Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond | Page 4

by a Muslim host who carried
all before them is a great mistake, although a common one. Mulai
Idrees--"My Lord Enoch" in English--a direct descendant of
Mohammed, was among the first of the Arabian missionaries to arrive,
with one or two faithful adherents, exiles fleeing from the Khalîfa of
Mekka. So soon as he had induced one tribe to accept his doctrines, he
assisted them with his advice and prestige in their combats with
hereditary enemies, to whom, however, the novel terms were offered of
fraternal union with the victors, if they would accept the creed of which
they had become the champions. Thus a new element was introduced
into the Berber polity, the element of combination, for the lack of
which they had always been weak before. Each additional ally meant
an augmentation of the strength of the new party out of all proportion
to the losses from occasional defeats.
In course of time the Mohammedan coalition became so strong that it
was in a position to dictate terms and to impose governors upon the
most obstinate of its neighbours. The effect of this was to divide the
allies into two important sections, the older of which founded Fez in
the days of the son of Idrees, accounted the second ameer of that name,

who there lies buried in the most important mosque of the Empire, the
very approaches of which are closed to the Jew and the Nazarene. The
only spot which excels it in sanctity is that at Zarhôn, a day's journey
off, in which the first Idrees lies buried. There the whole town is
forbidden to the foreigner, and an attempt made by the writer to gain
admittance in disguise was frustrated by discovery at the very gate,
though later on he visited the shrine in Fez. The dynasty thus formed,
the Shurfà Idreeseeïn, is represented to-day by the Shareef of Wazzán.
In southern Morocco, with its capital at Aghmát, on the Atlas slopes,
was formed what later grew to be the kingdom of Marrákesh, the city
of that name being founded in the middle of the eleventh century.
Towards the close of the thirteenth, the kingdoms of Fez and
Marrákesh became united under one ruler, whose successor, after
numerous dynastic changes, is the Sultan of Morocco now.[1]
[1: For a complete outline of Moorish history, see the writer's "Moorish
Empire."]
But from the time that the united Berbers had become a nation, to
prevent them falling out among themselves again it was necessary to
find some one else to fight, to occupy the martial instinct nursed in
fighting one another. So long as there were ancient scores to be wiped
out at home, so long as under cover of a missionary zeal they could
continue intertribal feuds, things went well for the victors; but as soon
as excuses for this grew scarce, it was needful to fare afield. The pretty
story--told, by the way, of other warriors as well--of the Arab leader
charging the Atlantic surf, and weeping that the world should end there,
and his conquests too, may be but fiction, but it illustrates a fact. Had
Europe lain further off, the very causes which had conspired to raise a
central power in Morocco would have sufficed to split it up again. This,
however, was not to be. In full view of the most northern strip of
Morocco, from Ceuta to Cape Spartel, the north-west corner of Africa,
stretches the coast of sunny Spain. Between El K'sar es-Sagheer, "The
Little Castle," and Tarifa Point is only a distance of nine or ten miles,
and in that southern atmosphere the glinting houses may be seen across
the straits.

History has it that internal dissensions at the Court of Spain led to the
Moors being actually invited over; but that inducement was hardly
needed. Here was a country of infidels yet to be conquered; here was
indeed a land of promise. Soon the Berbers swarmed across, and in
spite of reverses, carried all before them. Spain was then almost as
much divided into petty states as their land had been till the Arabs
taught them better, and little by little they made their way in a country
destined to be theirs for five hundred years. Córdova, Sevílle, Granáda,
each in turn became their capital, and rivalled Fez across the sea.
The successes they achieved attracted from the East adventurers and
merchants, while by wise administration literature and science were
encouraged, till the Berber Empire of Spain and Morocco took a
foremost rank among the nations of the day. Judged from the
standpoint of their time, they seem to us a prodigy; judged from our
standpoint, they were but little in advance of their descendants of the
twentieth century, who, after all, have by no means retrograded, as they