Editing Ismail Ibn Sharif (section)

====Army reforms====
Around 1677, Moulay Ismail began to assert his authority over the whole country. Once he had killed and disabled his principal opponents, he was able to return to Meknes to organise his empire.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 66"/> It was during this fighting that he had the idea of creating the corps of the Abid al-Bukhari or [[Black Guard]].<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 74">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|p=74}}.</ref><ref group="L" name="Audiffret 378" />

The 'Alawi army was principally composed of soldiers from the Saharan provinces and the provinces on the margin of the Sahara, such as [[Tafilalt]], Souss, [[western Sahara]], and [[Mauritania]] – the home of [[Khnata bent Bakkar|Khnata bint Bakkar]],{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} one of the four official wives of Ismail. The [[Maqil|Banu Maqil]], who inhabited these areas in great numbers, thus represented the foremost contingents of the 'Alawis until the middle of Moulay Ismail's reign, as they had under the Saadi dynasty. Several [[guich|jaysh]]es originated from these Arab tribes. The 'Alawis could also count on the tribes of the Oujda region, which had been conquered by [[Muhammad ibn Sharif|Sidi Mohammed of Tafilalt]].<ref group="Arc" name="Volume XXVIII 19">{{harvnb|id=Volume XXVIII|Archives marocaines, volume XXVIII|1931|p=19}}.</ref> The jaysh tribes were exempted from import taxes to compensate them and were given land in exchange for their troops.<ref name="Les Alaouites 1636-"/><ref group="L" name="Bensoussan 67" />

Portion of Alawite military forces also composed of Arab-[[Zenata]] Jaysh Cheraga,<ref name="Chéraga">{{cite web|url=http://tribusdumaroc.free.fr/cheraga.php|title=La Tribu Cheraga|website=Tribusdumaroc.free.fr|access-date=28 September 2015}}.</ref> which Rashid ibn Sharif had originally installed in the area north of Fez.<ref group="Arc" name="Volume XXVIII 24">{{harvnb|id=Volume XXVIII|Archives marocaines, volume XXVIII|1931|p=24}}.</ref> [[Khlout|Khlot]] and Sherarda, tribes of [[Banu Hilal]], were given the rank of Makhzen and formed several contingents in the Moroccan army.<ref group="Arc" name="Volume XXVIII 24"/> He also founded [[Jaysh al-Rifi]], an independent army of [[Berbers|Berber]] tribesmen from the eastern [[Rif]]. This group later played an important role in the 17th-century Moroccan wars against Spanish colonization.<ref>James Brown (2001). ''Crossing the Strait: Morocco, Gibraltar and Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries''.</ref>

However, Ismail could not rely solely on these tribes, because they had a long history of independence and could change sides or desert him at any moment.<ref group="Arc" name="Volume XXVIII 24"/> Thus he decided to create Morocco's first professional army, the Black Guard or Abid al-Bukhari, who were entirely beholden to him, unlike the tribal contingents.<ref group="Arc" name="Volume XXVIII 25" /> After the Siege of Marrakesh in 1672, he imported a large number of black male slaves from [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] and recruited many of the free black men in Morocco for his army. The initial contingent numbered perhaps 14,000 men.<ref group="L" name="Bensoussan 68">{{harvnb|Bensoussan|2012|p=68}}.</ref> The Black Guard was rapidly expanded, reaching 150,000 men towards the end of Ismail's reign.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 77">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|p=77}}.</ref><ref>[[Bakari Kamian]] ''Des Tranchés de Verdun à l'église Saint Bernard'' p.39 "...A la fin du règne de Moulay Ismaïl, qui resta au pouvoir pendant 57 ans, la garde noire comptait 150000 combattants..."</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Fage, John |author2=Tordoff, William |title=A History of Africa|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-79727-2|page=182|edition=revisioned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXa4AQAAQBAJ&q=melilla+morocco+ismail&pg=PA182|access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref> The guards received a military education from age ten until their sixteenth birthday when they were enlisted in the army. They were married to black women who had been raised in the royal palace like them.<ref group="Arc" name="Volume XXVIII 25"/>

