Sultan Moulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif of Morocco reigned from 1672 to 1727 and was the first great sultan of the Moroccan Alaouite or ‘Alawi dynasty, the current royal house of the kingdom.
The dynasty rose to power in the 17th century, beginning with Mawlay al-Sharif who was declared sultan of the Tafilalt region in 1631.
His son Al-Rashid, ruling from 1664 to 1672, was able to unite and pacify the country after a long period of regional divisions caused by the weakening of the Saadi Dynasty.
His brother Isma’il presided over a period of strong central rule between 1672 and 1727, one of the longest reigns of any Moroccan sultan.
After Isma’il’s death the country was plunged into disarray as his sons fought over his succession, but order was re-established under the long reign of Muhammad ibn Abdallah in the second half of the 18th century.
The 19th century was marked by the growing influence of European powers.
The ‘Alawis ruled as sovereign sultans until 1912, when the French protectorate and Spanish protectorate were imposed on Morocco.
They were retained as symbolic sultans under colonial rule.
When the country regained its independence in 1956, Mohammed V, who had supported the nationalist cause, resumed the ‘Alawi role as independent head of state.
Shortly afterwards, he adopted the title of “King” instead of “Sultan”.
His successors, Hassan II and Mohammed VI, have continued the dynasty’s rule under the same title.
Isma’il was a Sharifian which means he claimed descent from Muhammad, the founder of Islam through his daughter Fatima.
Ismaïl’s rule was the longest in Moroccan history, and toward its end he controlled the country with an army of more than 150,000 men.
Ismaïl was infamously ruthless — his reign is said to have begun with the display of 400 heads at the city of Fez, most of them from enemy chiefs, and over the next 55 years it is estimated he killed more than 30,000 people, not including those in battle.
Any suspicion of adultery against Ismaïl was severely punished.
The women were either strangled by the sultan himself, or their breasts were cut off, or their teeth torn out.
Men who merely looked at one of his wives or concubines were punished by death
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Ismaïl fathered 888 children, the greatest number of progeny for anyone throughout history that can be verified.
Based on reports by Dominique Busnot, a French diplomat who frequently traveled to Morocco, the sultan may actually have had 1,171 children from four wives and 500 concubines by 1704.
He was the seventh son of Moulay Sharif and was governor of the province of Fez and the north of Morocco from 1667 until the death of his half-brother, Sultan Moulay Rashid in 1672.
He was proclaimed sultan at Fez, but spent several years in conflict with his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, who also claimed the throne, until the latter’s death in 1687.
Moulay Ismail’s 55-year reign is the longest of any sultan of Morocco.
The reign of Moulay Ismail marked a high watermark for Moroccan power.
His military successes are explained by the creation of a strong army, originally relying on the ‘Guichs’ (especially the Udaya) and on the Black Guard (or Abid al-Bukhari), black slaves who were totally devoted to him.
As a result, the central power could be less reliant on tribes that often rebelled.
Moulay Ismail failed against the Regency of Algiers during the battle of Moulouya in 1692, as he tried to expand his territory towards Tlemcen.
Moulay Ismail once again attempted to capture Oran, which was under Spanish rule, he had some success in pushing back the tribes of the Regency of Algiers until the Algerian Bey Mustapha cooperated with the Spaniards in pushing back Moulay Ismail’s army.
Moulay Ismail engaged in the Maghrebi War against the Regency of Algiers, he was successful in conquering the Western Beylik, he even looted the palace of the Bey.
His army was subsequently pushed back in the Battle of Chelif in 1701.
He participated in other minor battles such as Laghouat in 1708 which ended successfully.
He expelled the Europeans from the ports they had occupied: Larache, Asilah, Mehdya, and Tangier.
He took thousands of Christian prisoners (especially blacks) and nearly took Ceuta.
Ismail controlled a fleet of corsairs based at Salé-le-Vieux and Salé-le-Neuf (now Rabat), which supplied him with European Christian slaves and weapons through their raids in the Mediterranean and all the way to the Black Sea.
He established significant diplomatic relations with foreign powers, especially the Kingdom of France, Great Britain, and Spain.
Often compared to his contemporary, Louis XIV, due to his charisma and authority, Moulay Ismail was nicknamed the ‘bloody king’ by the Europeans due to his extreme cruelty and exaction of summary justice upon his Christian slaves.
He is also known in his native country as the “Warrior King”.
He also made Meknes his capital and undertook the construction of an enormous citadel and palace complex next to its old city which included several grand residences, gardens, monumental gates, mosques and more than forty kilometers of walls.
He died following a sickness.
