The topic of master–servant and patron–client relationships is not new to the multi-disciplinary literature on Morocco. What distinguishes this work from the others are the context and approach as well as the societal positions of the two parties to this relationship. In this case, the focus is on two social categories: the marginal and subordinate haratin (sing. hartani) and the shurfa (sing. sharīf), or religious elite, in an oasis in the Dra Valley in the south.