Aḥmad ibn Qāsim Al-Ḥajarī

Ahmad ibn Qasim Al-Hajarī
Born	c.1570 Andalusia
Died	c.1640 Tunis
Nationality	Moroccan
Occupation	Moroccan Ambassador to France and the Netherlands

Ahmad ibn Qāsim Al-Hajarī (Arabic: أحمد بن قاسم الحجري‎‎) also known as Al-Hajari, Afoukay, Chihab, Afokai (Arabic: أفوكاي‎‎) or Afoqai (Arabic: أفوقاي‎‎) (c.1570, Andalusia–c.1640, Tunis), was a Morisco who worked as a translator in Morocco during the reigns of the Saadi sultans, Ahmad al-Mansur, Zidan Abu Maali, Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II and Al Walid ibn Zidan. He was later sent as an envoy by Sultan Zidan Abu Maali of Morocco who sent him to France and Netherlands to negotiate the release of some Moriscos who were captured by privateers and thrown on the shores of the mentioned countries.

Al-Hajari fled Spain for Morocco in 1599, following the persecutions of the Moriscos.

In 1610-11, the ruler of Morocco Mulay Zidan sent Al-Hajari to France in order to obtain redress on the subject of the Moriscos. He was involved in arms smuggling while in southern France, and visited Paris and Leiden. The reason for the visit to France seems to have been that some French corsairs, falsely offering a transit to Morocco to the Moriscos being expulsed from Spain after 1609, had instead captured them and their belongings. After sailing from Safi to Le Havre, Al-Hajari met with the King, and obtained a safe-conduct to visit the country. In Bordeaux he obtained some financial compensation from the shipowners who had been involved in the Moriscos affair.

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