سعديون
Bani Zaydan
The Wattasid Sultans of Morocco had clearly utterly failed in their promises to protect Maghrib from foreign incursions and the Portuguese increased their presence on the coasts. They had attempted to recapture Assilah and Tangiers in 1508, 1511 and 1515, but without success. Down the coast, the resistance to the Portuguese influence was led by the Sufi tariqa and the sharifians. The various shafirians drew their legitimacy from a claimed descent from Muhammad.
The Saadi from Tagmadert in the valley of the Draa River, claimed descent from Muhammad through the line of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima Zahra, and various ancestors from the Yanbu' al Bahr. These men were war chiefs, allies of the tariqas in the struggle against the Portuguese. The first Saadi Emir Abu Abdallah al-Qaim was invited in 1510 by the Sufi tariqa of the Sous valley to lead their jihad against the Portuguese intruders, just after establishing Saadi rule in Tagmadert in 1509. At the invitation of the Haha Berbers of the western High Altas, in 1514, Emir al-Qaim moved to Afughal, the shrine of the late imam al-Jazuli and spiritual headquarters of the Shadhili tariqa.
Abu Abdallah died in 1517 but his sons continued the Saadi jihad against the European enclaves. Initially poorly armed, the Saadian sharifs' military organization and strength improved with time. In 1518, the Sharifians finally defeated and killed the formidable Portuguese client Yahya ibn Tafuft. Via the tariqa networks among coastal tribes, from the Sous to Rabat, the Sharifians organized permanent, though often loose, sieges around the Portuguese fortresses, cutting off their supplies and hampering their military operations. By the 1520s, the Portuguese had lost their sway over the outlying districts and were reduced to their fortresses.
The Saadi moved to Marrakesh at the invitation of the Hintata ruler Muhammad ibn Nasir, to better direct operations. The ambitious son of Abu Abdallah, Ahmad al-Araj seized the qasbah and killed the Hintata. Al-Araj made Marrakesh the new Saadian capital, assigning Taroudant and the Sous to his younger brother, Muhammad al-Sheikh. He also arranged for the transition of the remains of his father al-Qaim and the imam al-Jazuli from Afughal to Marrakesh.
1521
Qasbah of Marrakesh
1523
Bilad as-Sus
1524
Qasbah of Marrakesh
1525
Qasbah of Fes
Nul, south of Bilad al-Sus
1526
Jebel al-Atlas
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