1910, anarchy spread through Morocco, as European pressures were making Moroccan Sultanate weaker and weaker. On March 4, 1330/1912, the Sultan Moulay Hafid signed the Protectorate treaty with the French. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate, and consisted generally of the area of Morocco between Fez and Rabat south to Mogador, (current day Essaouira). Germany recognised French and Spanish territories in Morocco, receiving in return territories in the French Equatorial African colony of Middle Congo (now the Republic of the Congo). Meanwhile, Sidi Maa’ al-Aynayn was writing a theological text titled "Hidāyatu man Hārā fī Muhārabat an-Nasāra" (Guide for the One who Doubts the Legitimacy of the War against the Christians) in which he was inciting to Jihad and calling its adversaries traitors or even miscreants. The following year, the French began interrupting the flow of arms to the Jihadists. The uprising crumbled, as French forces—then under colonel Gouraud’s control—pushed forward. Sidi Maa’ al-Aynayn retreated to Tiznit. The Shaykh concerned that Morocco would fall into European hands, decided he would try to seize the country. He was proclaimed Sultan of Morocco in June, and immediately appointed head of an army of several thousand men, whose mission was to overthrow Moulay Hafid. He was intercepted on June 23, and his forces were destroyed by the modern French army. Sidi Maa’ al-Aynayn, then about 80 years old, fled back to Tiznit, where he died in October. Shaykh Sidi Mohammed Maa' al-Aynayn was succeeded by his son Sidi Mohammed Loghdof ("al-Aghdaf"; b. 1290/1875). As both marabout and leader of the Reguibat tribe, he soon became known to the French as 'our bitter enemy'. Another of Sidi Ma' El Aynayn's sons, Sidi Ahmed al-Hiba (d. 1336/1921), achieved the virtually impossible in 1330/1912 by storming the colonial jewel of Marrakech. Although Sidi al-Hiba was forced out of the city within a month, by his act of defiance he achieved immortality, and became known as the 'Blue Sultan'. In 1330/1912, the French burned Smara; but the city still remained the symbolic centre of the resistance. 

In the late 1374/1955, Sultan Mohammed ben Yusuf successfully negotiated the gradual restoration of Moroccan independence within a framework of French-Moroccan interdependence. In February 1375/1956, Morocco acquired limited home rule. Further negotiations for full independence culminated in the Spanish-Moroccan Agreement signed in Paris on March 2, 1956. On November 6, (1394) 1975, the Green March was celebrated when approximately 350,000 unarmed Moroccans converged on the city of Tarfaya and waited for a signal from King Hassan II to cross into the Sahara. They brandished Moroccan flags, photographs of the King and the Qur'an; the color green for the march's name was intended as a symbol of Islam. Thus the Spanish were forced to flee the Sahara without bloodshed. Meanwhile, Mauretania gained independence from Morocco in the aftermath of the Green March.   

Glad Tidings

Imam Qurtubi reports in Kitab Tadkirah that the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) said,

An island named Andalusia will be opened after me (satufta'h ba'adi jazira tusamma al-Andalus). The confederates (ahl al-kufr) will defeat them, take their money and much of their country, captive their women and children, torture them to death, and destroy their homes. Nearly all of the country becomes ruined and wrecked and people will leave everything behind. Most of the island will be gone. It will be death and horror in the Maghreb. Hunger and price hike will be widespread. Strife will increase and people would eat each other. By then a man from the descent of Fatima -the daughter of the Prophet- will come out from al-Maghreb al-Aqsa. He is the Mahdi (the Guided) and the Qaim at the End of Time (i.e. the who shall stand to establish the Divine Authority on earth) and he is the first Sign of the Hour." I said (al-Qurtubi) 'The events mentioned in the hadith of Muawiyah have all taken place expect the coming of the Mahdi.' 

It is interesting to note that Nostradamus, (1503–1566) who is credited with predicting in the book of "Les Propheties", which consists of rhymed quatrains (4-line poems), a copious number of events in world history, including the French Revolution, the atom bomb, the rise of Adolf Hitler and the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. In Century 6, Quatrain 80, Nostradamus predicted this time the emergence of the kingdom of al-Imam al-Mahdi from Fez, Morocco and the destruction of the West at his hand.

“From Fez the kingdom will stretch out to those of Europe. The city blazes, the sword will slash; the great man of Asia with a great troop by land and sea so that blues, perse, he will drive out the cross to death.”