Al-Rashid of Morocco
Moulay Al-Rashid ibn Sharif, known as Moulay Al-Rashid or Moulay Rachid , sometimes called Tafiletta by the English, was Sultan of Morocco from 1666 to 1672. He was the son of the founder of the 'Alawi dynasty, Moulay Sharif, who took power in the Tafilalt region in 1631.
In 1635, Moulay Rashid's half-brother Sidi Mohammed succeeded their still-living father. During his reign, Sidi Mohammed brought Tafilalt, the Draa River valley, Oujda and the Eastern Sahara region under 'Alawi rule. However, due to internal feuding, war broke out between the brothers, and Sidi Mohammed was killed on the battlefield on 2 August 1664.
Moulay Rashid succeeded his brother as Sultan of Tafilalt, and went on to conquer Taza and assert power in Sijilmasa. He subjugated the northern coastal areas of Morocco, ending the rule of the Dilaites. In 1669, he captured Marrakesh, and thereafter occupied the Sous and the Anti-Atlas, solidifying his control as the first 'Alawi sultan of Morocco.
Biography
Youth
Moulay Rashid was born in Sijilmasa in 1631, the same year his father Moulay Sharif was crowned Emir of Tafilalt. In 1636, Moulay Sharif lost power, officially abdicating on 23 April 1640 in favor of Sidi Mohammed, his eldest son and Moulay Rashid's brother.On 28 April 1646, the Dilaite Leader Mohammed al-Hajj defeated Sidi Mohammed in the battle of El Qa'a. Moulay Rashid, aged 15, witnessed the subsequent sack of Sijilmasa by the Dilaite troupes, an event he would later blame on his brother's failures.
Rebellions and imprisonment
Upon Moulay Sharif's death in 1659, Sidi Mohammed was once again proclaimed Sultan. Moulay Rashid refused to pledge allegiance to him, instead withdrawing from court, along with his partisans Qa'id Bargua Susi, Qa'id Bequal, Qa'id Tufer, and some soldiers. Sidi Mohammed followed them with a cavalry force, intercepting them en route to the Dra’a province. There he captured the group of rebels, imprisoned Moulay Rashid, and paraded his followers on mules with their hock cut off. Moulay Rashid escaped and resumed assembling troops, but Sidi Mohammed captured him once again, imprisoning him in a smaller cell and allowing only his most loyal servants to enter it.Time as a fugitive
After some time imprisoned in this cell, Moulay Rashid persuaded one of the servants to assist him in an escape. The two men, one working from each side, managed to break through a wall of the tower, and the servant provided Moulay Rashid with weapons and horses. Once Moulay Rashid was free, he killed his accomplice with a scimitar, unwilling to trust a slave who had betrayed his master.Fleeing the Sultanate of Tafilalt, Moulay Rashid arrived in the Toudga province, where he offered his services as a soldier to the marabout Sidi Mohammed ben Bou Beker. The sons of Bou Beker realized Moulay Rashid's identity when traveling Tafilalt merchants greeted him as the brother of the sultan; suspecting him to be disguised as part of some plot, they ambushed and tried to kill him. Moulay Rashid escaped the ambush and fled first to Demnat, then to the Dila'iya Zawiya. When the Dilaites demanded that Moulay Rashid leave, fearing he would bring about the destruction of their zawiya, he departed for Azrou. From there, Moulay Rashid traveled to Fez, where El Doraidi gave him great hospitality, before finally arriving in Taza, where he remained until 1664.
In Taza, Moulay Rashid offered his services to Ali Soliman, sheikh of Quiviane. Soliman first gave Moulay Rashid charge of his palace; over time, he entrusted him with his finances, making him Chief House Steward and Chief Justice Secretary.
As Moulay Rashid continued to excel in his tasks, both Ali Soliman and the common people came to hold him in great esteem. He gained a reputation for justice and righteousness, defending orphans and widows while deferring the credit for his achievements to the sheikh. Eventually, Ali Soliman made Moulay Rashid his lieutenant, giving him command of a number of troops and tasking him with the suppression of unrest in his territories.
