Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir explained

Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir
Succession:Sultan of Morocco
Reign:1636 – 1655
Predecessor:Al Walid ben Zidan
Full Name:Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir bin Zidan Abu Maali
Father:Zidan al-Nasir
Religion:Sunni Islam
Burial Date:1655
Burial Place:Saadian Tombs
Issue:Ahmad al-Abbas
Successor:Ahmad al-Abbas
Birth Date:Unknown ?
Death Date:30 January 1655
Dynasty:Saadi

Mohammed esh Sheikh es Seghir (? – 30 January 1655) was the sultan of Morocco from (1636 – 1655) under the Saadi dynasty.

Life

His father was Zidan al-Nasir (r. 1603–1627), he was the son of a Spanish mother and he had two Spanish wives. He spoke good Spanish which may have led to him to continue the long-time services of royal advisor Moses Pallache, nephew of Samuel Pallache of the Pallache family.[1]

His portrait can be found in an engraving of Marrakesh by Adriaen Matham in 1640, made on the occasion of a visit by the ambassador of the Netherlands to the sultan.

Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir tried to concentrate the entire Moroccan foreign trade in Safi at the hands of the English, and to obtain warships from their king to prevent all trade with the south, but the sultan was afraid of breaking relations with the Dutch and the French.[2] In 1638, the Sultan sent his ambassador Muhammad bin Askar to England, who was carrying a letter to hasten King Charles I of England to send the required weapons and ammunition to Morocco and to suppress the English merchants who were selling weapons to the rebels. This was based on the treaty concluded between the two countries on September 20, 1637, which stipulated that no relationship should be established between the Kingdom of England and the sultan's enemies in Santa Cruz. Despite this, English merchants continued to smuggle weapons into the desert.[3] [4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: García-Arenal . Mercedes . A Man of Three Worlds: Samuel Pallache, a Moroccan Jew in Catholic and Protestant Europe . Wiegers . Gerard . 2007 . Johns Hopkins University Press . 117 . … he was the son of a Spanish mother and had two Spanish wives. Like Muley Zaydan, alSaghir spoke good Spanish.
  2. دوكاستر - س.أ. - السعديون م. 3 ص 358 (1935)
  3. وثائق دوكاستر، س أ السعديون م 3 ص 523، 530 عام 1935.
  4. http://www.oloum-omran.ma/Article.aspx?C=10598 السفراء والقناصلة بتطوان