Oudaya

Origins

According to historical authors Leo Africanus and Marmol Carvajal, the Oudaya came from the Banu Hassan branch of the Ma'qil. Leo Africanus estimates the Oudaya to number more than 60,000 and situates them between Ouadane and Oualata.^[6][7]

According to the 19th century historian an-Nasiri, Moulay Ismail encountered the Oudaya through a poor shepherd Bou-Chefra. He learned that his people were fleeing famine, and decided to recruit them. He told Bou-Chefra:^[8]

You are my maternal aunts and you have heard of me and you have not come to me. Now, you are my companion. Go take your sheep back to your tent and come back to see me in Marrakesh!

Formation of the Oudaya Guich

The guich tribes were tribes typically of Arab origin that served as a part of the pre-colonial Moroccan military under the 'Alawi dynasty. The Oudaya were one of the major guich tribes that served under the 'Alawis.^[2][3] They rose to prominence under Moulay Ismail who aimed to reorganize the army by institutionalizing the guich system and create a new strong central government as a result of a set of military setbacks he suffered like the disastrous campaign against the Ottoman Regency of Algeria. This culminated in the creation of the 'Abid al-Bukhari, an elite guard made up of black slaves from Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as the creation of the Oudaya Guich. In 1678, he married Khanatha bint Bakkar who was the daughter of Shaykh Bakkar, an important leader and tribal shaykh of the Oudaya. This marriage confirmed an alliance between the Makhzen and the Oudaya and by the terms of this alliance the Oudaya provided the sultan with a large and powerful guich. He stations these troops from the Oudaya outside the walls of the city of Fez.^[9][10]

Ismail called the Oudaya the tribe of his maternal uncles in order to form a fictive or real kinship between him and the tribe as his mother Mubarka bint Yark al-Maghfiri was born either as a member^[3] or a black slave of the Mghafra (a division of the Oudaya).^[11]

Revolt of the Oudaya (1831–1834)

As a result of Moulay Abd al-Rahman's withdrawal from Tlemcen in March 1831, the Oudaya rebelled in the countryside of Morocco. The revolt began in the north and spread throughout Morocco, including the capital Fez, the sultan decided to leave Fez for Meknes which was safer and was protected by the 'Abid al-Bukhari infantry, but on the way to Meknes he was stopped by rebel troops who sent him back to Fez. The Oudaya directed their grievances to the chief minister Muhammad bin Idris and tried to avoid directly assaulting or critiquing the Sultan because of his Prophetic lineage. In response, Moulay Abd al-Rahman dismissed this minister, took away his wealth, and gave it to the Oudaya as a generous bribe, but the Oudaya still kept him hostage. A few months later, the sultan managed to escape Fes and settle in Meknes, where he slowly built the army there by recruiting more troops. With this army, he marched on Fes and besieged it for 40 days before the Oudaya surrendered in 1834. The sultan ordered the execution of the two most important leaders of the Oudaya revolt, and dispersed them from Fes to Marrakesh, Larache, and Rabat, ending their rebellion.^[12][13]