Rise to power
Having secured command of troops from Ali Soliman, Moulay Rashid sought to seize power, and resolved to set out by seizing control of the Citadel Dar Ibn Mich'al. References from al-Zayani and the locate this fortress in the Snassen hill country. In 1664, under the pretext of an official visit to the governor, Moulay Rashid gained access to this citadel with his men, whereupon he seized control and plundered it for its riches. Moulay Rashid distributed some of the loot to his followers, and used the rest to equip his army.Having received word of Moulay Rashid's rebellion, Ali Soliman gathered an army of 7000 men and marched against him. Moulay Rashid's army comprised only 1500 infantrymen and 600 horsemen, but their morale was high from the recent windfall. Having made camp with his army on a plain near Ali Soliman's position, Moulay Rashid sent some of his men secretly into the enemy camp to advertise the high pay they received. This stratagem succeeded in convincing a number of Ali Soliman's troops to desert to Moulay Rashid's camp, although not enough to close the gap in numbers.
Ali Soliman engaged his men in battle quickly, hoping to defeat Moulay Rashid before more could desert, but they continued to defect during the battle itself. When Ali Soliman tried to escape the battlefield, a group of deserters from his army took him captive and brought him to the victorious Moulay Rashid, who offered to spare his life if Ali Soliman handed over all his wealth. However, when the men returned to Quiviane, Moulay Rashid had Ali Soliman executed, believing that he was concealing part of his fortune. Moulay Rashid kept Ali Soliman's gold for himself, but gave all his silver to his officers to be distributed to the soldiers, saying, ".. A Prince who buries them in the ground do not deserve to reign; come, my friends, let us share what your pains and affection for myself made you deserve."
Having seized control from Ali Soliman, Moulay Rashid proclaimed himself sultan and established himself in Oujda. His followers, mostly Maqil Arabs and Beni Snassen, swore him oaths of fidelity.
Battle of Angad
Hearing of his brother's rise to power, and fearing an attack on Sijilmasa, Sidi Mohammed set out north with 5000 cavalrymen and 9000 infantrymen. Moulay Rashid's army had now grown to 2100 cavalrymen and 8000 infantrymen, all voluntary elite troops whom he paid liberally with his new riches. Hoping to gain a tactical advantage to counterbalance his smaller army, Moulay Rashid marched with his army to meet his brother, and made camp in the mountains, where the terrain would prevent a mass cavalry charge.The battle of Angad took place on the 2nd of August 1664 on the eponymous Angad Plain, an arid plateau south of the Mont of the Beni Snassen. Soon after the battle began, Sidi Mohammed was killed by a bullet in the neck. The battle quickly became a rout, with Sidi Mohammed's leaderless army killed or taken prisoner by Moulay Rashid's men. After the battle, Moulay Rashid found Sidi Mohammed's corpse. Mourning his brother's death, he washed the body himself, and had it transported to the citadel Dar Ibn Mich'al for burial.
Moulay Rashid was now the de facto Sultan of Tafilalt, and sent emissaries to nearby tribes to have them swear their allegiance to him in Oujda. When Ibn Mich'al's widow came to Oujda, asking Moulay Rashid to release her captive son, Moulay Rashid agreed to do so in exchange for the location of her dead husband's hidden riches. These allowed him to pay and provision his army, now increased by the addition of Sidi Mohammed's surviving men.