Moulay Ismail also created the [[Jaysh al-Udaya]],<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 66" /> which is to be distinguished from the tribe of [[Oudaya|Udaya]].<ref name="Oudaïas"/> The guich was divided into three ''reha''. The first of these ''reha'' was the Ahl Souss (house of Souss), which was composed of four Banu Maqil Arab tribes of Souss: Ulad Jerrar, Ulad Mtâa, Zirara, and the Chebanate.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 66" /> In the 16th century, these tribes had formed the core of the Saadi army,<ref name="Oudaïas"/> against the [[Banu Jusham|Jashem]] Arabs of [[Rharb]] who were part of Banu Hilal and included the [[Khlout]] and Safiane, who had supported the [[Marinid dynasty]] of Fez.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 66" /> The second ''reha'' was the Mghafra of [[Oued Noun]],<ref name=":6" /> who were descended from Banu Maqil, Khnata bint Bakkar came from this group. The third ''reha'' contained the members of the tribe of Udaya itself. They were a powerful desert tribe who were originally from the [[Adrar Plateau]] and were formidable camel riders. Shortly before Moulay Ismail's reign, they had moved north and they were found in Souss under Moulay Ismail. After he reconquered Marrakesh in 1674, Ismail encountered a poor shepherd of the Udaya called Bou-Chefra and learned that his people had been forced to leave the desert because of the drought and were originally Banu Maqil like himself. Sympathizing with their plight, the Sultan decided to turn them into an elite division of his army.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 68">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|p=68}}.</ref>

The Jaysh al-Udaya became a major portion of Sultan's army, governed by the principle of ''makhzen'' in which land was granted to soldiers in exchange for military service. According to the historian Simon Pierre, "After the Alaouite conquest, the people of the Maghreb had been despoiled and disarmed and, except for one Berber tribe and the Rifians, only the Abid al-Bukhari and the Udaya exercised the [[monopoly on violence]]. Thirty years later, at the death of Moulay Ismail in 1727, it was the caids of the Abid al-Bukhari and the Udaya who joined with the [[ulama]] of Meknes and the ministers to choose sultan [[Abu'l Abbas Ahmad of Morocco|Moulay Ahmed Adh-Dhahabî]]!"<ref name="Oudaïas">{{Cite web
 |author      = Simon Pierre
 |title       = Histoire du [g]uiche des Oudayas
 |url         = http://www.culture-islam.fr/etudes-diverses/histoire-des-berberes/histoire-du-guiche-des-oudayas-gish-l-oudaia
 |website        = Culture d'Islam : Aux sources de l'Histoire
 |date        = 2013
 |access-date =  18 September 2015
}}.</ref> However, other sources state that Moulay Ismail had designated him as his successor before his death.<ref group="L" name="Braithwaite 5"/> Regardless, during the period of anarchy after Ismail's death, the Udaya certainly played a major role in deposing several Sultans along with the Abid al-Bukhari.<ref name="Oudaïas"/>

Additionally, Moulay Ismail was able to make use of European renegades' knowledge and experience of artillery, when he formed them into a military corps,<ref group="L" name="Bensoussan 67" /> [[Michael Peyron]] has noted the sultan employed renegade Spanish gunners to operate his cannon batteries, as it recorded during his conquest of Fêzzâz in 1692.<ref name="Michael Peyron;The Berbers of Morocco">{{Cite book
 |author      = Michael Peyron
 |author-link = Michael Peyron
 |title       = The Berbers of Morocco: A History of Resistance
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qx75DwAAQBAJ
 |date        = 29 October 2020
 |access-date =  23 November 2023
 |publisher   =Bloomsbury Publishing 
 |isbn        =978-1-83860-375-5 
 |chapter=14, The defense of Jbel Fazaz 
 |language    =En 
 |quote       =under 'Ali ben Ishou Aqebly, and a contingent of Spanish renegades from Larache dragging a battery of cannon on which Moulay Ismaïl was relying to bludgeon the Berbers into submission
}}.</ref>