The Banu al-ʿAzafi (), or the ʿAzafids, was a noble family in the North African city of
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
( ar, Sabta, today part of Spain).
In 654
AH (1256/57 CE)
Abu al-Qasim al-Azafi, a member of the dynasty, became the ruler of the city after expelling the governor of the
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
caliph
Umar al-Murtada. Afterwards, the dynasty were the ''de facto'' rulers of the city although they later acknowledged 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 ...
as their sovereign.
In 1304 they rebelled against the Marinids, but this independence was short-lived as the city was conquered by the fleet of
Nasrid Granada in May 1306. In 1309 Granada returned the city to the Marinids and in 1311 Yahya al-Azafi was made the governor of Ceuta and the Azafids returned to the city.
After the death of Yahya (date unknown between 1322 and 1328), order broke down in the city under the rule of his son Abu al-Qasim. At the invitation of the people, Marinid forces marched into the city in 1327 or 1328, ending its autonomy and putting it under the direct rule of
Abu Sa'id Uthman II.
References
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History of Ceuta
Muslim dynasties
African dynasties
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