Abu Inan Faris

Abu Inan Faris ( _ar. أبو عنان فارس بن علي) (born in 1329) was a Marinid ruler. He succeeded his father Abu al-Hasan ibn Uthman as sultan of Morocco in 1348. He died strangled by his vizier in 1358.

History

He took the title of "Amir al-muminin" ("commander of the believers"). Abu Inan had to eliminate one of his nephews who had seized power in Fes. He built the madrasas in Meknes and Fes in 1350, and then seized Tlemcen in 1351 and Bougie in 1352. But he was defeated in 1357 and killed the following year by one of his viziers. He had also built another madrasa in Fes in 1357.

Under his ruling, the Black Death and the rebellions of Tlemcen (nowadays a city in Algeria) and Tunis marked the beginning of the decline of the Marinids. They proved unable to drive back the Portuguese and the Spaniards, who settled on the North African coast during the Wattasids dynasty which succeeded to the Marinids.

Sources

*Julien, Charles-André, "Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, des origines à 1830", édition originale 1931, réédition Payot, Paris, 1994