Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir

11th Ruler of Saadi Dynasty

Mohammed esh Sheikh es Seghir, by Adriaen Matham, 1640

Sultan of Morocco

Reign

1636 – 1655

Predecessor

Al Walid ben Zidan

Successor

Ahmad al-Abbas

Born

Unknown ?

Died

30 January 1655

Burial

1655

Saadian Tombs

Issue

Ahmad al-Abbas

Names
Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir bin Zidan Abu Maali

Dynasty

Saadi

Father

Zidan al-Nasir

Religion

Sunni Islam

Mohammed esh Sheikh es Seghir (Arabic: محمد الشيخ الأصغر السعدي) (? – 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]

References

^ García-Arenal, Mercedes; Wiegers, Gerard (2007). A Man of Three Worlds: Samuel Pallache, a Moroccan Jew in Catholic and Protestant Europe. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 117. … he was the son of a Spanish mother and had two Spanish wives. Like Muley Zaydan, alSaghir spoke good Spanish
^ دوكاستر - س.أ. - السعديون م. 3 ص 358 (1935)
^ وثائق دوكاستر، س أ السعديون م 3 ص 523، 530 عام 1935.
^ السفراء والقناصلة بتطوان عبد العزيز بنعبد الله Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine