Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar al-Murtaḍā ( ar, أبو حفص عمر المرتضى بن أبي إبراهيم اسحاق بن يوسف بن عبد المؤمن; died 1266) was an

Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...

caliph who reigned over part of present-day

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

from 1248 until his death. Gio

Life

During his time as

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

, the area of Morocco under Almohad control was reduced to the region around and including

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

. He was forced to pay tribute to the

Marinids The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...

. He was ousted by his cousin Abu al-Ula al-Wathiq Idris with the help of Marinid ruler

Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq () (c. 1212 – 20 March 1286) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Haqq ...

, with Idris II then proclaiming himself as caliph. He was interested in

Maghrebi script Maghrebi script or Maghribi script () refers to a loosely related family of Arabic scripts that developed in the Maghreb (North Africa), al-Andalus (Iberia), and ''Bilad as-Sudan'' (the West African Sahel). Maghrebi script is directly derived f ...

and established the first public manuscript transcription center at the

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

of his

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in Marrakesh.

References

Sources

*Julien, Charles-André. ''Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, des origines à 1830'', Payot, Paris, 1994. Year of birth unknown 1266 deaths 13th-century Almohad caliphs People from Marrakesh 13th-century Berber people {{Morocco-bio-stub