Institution

Black Guard (Morocco)

Also known as Abid al-Bukhari

The Black Guard, or Abid al-Bukhari, was an army of enslaved black soldiers created by the Moroccan sultan Moulay Ismail from the 1670s. Its men were drawn from slaves and from black Moroccans forcibly enlisted, and they swore loyalty on a copy of al-Bukhari's collection of hadith. It gave the sultan power independent of the tribes, but after his death in 1727 it made and unmade sultans.

Black Guard (Morocco)
Image: Eugène Delacroix · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Alaouite Sultanate

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Black Guard (Morocco). In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/black-guard-morocco
MLA
“Black Guard (Morocco).” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/black-guard-morocco. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Black Guard (Morocco).” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/black-guard-morocco.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Black Guard (Morocco)’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/black-guard-morocco (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