Editing Ismail Ibn Sharif (section)

=== Background, early life, and accession to power ===
[[File:Tafilalet tinghreras est.jpg|thumb|[[Tafilalt]], seat of the Alaouite Sharifs from the 13th century]]
Born in 1645 at [[Sijilmassa]],<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 60"/> Moulay Ismail ben Sharif was the son of [[Sharif ibn Ali]], [[Emir]] of [[Tafilalt]] and first sovereign of the [['Alawi dynasty]]. His clan claimed descent from [[Al-Hassan Ad-Dakhil|Hassan Ad-Dakhil]], a 21st generation descendant of the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]].<ref>[http://data.bnf.fr/12661098/mohamed_tozy/ Mohamed Tozy], {{Cite book |title=Monarchie et islam politique au Maroc |publisher=[[Presses de Sciences Po]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-2-7246-0758-1 |location=Paris |page=83 |oclc=467914421}}</ref><ref name="Bensoussan 67" group="L">{{harvnb|Bensoussan|2012|p=67}}</ref>

According to [[Al-Istiqsa]], his mother was Mubarka bin Yark al-Maghfiri (d. 1668), a [[Haratin|Hartania]] slave from the [[Sahrawis|Saharan]] Mghafra tribe (direct cousins of the [[Oudaya]] tribe as a cadet branch of it).<ref name=":16" group="L">{{harvnb|El Hamel|2014|pp=160, 164|p=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben Zidane |first=Abderrahmane |url=https://archive.org/details/p.d.f4098 |title=المنزع اللطيف في مفاخر المولى إسماعيل إبن الشريف |year=1993 |pages=43–44 |language=ar |trans-title=The trends in the feats of Moulay Ismail ben Cherif}}</ref> She was reportedly given as a concubine to Sharif ibn Ali by {{ill|Sidi Ali Bou Dmia|fr|Sidi Ali Bou Dmia}}, when he was holding him in captivity under ransom.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Justinard |first=Léopold Victor |year=1925 |title=Notes sur l'histoire du Sous au XIXe siècle |url=https://www.hesperis-tamuda.com/Downloads/1921-1929/Hesp%C3%A9ris%20Tamuda%201925.pdf#page=23 |journal=Hespéris-Tamuda |issue=5 |pages=23}}</ref> This remains contested, as it would have made his birthdate in 1637 around the time his father was captive, while he was born in 1645. Moulay Ismail claimed a fictive kinship with the Oudaya by referring to them as his maternal uncles even though Mubarka was, according to [[Ibn Zaydan]], not related to the Oudaya by blood or milk.<ref name=":16" group="L" /><ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=trans. from Arabic by Eugène Fumet |first=Ahmed ben Khâled Ennâsiri |url=http://bnm.bnrm.ma:86/ClientBin/images/book704908/doc.pdf |title=Kitâb Elistiqsâ li-Akhbâri doual Elmâgrib Elaqsâ [" Le livre de la recherche approfondie des événements des dynasties de l'extrême Magrib "], vol. IX : Chronique de la dynastie alaouie au Maroc |date= |publisher=Ernest Leroux |pages=16–18 |language=fr |access-date=12 December 2021 |archive-date=13 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913214538/http://bnm.bnrm.ma:86/ClientBin/images/book704908/doc.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fumey |first=Eugène |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k106573x/f39.image |title=Chronique de la Dynastie Alaouie du Maroc |date=1906-12-01 |publisher=E. Leroux |location=Paris |pages=19 |language=fr}}</ref>

[[File:Cherif Muley-Arxid.png|thumb|upright|left|[[Al-Rashid of Morocco|Moulay Rashid]], the first sultan of the Alaouite dynasty in 1667]]

After the death of the [[Saadi Sultanate|Saadi]] sultan [[Ahmad al-Mansur]], Morocco entered a period of unrest, during which his sons fought with one another for the throne, while the country was parcelled up by the different military leaders and religious authorities.<ref group="ArcI" name="Volume XVIII 1">{{harvnb|id=Volume XVIII|Archives marocaines, volume XVIII|1912|p=1}}.</ref><ref name="L'Économiste 4" group="L">{{harvnb|L'Économiste|id=L'Économiste|p=4}}.</ref> From the beginning of the reign of [[Zidan Abu Maali]] in 1613, the Saadi sultanate was very weak. The [[Zawiya Dila'iya]] (or Zawiya of Dila) controlled central Morocco, the {{ill|Zaouia of Illigh|fr|Zaouïa d'Illigh}} established its influence from [[Souss]] to the [[Draa River]], the [[marabout]] [[Sidi al-Ayachi]] took possession of the northwestern plains, the Atlantic coast as far as [[Taza]], the [[Republic of Salé]] became an independent state at the mouth of the [[Bou Regreg]], and the city of [[Tétouan]] became a city-state under the control of the Naqsis family.<ref name="Harakat">{{Cite journal|first1=Brahim|last1=Harakat|title=Le makhzen sa'adien|journal=Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée|volume=15–16|year=1973|pages=43–60|doi=10.3406/remmm.1973.1226|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/remmm_0035-1474_1973_num_15_1_1226}}.</ref> At Tafilalt, the Alaouites were appointed by the local people in order to check the influence of the Zaouias of Illigh and Dila. They were an independent emirate from 1631.<ref name="L'Économiste 4" group="L"/>

