Makhzen
Makhzen , also Makhzan, Machzan, Arabic المخزن, DMG maḫzan , was the name of the Sultan's government in Morocco from the rule of the Saadians in the 16th century until the colonial times . Officials at the royal court were just as much a part of Makhzen as dignitaries and leaders of tribes who were loyal to the ruling house and were therefore rewarded with privileges and privileges.
The land administered by the Makhzen was called bilad al-makhzen ("Land of the Makhzen") in contrast to the outside country, which was controlled by independent Berber tribes and was called bilad al-siba ("Land of the apostates"). The latter areas were rarely under the control of the Sultan. Power struggles between the two areas shaped the entire medieval history of Morocco.
history
The word is derived from khazana , “lock up”, “ keep ” and originally referred to a place where taxes were kept. In this meaning was makhzen probably the first time the beginning of the 9th century during the reign of Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab in IFRIQIYA used for an iron chest in which the taxes were collected, which the tributary country to the Abbasids - Caliph of Baghdad had to send . From the Almoravids in the 11th century, makhzen in Morocco designated collection points for the tax revenue of the ruling house distributed across the country. The name for the government treasury was gradually carried over to the rule of sultans under the Sherif dynasties. Up to the Saadians it had become the common name for the government, the financial administration and the other institutions of the Muslim community (al-bait al-māl) . The term was obviously not in a religious context, but referred to the authority of the country and its organs for the enforcement of power.
With the establishment of a state power, the head of which bore the title of sultan , the country was divided into two hostile areas, characteristic of Morocco: the area of bilad al-makhzen was under the tax sovereignty and administration of the government . The neighboring land in the sphere of influence of individual tribal superiors was called bilad al-siba , "Land of the renegades / dissidents". The Idrisids formed the first dynasty to emerge in the country itself. They ruled from 789 to 985 and justified themselves with a Sherif ancestry. While Morocco was largely Islamized under their rule, their power was limited to small areas in the west of the country. Only with the Almoravids and their successors, the Almohads , did the central power of a Makhzen become noticeable, who imposed the kharaj tax (ḫarāj) on arable land on the inhabitants of the conquered areas . In order to collect this tax, military control of the lands was necessary. The military service was done by Arab tribes who sided with the Makhzen and were themselves exempt from land tax. The borders with enemy territory were battlefields for centuries.
The Berber Wattasid dynasty (1465–1549) exercised only a weak rule. In addition to the internal tensions, they were threatened by the Spanish and Portuguese who took the large port cities on the Atlantic coast around 1500. The Wattasids had to admit defeat to the Saadians coming from southern Morocco . The Spanish influence was now noticeable in a more complex organization of the administration. At the beginning of the 16th century, the cultural influence of the luxurious Turkish court life of the Ottoman colonizers had an impact from neighboring Algeria . Official relations with European countries established through the exchange of ambassadors strengthened the political standing of the rulers.
In the 17th century, the outer border of the Sultan's land was roughly on the western slope of the Middle Atlas , from whose retreats the Berber tribes of the Zanata and the Sufi brotherhood of the Dila'iyya threatened the camel caravan route between Fez and Marrakech , which is important for trade . The Alawites -Sultan Moulay al-Rashid defeated the Brotherhood 1668/69 and destroyed their headquarters ( zawiya ) in Kasba Tadla . With Ottoman support, the Dila'iyya leader Ahmad al-Dalai returned from exile in Algeria in 1677 and, with the support of the regional Berber princes, resumed the fight against the central government. Mulai ar-Raschid's successor, Sultan Mulai Ismail , had a number of fortified settlements ( kasbahs ) built or expanded along the route at the end of the 17th century to permanently protect the eastern border . South of Kasba Tadla these were Beni-Mellal , north Khénifra , Azrou , Sefrou to Taza on the northern edge of the Atlas Mountains. The 70 positions, including smaller guards, were guarded by special troops consisting of black African slaves and marked the border of the tax-deductible area. The residents of these distant areas were rather irregular in paying their taxes.
The development of the Makhzan structures resulted on the one hand from the domestic political claim to control a large, largely unstable area, on the other hand as a result of external influences. The sultan's rule under Mulai al-Hassan I (r. 1873-1894) had the greatest extent, and his successor became dependent on the European powers contending over colonial property.
Administrative structure
The Sultan was determined by the authorities ( ulama ) , i.e. by his relatives at court, the administrators of the big cities and from the ranks of the tribal leaders through election or negotiations. There was no compulsory succession regulation. The previous sultan was able to propose his successor, but the electors were not bound by such a vote when he was proclaimed (baʿya) .