After his death, his supporters became so powerful that they controlled the country, enthroning and dethroning the sultans at will.
He killed his servants at whim.
Ismail was not, by any accounts, a very nice man.
In fact, he’s been quoted as having said:
“My subjects are like rats in a basket, and if I do not keep shaking the basket, they will gnaw their way through.”
It’s estimated that 30,000 poor souls met their deaths at the hands of the sultan — often for no reason.
He was well known to kill people during fits of rage.
According to one story, the sultan lopped off the head of a slave who had been adjusting his stirrup as he was mounting his horse.
They didn’t call him “the Bloodthirsty” for nothing.
Ismail was a sex addict — and fathered more children than anyone else in history.
Ismail was well-known for siring hundreds of children.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he fathered 888 children — the highest number of offspring for anyone throughout history that can be verified.
He was fiercely protective of his four wives and 500 concubines.
Whenever a tribe surrendered to Moulay Ismail, the leader was forced to offer his most beautiful daughter to the sultan as a gift.
The women were treated like Ismail’s favorite toys.
Each concubine was granted a personal eunuch, a castrated male slave, and an odalisque, or female attendant.
The lake-like Bassin de l’Agdal in Meknès served as an emergency source of water in times of war and a pool for his concubines in times of peace.
Men who merely glanced at one of his wives or concubines were punished by death.
It’s said that men who encountered the sultan’s women laid facing the ground, so as to avoid any accusation of having looked upon them.
If any of Ismail’s harem were suspected of adultery, they were severely punished or put to death.
The women were either strangled by the sultan himself or had their breasts cut off or teeth extracted.
Ismail used this pretense to justify his actions, both cruel and kind.
His subjects bowed in his presence, and were not allowed to look him in the eye.
During his 55-year reign, he managed to create magnificent and enormous construction projects.
His palace was built exclusively by European slaves, aided by bands of local criminals.
The palace was four miles in circumference, and its walls were 25 feet thick.
As soon as he finished one project, he’d start on another.
If he didn’t like something, he would order it demolished and a new one rebuilt.
Ismail’s favorite wife and queen of the palace was a black woman who started out as a concubine.
Her name was Lalla Aisha Mubarka, or Zaydana, the name she acquired after giving birth to the sultan’s first son, Zaydan.
She held sway over Ismail and hatched a scheme to depose his favorite son, Mohammed al-Alim, suggesting that he intended to proclaim himself the sultan of Morocco.
For his punishment, Ismail had his own son’s left arm and right leg amputated for supposedly having rebelled against him.
This was intended to send a message that any disobedience would mean severe punishment or death.
Not surprisingly, Al-Alim died from blood loss.
Ismail created a massive self-generating army like Chaka the Zulu of ancient Swaziland and Osei Tutu of Asante Kingdom in the 1700s.
The formidable Black Guard was comprised of slave warriors recruited from sub-Saharan Africa.
Considered loyal, as they no longer had any tribal affiliation, the Black Guard were Ismail’s personal guards and servants.
By the end of his reign, he had raised a powerful army of more than 150,000 men.
These men had families and lived in communities of their own, but essentially belonged to Ismail.
The boys were raised to serve in his army, which helped Ismail maintain his position and conquer the whole of Morocco from European kingdoms.
The girls would marry, have children and continue the cycle.
The Black Guard exists to this day, though its name was changed to the Moroccan Royal Guard after the country gained its independence in 1956.
The sultan created a special prison for Christian slaves for he really hated them.
The Habs Qara (Prison of Christian Slaves) was a large subterranean prison beneath the city of Meknès.
At its height, it held an estimated 60,000 prisoners, 40,000 of them believed to have been Christian sailors captured at sea by Barbary pirates.
The Christians were used as slave labor to build the city during the day and were shackled to the prison walls in the evening and forced to sleep standing up.
Rumors of the existence of secret tunnels leading from the royal palace to the prison persist, despite lack of evidence.
Ismail and Louis XIV were close allies, and in 1682, Ismail sent Mohammed Tenim, the governor of Tétouan, to be his ambassador in France to sign a treaty of friendship and negotiate the release of Moroccan captives.
Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif died on 22 March 1727 at the age of 81, from an abscess in his lower abdomen.
His reign lasted 55 years, making him the longest reigning Moroccan monarch.
He was succeeded by Moulay Ahmed.
He was buried in a mausoleum in Meknes.
The empire immediately fell into civil war, as a result of a rebellion of the Black Guards.
More than seven claimants to the throne succeeded to power between 1727 and 1757, some of them repeatedly, like Moulay Abdallah who was Sultan six times.