[[File:Maroc en 1660.png|thumb|Political situation in Morocco in 1660, after the assassination of the final Saadi sultan [[Ahmad al-Abbas]]]]
Three rulers preceded Ismail ben Sharif: his father, Moulay Sharif, then his two half-brothers respectively Sidi Mohammed and Moulay Rachid. As the first sovereign of the 'Alawi dynasty from 1631, Moulay Sharif succeeded in keeping Tafilalt outside the authority of the Dila'iya.<ref group="L" name="Marchat 49">{{harvnb|Marchat|2013|p=49}}.</ref> He abdicated in 1636 and his eldest son, [[Muhammad ibn Sharif|Sidi Muhammad ibn Sharif]] succeeded him. Under the latter's reign, the 'Alawi realm expanded into the north of the country, to [[Tafna]] and the Draa river and managed to capture the city of [[Oujda]].<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 36">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|pp=20 & 36}}.</ref> His half-brother, Moulay Rashid rebelled against him and managed to kill him on 3 August 1664, in a battle on the plain of Angad (near Oujda).<ref group="ArcI" name="Volume XVIII 8">{{harvnb|id=Volume XVIII|Archives marocaines, volume XVIII|1912|p=8}}.</ref> Moulay Ismail chose to support Rashid and was rewarded by being appointed governor of [[Meknes]]. There, Moulay Ismail devoted himself to the region's agriculture and commerce, to increase his wealth,<ref group="L" name="Audiffret 376">{{harvnb|Audiffret|1821|p=376}}</ref> while Moulay Rashid reigned as Sultan of Tafilalt and then as Sultan of Morocco after his conquest of [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] on 27 May 1664.<ref group="ArcI" name="Volume XVIII 8" /> Rashid further entrusted Ismail with military control of the North of Morocco and made him [[Khalifa (Morocco)|Khalifa]] ([[viceroy]]) of Fez in 1667, while he fought in the south of Morocco. Rashid conquered the Dila'iya in 1668 and then took two years to overcome rebels at [[Marrakesh]] before he broke into the city in 1669.<ref name="Les Alaouites 1636-">{{Cite web|url=http://www.memoarts.com/index.php/documentation/histoire-du-maroc/113-les-alaouites-1636-a-nos-jours|title=Les Alaouites (1636 à nos jours)|website=Mémoart.com|access-date=6 September 2014}}.</ref>

On 6 April 1670, in the presence of his brother Sultan Moulay Rashid, Moulay Ismail celebrated his first marriage at Fez to the daughter of a Sa'adi prince.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 53">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|p=53}}.</ref> On 25 July, he put to death sixty brigands from Oulad Djama, by crucifying them on the wall of the Borj el-Jadid in Fez.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 54">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|p=54}}.</ref> While Rashid continued his campaigns against the independent tribes of the [[High Atlas]], he was killed on 9 April 1672 at Marrakesh, after falling off his horse. On 13 April,<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 60">{{harvnb|al-Nasiri|1906|p=60}}.</ref> after he had learned of Rashid's death, Moulay Ismail rushed to Fez, where he took possession of his brother's treasury and then proclaimed himself Sultan of Morocco on 14 April 1672, at the age of twenty-six.<ref group="L" name="Audiffret 376" /><ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 60"/><ref group="L" name="Abitbol-233">{{harvnb|Abitbol|2009|p=233}}.</ref> This proclamation occurred around 2&nbsp;pm and a grand ceremony followed.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 60"/> The whole population of Fez, including the nobles, intellectuals, and sharifs swore to be loyal to the new sovereign, as did the tribes and cities of the kingdom of Fez, who sent embassies and presents to him. Only Marrakesh and the region around it did not send an embassy. Ismail fixed his capital at Meknes, on account of the water supply and climate of the town.<ref group="alN" name="al-Nasiri 59">{{harvsp|al-Nasiri|1906|p=59}}.</ref>