The Makhzen area was divided into three regions, administered by a secretary (kātib) : 1) The northern region from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Bou Regreg River, which flows into the Atlantic between Rabat and Salé . 2) From here to the south to the edge of the Sahara . 3) The outskirts of the Sahara in the east of the Atlas Mountains around Tafilet . All areas were under a vizier (wazīr) , the al-sadr al-aʿẓam .
In addition to this vizier, the council of Makhzen in the 19th century consisted of a vizier specifically responsible for relations with the Europeans, the wazīr al-baḥr ("Minister of the Sea"). He had been appointed by Sidi Muhammad IV (r. 1859–1873) as the “representative of the Sultan” (nāib al-sultān) and was supposed to negotiate from his office in Tangier the ever increasing demands of European traders for branches in the coastal cities prevent their further advance. His position was not synonymous with the foreign and war minister, the kallāf. In addition, there was a group of high officials, the umanāʾ (Sg. Amīn ), who were divided into three administrative areas: At the top was the amīn al-umanāʾ, who was responsible for collecting taxes. Under him acted 1) the umanāʾ al-marasiya , head of the customs authorities in the port cities. 2) The umanāʾ al-mustafādāt collected gate taxes, lease of government land and population taxes, i.e. the Jewish tax ( ǧizya ) and the Muslim tax (al-aʿshār) . 3) Finally there was the umanāʾ al-qabāʾil who collected taxes from the tribes.
The complaint secretary was called kātib al-shikāyāt , the minister of justice was the qāḍī ʾl-quḍāt (" Kadi of the Kadis"). All ministers had their offices (banīka, Pl. Banāʾik) within the palace district (maschwar), as did the qāḍī al-maschwar, who was responsible for the soldiers (palace guards) in the palace and presented the visitors to the sultan. One step below and supervised by the qāḍī al-maschwar followed the stable master mawlā (mūl) al-ruwā and a number of other officials. The hadjib also held an influential position . His office was closer to the actual living area of the palace, which he was responsible for organizing. Outside the palace district there was a network of more or less poorly paid employees and informers up to the simple village head (mukaddam) .
In the country, the sultan's power was represented by the relevant officials. The sultans countered the religious power of the Berber tribal leaders, who were in league with Islamic saints, of their Sherif descent. In 1691, Mulai Ismail installed the cult of the Seven Saints of Marrakech in order to contrast the worship of saints prevailing in large parts of the people with something of equal value . Overall, however, the power of the state shifted over time from the religious base to a political structure and legislation that had its roots in Islam, but was mostly civil. The Sharia focused on the law of the person.
The term makhzen stands for a centralized state system in which all taxes benefited the apparatus of power alone and hardly any investments were made in infrastructure, health system or education. It also stands for a doctrinal type of governance, the decisions of which could not be seen from outside, and which has not allowed a development towards democratic institutions. On the other hand, the bureaucracy functioned relatively effectively, providing stability in uncertain times in an area surrounded on all sides by anarchy. In bilad al-siba at the same time warring tribal princes regularly ruled over small areas, which travelers could only cross with the consent and escorted by members of the respective tribe.
The statement by the French administration that the Makhzen would have collapsed without their support can be regarded as a protective claim. The government's financial difficulties at the end of the 19th century were mainly due to European colonialism.
In November 1912 Morocco became a French protectorate by treaty and a small part of the country in the north came under Spanish administration . The three hundred years of sultan's rule only existed in terms of form; all major political decisions were made by the colonial powers. They modernized the Makhzen administration according to their needs and provided Morocco with clearly defined external borders for the first time. With independence in 1956, the Sultan had become a king who continued to rule his newly structured country with an absolutist claim that had hardly changed .
literature
- CE Bosworth et al. a. (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. VI, Brill, Leiden 1990, pp. 133-137
- Thomas K. Park, Aomar Boum: Makhzan. In: Historical Dictionary of Morocco. Library of Congress. 2nd ed., Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2006, pp. 226-228
Individual evidence
- ↑ EI, pp. 133f
- ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr: A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987, pp. 231f
- ↑ EI, p. 135
- ↑ Park / Boum, p. 227
- ↑ Park / Boum, p. 228
- ↑ Abdeslam Maghraoui: Political Authority in Crisis. Mohamed VI's Morocco. Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP)