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the ‘Alawī’s greatest ruler; it can certainly be read as a veiled critique of the current situation in
Morocco which, in 1897 when he finished his chronicle, was anything but stable. 47 Nonetheless,
al-Nāṣirī’s idealized ruler and his emphasis on security are closely related to the more general
notion that the sultan had a special responsibility to protect the weak, including Jews.
Responding to Jews’ petitions was one way in which the sultan fulfilled this obligation.
Some Jews had a particularly privileged relationship with the Makhzan which at times
might have contributed to the sultan’s interest in protecting Jews more generally. The sultan
singled out some extremely wealthy Jewish merchants and gave them special status. Scholars
usually refer to this group of the ultra-elite as tujjār al-sulṭān (merchants of the sultan), although
this term rarely if ever appears in Makhzan correspondence. 48 Most of the Jews who petitioned
the state were not members of this elite class. In fact, it is likely that such powerful individuals
would have had other avenues available to engage the sultan in protecting their interests.
Nonetheless, it was not unheard of for prominent Jews to petition the state on behalf of their less
well-connected coreligionists. At times, the sultan might have addressed Jews’ appeals in order
to avoid conflict with these powerful Jews or to do them favors.
Shifts in the international balance of power during the nineteenth century also changed
the relationship among Jews and the Makhzan. As western states gained more economic and
military influence over Moroccan internal affairs, the Makhzan became increasingly concerned
47
Pennell, Morocco since 1830, 109; Kenbib, “Changing Aspects of State and Society,” 11-12. Al-Nāṣirī did not
only blame the Makhzan for the current situation; he was also quite critical of Jews and how they had taken
advantage of opportunities presented by the internationalization of Morocco’s economy. See, e.g., Aḥmad b. Khālid
al-Nāṣirī, Kitāb al-istiqṣā li-akhbār duwal al-Maghrib al-aqṣā, 8 vols. (Casablanca: Manshūrāt wizārat al-thaqāfa
wa-’l-ittisāl, 2001), v. 8, 129-30; see also Laroui, Origines, 311. On al-Nāṣirī generally, see Kenneth Brown,
“Profile of a Nineteenth-Century Moroccan Scholar,” in Scholars, Saints, and Sufis: Muslim Religious Institutions in
the Middle East since 1500, ed. Nikki R. Keddie (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972) and Eric
Calderwood, “The Beginning (or End) of Moroccan History: Historiography, Translation, and Modernity in Ahmad
b. Khalid al-Nasiri and Clemente Cerdeira,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 44, no. 3 (2012): esp. 399-
403.
48
See, e.g., Schroeter, Merchants of Essaouira: idem, The Sultan’s Jew: Michel Abitbol, Les commerçants du roi :
Tujjar al-sultan (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1998).
164