Background In Morocco, part of the black population were legally free
Haratin who largely descended from indigenous black populations who have inhabited southern Morocco since time immemorial. Part of the black population came from West Africans who were mostly forcibly brought over by the
Trans-Saharan slave trade. Historically, ruling dynasties in Morocco used black soldiers in the army. The
Almoravids under
Yusuf ibn Tashfin were the first to use black slaves militarily and Ibn Tashfin had a bodyguard of 2000 black soldiers. These bodyguards persisted after the Almoravids and became a tradition for Moroccan rulers where they'd form an elite corps with the purpose of protecting and enforcing the power of the
sultan. Similarly, the Almohads also used black soldiers and according to the twelfth century historian
Mohammed al-Baydhaq,
Ibn Tumart was the first to label black slaves captured in
Zagora Abid al-Makhzen. Black soldiers served in Almohad and Almoravid expeditions in
Al-Andalus. Similarly, black soldiers also served in the armies of the
Marinids and
Saadis. Both
Luis del Mármol Carvajal and
Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania observed that there were blacks in the army of the Saadis. Anania reported that
Abdallah al-Ghalib had 80,000 cavalry relying on the
Granatini (
Andalusians) and
Gialof (
Wolof but used in the context of black West Africans generally) and that 12,000 of them formed his personal guards. After the
Saadian invasion of the Songhai Empire, 20,000 slaves were brought back to Morocco with half of the slaves going to the army and another half being given away to the chiefs of the navy due to
Ahmed al-Mansur's naval ambitions. Historically, in Morocco, the strength of royal power depending on a clientele system where rulers would seek support from tribal groups and
Sufi orders. In exchange for exemption from taxes and rights to land controlled by the sultan, the sultan would get soldiers from allied tribes, Sufi orders and mercenaries. Isma'il ibn Sharif did not think this system was reliable enough to maintain a strong central government as tribe members were loyal to their tribes and members of Sufi orders pledged allegiance to the heads of the orders. Isma'il believed that a permanent, organised and local army would be needed to unite Morocco and consolidate his rule. Ruling from a new capital at
Meknes, he distinguished himself as a ruler who wished to establish a unified Moroccan state as the absolute authority in the land, independent of any particular group within Morocco – in contrast to previous dynasties which relied on certain tribes or regions as the base of their power. He succeeded in part by creating a new army composed of slaves whose loyalty would be to him alone. In a study of these events, historian Chouki El Hamel argues that Isma'il's efforts to justify these actions generated a potent new form of racist discourse in the region that associated black Africans with slavery. The idea of a professional army composed of slaves who were loyal only to the sultan was inspired by the historical precedents of other
Middle Eastern and
North African military bodies recruited from slaves. Isma'il's army was inspired in particular by the example of the
Janissaries in the
Ottoman Empire, to which it is sometimes compared. The
‘Abid al-Bukhari or Black Guard or were mainly in charge of collecting taxes and patrolling Morocco's unstable countryside; they crushed rebellions against Isma‘il's rule not only by dissident tribes but also by Isma‘il's seditious sons, who defected from service as his provincial governors to insurrection as would-be usurpers of his throne. The Black Guard were the personal guard and servants of Sultan Isma‘il, they might have also participated in campaigns against the European-controlled fortress enclaves dotting his empire's coast (such as
Tangier, taken over after the English withdrew from it and
distressed it in 1684 in response), although tasks of this kind were often allocated to European slaves (called
‘aluj , plural of
‘alj, meaning "white Christian slave") and loyal Moroccan tribal soldiers, considered more military and cavalry-able. They were well-respected, well paid, and politically powerful. Around 1697-1698 they were even given the right to possess property.
After Isma'il's death After Isma‘il's death in 1727, the
‘Abid played a key role in the political turmoil that engulfed Morocco, frequently shifting allegiance between different claimants to the throne. The turmoil lasted mostly between 1727 and 1757, when Isma'il's sons fought for control of the sultanate, with few of them ever holding onto power for long. The '
Abid of Isma'il's reign came to wield enormous power and were able to install or depose sultans according to their interests throughout this period, though they also had to compete with the
guich tribes and some of the Amazigh (Berber) tribes that the sultans also relied on. Many of the '
Abid had by then deserted their contingents and joined the common population of the country, and Mohammed III was able to reorganize those who remained into his own elite military corps. Later, in 1775, he tried to distance the '
Abid from power by ordering their transfer from Meknes to Tangier in the north. The '
Abid resisted him and attempted to proclaim his son Yazid (the later
Moulay Yazid) as sultan, but the latter soon changed his mind and was reconciled with his father. After this, Mohammed III dispersed the '
Abid contingents to garrisons in Tangier,
Larache,
Rabat,
Marrakesh and the
Sous, where they continued to cause trouble until 1782. The descendants of the '
Abid continued to be a powerful military contingent under the reign of
Moulay Slimane (r. 1792–1822), but they were no longer the sultan's only pillar of military strength. Slimane took measures to curtail their power, such as recruiting tribal levies (as had been common practice before Isma'il's reign) to act as a counterbalance. Some of the '
Abid continue to hold powerful positions in both central and local government. Meknes continued to be one of their main bases during this period. During the later years of his reign, as he faced mounting rebellions and crises, Slimane sought to revive Isma'il's military policies and to re-enlist the
Haratin (free black people) into the army. However, political instability rendered this task difficult and the number of Haratin that were enlisted does not appear to have been significant. Slimane's successor, Abd ar-Rahman, also attempted to re-enlist black soldiers in order to strengthen the military in response to the
French conquest of Algeria that began in 1830. The trafficking of slaves also remained vigorous during throughout the early 19th century, and Abd ar-Rahman rebuffed British diplomatic requests to end the slave trade. However, after the defeat at the
Battle of Isly (1844) and as contacts with Europe increased over the rest of the century, later 'Alawi sultans attempted to reform the military into a "modern" standing army with salaried soldiers instead of the traditional tribal levies. In the process, the number of black 'Abid soldiers also decreased. Under the reign of
Moulay Hassan (r. 1873–1894) only about 5000 of them were still serving in the sultan's standing army, generally as cavalrymen. A French scholar who visited Morocco in the 1880s claimed that this number would increase during times of war. Over time, most of the former '
Abid and their descendants had left the army and gained their freedom. They scattered and resettled across the country. As former slaves, their free status was sometimes questioned, but Moroccan
religious scholars generally affirmed that they were free. Some black individuals and families continued to hold powerful positions in the Moroccan government. The most notable example is
Ahmad ibn Musa, also known Ba Ahmed, whose family monopolized the office of the sultan's
hajib (a
chamberlain and
vizier) under multiple sultans in the 19th century. Ba Ahmed himself acted as
de facto ruler of Morocco during the first four years of the reign of
'Abd al-Aziz (r. 1894–1908), whom he helped install on the throne. The
trans-Saharan slave trade continued throughout the 19th century, even in the face of European
abolitionist pressure, but by 1900 it had been significantly reduced. Slavery was officially abolished in Morocco in 1912, after the imposition of
French colonial rule. Some descendants of the '
Abid continued to serve in the government afterwards in various positions. == See also ==