Ahmed el Inglizi ("Ahmed the English"), also Ahmed El Alj or Ahmed Laalaj ("Ahmed the Renegade"), was an English

renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *''Command ...

architect and engineer who worked for the Sultan of Morocco

Mohammed ben Abdallah ''Sidi'' Mohammed ben Abdallah ''al-Khatib'' ( ar, سيدي محمد بن عبد الله الخطيب), known as Mohammed III ( ar, محمد الثالث), born in 1710 in Fes and died on 9 April 1790 in Meknes, was the Sultan of Morocco from 17 ...

in the 18th century. As described by his surname "El Alj", Ahmed el Inglizi was a "renegade", i.e. he had abandoned

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

for

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

. He seems to have joined with the pirates known as the

Salé Rovers The Salé Rovers, also Sale Rovers or Salle Rovers, were a dreaded band of Barbary corsairs in the 17th century. They formed the Republic of Salé The Republic of Salé was a city state at Salé (modern Morocco), during the 17th century. Locat ...

. He is known for building parts of

Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...

(particularly the harbour entrance), after Frenchman

Théodore Cornut Théodore Cornut, also Cornout, was a French mathematician and military architect of the 18th century, born in Avignon, who worked for the King of Morocco. Cornut initially worked as an architect for military fortifications in Roussillon. ...

had designed and built the city itself, particularly the Kasbah area, corresponding to the Royal quarters and the buildings for Christian merchants and diplomats. Ahmed el Inglizi is also known to have worked for the King in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populatio ...

, where he restored the

Kasbah A kasbah (, also ; ar, قَـصَـبَـة, qaṣaba, lit=fortress, , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term ''alca ...

Mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, an old building dating to around 1150. He was also responsible for several of the fortifications built in Rabat."El Inglizi was responsible, too, for several of the forts built below and around the plateforme" in ''The real guide, Morocco'' by Mark Ellingham, Shaun McVeigh Prentice Hall, p.189 .

References

Moroccan architects English former Christians Moroccan former Christians 18th-century Moroccan people 18th-century English architects Converts from Anglicanism Converts to Islam from Protestantism {{Morocco-bio-stub

See also

References