Dahir (Royal Decree) Permitting the Jew Shlomo Corcos
to Trade in Mogador
Morocco, 1843
Original at the Corcos Family Archive, Jerusalem
Must Know
A dahir is a royal decree by which a Muslim ruler grants rights or protection to a subject or group. This dahir was sent in August 1843 from the Caliph Moulay Muhammad (the son of the Sultan) to the governor of the city of Mogador. Its purpose was to enable the Jew Shlomo Corcos to trade freely and safely in the city.
The dahir opens by praising Shlomo Corcos and goes on to say: “the Jew, Shlomo Corcos, is our Jew who attends to some of our businesses. Accordingly, take that into consideration and receive him hospitably. he is not asking for a position granted to Jews and seeks nothing apart from his personal safety…May God give you grace. Amen.”
Morocco is characterised as having an authoritarian and religious political rule where the monarch has absolute power and can at his will dissolve the parliament.
More Info
The dahir always begins with a religious greeting and signed under the title of commander of the faithful. It is immune to all judicial processes, acting as the most important source of legislation in Morocco. It established and manifests the unrestrained and total institutional power of the Moroccan sovereign. At the time, the Dahir was one of the main features of Morocco’s political system. What sets the dahir apart from other forms of political manifestations is that it stems from the monarch’s religious authority. It is treated as both a sacred text and a political legislation – displaying the clear royal absolutism of Moroccos governing body. In line with the larger Islamic tradition, the parliament and local political assemblies are under constitutional power of the royal sovereign.
Mogador is the main island if the Iles Purpuraires near Essaouria in Morocco.
Having been under French, Portuguese as well as Spanish rule, Mogador gained its independence in 1944 with the independence of Morocco. Mogador became the meeting place for many Jews during the 18th century. Additionally the Sultan Sidi Ben Abdallah settled a large number of Jewish merchant families in Mogador as a way to take better advantage of Jews’ business connections with Jewish traders in Europe.
