Saadians - 1549-1666
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, it was the rising authority of the zaoufas that stimulated the renascence of Islamism, and gave birth to the Saadians. At the time, the Saadians had only several bands from the south around them, with whom they crossed the Atlas. They were, for the most part, Arabs of the Sahara, recruited in the Sus-Ouled-Djeorar, Ouled-Mettaa, Zenara, and Shebanat, who were soon settled in the Gharb, to keep in check the northern tribes, who were obstinate in their loyalty to the dying Merinids. In their desire to gain resources for themselves, to form a Court and an army, the Saadians were naturally led to adopt the model of the Turks, who were organising their recent settlement in Algeria, by strengthening the weak Ottoman forces with native military colonies, and Makhzen tribes, who received immunity from taxes in exchange for service.
Behind all the Berber turmoil a secret work of religious propaganda was going on. The Arab element had been crushed but not extirpated. The crude idolatrous wealth-loving Berbers apparently dominated; but whenever there was a new uprising or a new invasion it was based on the religious discontent perpetually stirred up by Mahometan agents. The longing for a Mahdi, a Saviour, the craving for purification combined with an opportunity to murder and rob, always gave the Moslem apostle a ready opening; and the downfall of the Merinids was the result of a long series of religious movements to which the European invasion gave an object and a war-cry.
The Saadians were Cherifian Arabs, newcomers from Arabia, to whom the lax Berber paganism was abhorrent. They preached a return to the creed of Mahomet, and proclaimed the Holy War against the hated Portuguese, who had set up fortified posts all along the west coast of Morocco. The Saadians were decsendants from the prophet Mohamed. They originally came from Arabiain the 12th Century, and settled in the valley of the Draa in the South of Morocco. They moved to Fez and were easily given power by the Wattasides.
The Saadians took control of all of Morocco. The Saadian shurfa defeated the Wattasids in 1536 and forced them to recognize the authority of the Saadians everywhere south of Tadla. The capture of Fes in 1549 is considered to mark the beginning of the Saad dynasty. Thenceforth, the period of this line and its successor, the Alawis, is often called that of the Sharifian dynasties. In 1550 Saadian forces succeeded in forcing the Portuguese to relinquish most of their Moroccan strongholds.
The Saadians united the people of the East, who had been driven back into Morocco by the Turkish conquest. This was the origin of the two first Makhzen tribes. Under the Saadians, and in the course of their constitution, the two tribes were not equally fortunate. Ehl-Sus was given the ungrateful task of garrisoning Tadla and Marrakech. The Sheraga, more fortunate, were continually being recruited by bands from the East. Under the favour of the Sultan Abdallah ben Echcheikh they became extraordinarily strong, and ended by constituting the greater part of the Shereefian army, and receiving numerous grants of land in the environs of Fez. Their arrogance became so insufferable that the Fasis rose against them and massacred a large number. Consequently they were concerned in all the agitations that marked the close of the Saadian period.
During the Saadians’ reign, the Portugueuse had always dreamed of regaining power in the Moroccan territories. King Sebastian who was asked helped from one of the sultans nephews, landed in Asilah with a massive force of soldiers, there followed a memorable battle in 1578 at Ksar Kbir. The battle was known as the battle of the Three Kings, in which the portugueuse army was defeated, and in which King Sebastian, the Pretender and the Sultan Abd El Malik died.
Glorious in their victory, the Saadians under the reign of Ahmed Saadi (1578-1603) settled down in Fez. The Badi Palace and the Ethereal Mausoleum (les tombeux Saadians) in Marrakesh are proofs of the wealth of Saadians. In the 16th Century, they rebuilt the town of Taroudant as their capital.
The religious movement of the sixteenth century was led and fed by zealots from the Sahara. One of them took possession of Rabat and Azemmour, and preached the Holy War; other "feudal fiefs" (as M. Augustin Bernard has well called them) were founded at Tameslout, Ilegh, Tamgrout: the tombs of the marabouts who led these revolts are scattered all along the west coast, and are still objects of popular veneration.
Subsequent Portuguese attempts to exploit rivalries among Saadian claimants to the throne resulted in the deaths in battle in 1578 of the leaders of the warring factions and the rise of Sultan Mulay Ahmad al Mansur, who is regarded as the greatest of the Saadian sultans. The title-name of Mulay is reserved for Islamic nobility who are descendants of the Prophet in the male line. Mansur prevented the Ottoman Turks, who were firmly established as far west as Tlemcen, from expanding into Morocco-a notable achievement for Moroccan history. Successful but costly expeditions to Timbuktu and the surrounding region in what is now Mali and Mauritania established Morocco as a leading slave-trading power and laid the basis of later Moroccan claims to the south. Morocco's prestige in European courts was high, and Mansur was treated with great respect by the European powers.
Much is owed to Sultan Mansur for the basic structure of the makhzan in the twentieth century. He reactivated many of the forms developed under the Berber dynasties and added elements borrowed from Ottoman practice, particularly in his rule of holdings to the south through pashas, or local governors. His policy of relying for military support on certain tribes, which in return were exempted from taxation, was followed by all his successors. These were called jaysh (see Glossary) tribes. He placed a caid, or local administrator, as tax collector and general representative of the makhzan in all tribes that submitted to his power.
Although the concept of the universal Islamic state persisted in theory, the Islamic world of North Africa and the Middle East early divided into political societies essentially tribal-military-authoritarian in nature. Fixed rules of succession were not firmly established, and the Islamic polities, veering between hereditary and consensuselectoral monarchies, became characterized by frequent and violent successional struggles. On Mansur's death the question of succession again divided the country, and the power and authority of the Saadians waned.
They were ambitious and luxury-loving princes, who invaded the wealthy kingdom of the Soudan, conquered the Sultan of Timbuctoo, and came back laden with slaves and gold to embellish Marrakech and spend their treasure in the usual demoralizing orgies. Their exquisite tombs at Marrakech commemorate in courtly language the superhuman virtues of a series of rulers whose debaucheries and vices were usually cut short by assassination.
With the second half of the seventeenth century began for the Saadians the inevitable decay to which all the Moroccan dynasties have successively succumbed. A favored tribe carries matters with a high hand in the Haouz, an influential zaouia dominates the Gharb, and the Alaouitic Shorfa rise in the Tafilelt. When these last had definitely established the present dynasty, it happened that Moulay er-Rechid, on his march towards the northern capital, attached several eastern clans to his cause, who were to furnish the Sheraga with a fresh lease of prosperity. As the Sultan wished to take the complaints of the people of Fez into consideration, he settled them all together at the bend of the Sebou up to its junction with the river Ouargha. There the Sheraga have prospered, and prosperity cured them of their turbulence.
The unorthodox saint worship which marks Moroccan Moslemism, and is commemorated by the countless white koubbas throughout the country, grew up chiefly at the time of the religious revival under the Saadian dynasty, and almost all the "Moulays" and "Sidis" vencrated between Tangier and the Atlas were warrior monks who issued forth from their fortified Zaouias to drive the Christians out of Africa. The Saadians were probably rather embarrassed by these fanatics, whom they found useful to oppose to the Merinids, but troublesome where their own plans were concerned.
Outside the limited areas in which the authority of the rival cities of Fes and Marrakech was recognized, a large number of marabouts held local power. Amid the chaos, another shurfa Arab tribe from the southern oases around Tafilalt was gaining a commanding position. This tribe, known both as the Alawi and the Filali, had come to Morocco from the Arabian Peninsula in Marinid times. Finally this austere and fanatical mountain tribe surged down on them, wiped them out, and ruled in their stead.
