« Les Historiens des Chorfa ». Deux ouvrages généalogiques sur les chorfa marocains à l’époque contemporaine (fin XIXe siècle-fin XXe siècle)

Abstract

During early modern period, general censuses and genealogical works on the Moroccan genealogies of the descendants of the prophets (šurafāʾ, ašrāf) were often commissioned by sultans. Printed at the very end of the nineteenth century, al-Faḍīlī’s al-Durar al-bahiyyah was written at the request of the sultan Mawlāy Hasan. It compiled previous genealogical works of the early modern period and major genealogical sources of the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, the last major survey of ašrāf families in Morocco is Maṣābīḥ al-bašariyyah, published in 1408/1987: it significantly describes the transformation of ašrāf families into urban elites of modern Morocco and their migration to the large cities of northern Morocco. This paper will explain the methods of investigation and classification described in al-Durar al-bahiyyah and Maṣābīḥ al-bašariyyah.