Zidan Abu Maali

Mawlay Zidan Abu Maali, sultan of Morocco of the Saadi Dynasty (r. 1603 – 1627), son of Ahmad al-Mansur, residing in Marrakech.

Civil war

During the reign of Zidan, after the death of Mulay al-Mansur in 1603, Morocco progressively fell into a state of anarchy, with the Sultan losing authority.^[1] Salé became a sort of independent Republic.^[1] Morocco was in a state of civil war with warlords taking territory from Zidan, such as Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli in the South and Sidi al-Ayachi in the North.^[2] The Spanish also seized the opportunity to capture the cities of Larache in 1610 and then al-Ma'mura.^[2]

Foreign relations

Mulay Zidan established friendly relations with the Low Countries, with the help of envoys such as Samuel Pallache, and from 1609, he established a Treaty of Friendship. He sent several more envoys to the Low Countries, such as Muhammad Alguazir, Al-Hajari and Yusuf Biscaino.^[3]

James I of England sent John Harisson to Muley Zaydan in Morocco in 1610 and again in 1613 and 1615 in order to obtain the release of English captives.^[4]

By a coincidence the complete library of this sultan has been transmitted to us to the present day. Due to strange circumstances in a civil war the sultan Zidan Abu Maali had his complete collection transferred to a ship. The commander of the ship 'stole' the ship and brought it to Spain where the collection was transmitted to El Escorial^[5].

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Ships, money, and politics by Kenneth R. Andrews p.167
2. ^ ^{a b} The Cambridge history of Islam by P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis p.247
3. ^ Romania Arabica by Gerard Wiegers p.410
4. ^ Britain and Morocco during the embassy of John Drummond Hay, 1845-1886 by Khalid Ben Srhir, p.14 [1]
5. ^ *For details of the incident see: Chantal de la Véronne, Histoire sommaire des Sa'diens au Maroc, 1997, p. 78.
   • Catalogue: Dérenbourg, Hartwig, Les manuscrits arabes de l'Escurial / décrits par Hartwig Dérenbourg. - Paris : Leroux [etc.], 1884-1941. - 3 volumes.

Preceded by Ahmad al-Mansur

Saadi Dynasty 1603–1627

Succeeded by Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II

See also

El Escorial

External links

• Example of a golden Saadian Dinar. This coin was struck at the time of the reign Moulay Zidan. (Numismatic Museum of the al-Maghrib Bank, Rabat, Morocco): [2]
• Qoran of Mawlay Zidan, written in the El Badi Palace : http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:wAPo71FoakEJ:ucblibraries.colorado.edu/specialcollections/Muley%2520Zaidan%2520Koran.doc+al-Badi+palace&hl=nl&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=6(retrieved on December 18 2006 (for image click in the url on top of the page)