Conquest of Fez
At this time, the political climate in Morocco was tense. Abdul Karim Abu Bakr Al-Shabani, having assassinated his nephew the Saadi sultan Ahmad al-Abbas in 1659, ruled the capital city of Marrakesh and proclaimed himself sultan of lower Morocco, though without popular support. In the Western Rif, General Khadir Ghaïlan clashed with the Dilaite sultan Mohammed al-Hajj, until the death of the latter in 1661 left the Dilaites in a state of rapid decline. In Fez, Caid Al Doraidi led a revolt and proclaimed himself Sultan. Meanwhile, Abdallah Al Doraidi was the officially recognized Master of the Fez Confederation, but controlled only the walled city of Fes Jdid, without the allegiance of the ulama of Fes el Bali. No faction had a clear upper hand for the throne of Morocco.In all this conflict, Moulay Rashid saw an opportunity to succeed where Sidi Mohamed had fallen short and conquer Morocco. After failing to raise new followers from the Western Rif, Moulay Rashid marched on Taza with his existing army, and seized it after a fierce battle. His next target was Fez, and the Fassi there, remembering Sidi Mohamed's 1663 massacre of the neighboring Hayaina, formed an alliance against him with the Hayaina, Bahlil, and Sefrou tribes. Every household in Fez was ordered to buy a rifle, horses and weapons.
Before Moulay Rashid could march on Fez, however, he had to return to Sijilmasa, where Sidi Mohammed Saghir was claiming his father's sultanate. Moulay Rashid laid siege to the city for nine months, until Sidi Mohammed Saghir fled the devastated city, and in 1665 Moulay Rashid was able to enter without bloodshed. There he received the oaths of the local leaders and was officially proclaimed Sultan of Fafilalt. After restoring the city's ramparts, organizing the guard, and calming the region, Moulay Rashid named his half-brother Moulay Aran as his viceroy, and left the city and the surviving sons of Sidi Mohammed in his custody.
This being accomplished, Moulay Rashid set out once again towards Fez in the spring of 1665, establishing a military base at Taza. The Fassi and Hayaina marched on Taza in response, arriving in April 1665, but were promptly routed and surrendered. In August, Moulay Rashid laid siege to Fez, continuing for eleven months with mixed successes and setbacks. This siege proving more difficult than he had anticipated, Moulay Rashid withdrew his army to concentrate on the central Rif, where Abou Mohammed Abdallah A'aras was trading with the French in violation of Moulay Rashid's ban on trade with European powers. The insurgent leader fled with his family to the protection of the Spanish King in Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, leaving his son Abdelaziz to lead the fight against Moulay Rashid. After a number of skirmishes, Moulay Rashid defeated the A'aras in March 1666, captured Abdelaziz, and brought him in chains to Taza, where he swore allegiance to Moulay Rashid.
Moulay Rashid returned to Fez with his army in May of 1666, and laid siege to it once again. Caid Abdallah Al Doraidi resisted the assault vigorously, and it became clear to Moulay Rashid that he would not be able to capture Fez through a frontal assault. Instead, he turned to the Mellah of Fez, situated between Fes Jdid and Fes el Bali. The Jews there had suffered steady persecution since the 1659 fall of the Saadi Sultanate, with the Dilaites ordering the destruction of their synagogues, and Caid Al Doraidi taxing them heavily and pillaging their traffic. Moulay Rashid promised them peace and relief from the traditional Jizya tax on their community, and in exchange they agreed to help him obtain access to Fez.
On June 6, 1666, the date he had agreed upon with the Jews, Moulay Rashid ambushed the defenders of Fez near the walls of the Mellah. The sentinels being thus distracted, the Jews opened the gate and let Moulay Rashid enter Fez. His troops having taken control of the first inner wall of the city, Moulay Rashid smashed the second gate with an ax, and, with the advantage of surprise, took complete control of Fes Jdid. Caid Abdallah Al Doraidi fled the city, but Moulay Rashid sent 100 cavalrymen after him, brought him back, and demanded to know where his riches were hidden. When Abdallah Al Doraidi refused to answer, Moulay Rashid had him put to torture, which he endured for many days.
The next day, Moulay Rashid laid siege to Fes el Bali once again. Ibn Esseghir and his son fled the city, followed two days later by Ahmed ben Saleh. Deserted by their leaders, the citizens of Fes el Bali surrendered, swearing allegiance to Moulay Rashid. Moulay Rashid sent his troops to look for the runaway leaders, and, finding them, imprisoned them for a week before having them executed along with some of their followers.