Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya () (also known as Abu Abdellah al-Shaykh Muhammad ben Yehya, Abu Abdallah Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya or Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Sheikh) was the first

Wattasid The Wattasid dynasty ( ber, Iweṭṭasen; ar, الوطاسيون, ''al-waṭṭāsīyūn'') was a ruling dynasty of Morocco. Like the Marinid dynasty, its rulers were of Zenata Berber descent. The two families were related, and the Marinids ...

Sultan of Morocco and King of Fez between 1472 and 1504.

Background

Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya was born into the powerful Wattasid family that had ruled the eastern

Rif The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...

from Tazouta (near present-day

Nador Nador ( Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⴷⵓⵔ) is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 161,726 (2014 census). Nador city is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a salt lagoon nam ...

) since the late 13th century. While theoretically subject to the

Marinid 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 ...

sultans, they were largely autonomous. By the start of the 15th Century, the Wattasids had accumulated power while the Merinids were distracted attempting to repel Portuguese and Spanish invasions with the Granadans. When Abd al-Haqq II came to power at the age of one in 1421, they held the regency, which they continued to hold when Abd al-Haqq II came of age. In 1459, Abd al-Haqq II ordered the slaughter of the Wattasids, leaving Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya one of the few of his family left alive.

Rise to Power

In the chaos that followed the

1465 Moroccan revolt The 1465 Moroccan revolution was a popular uprising in the city of Fez—then capital of Morocco—against Sultan Abd al-Haqq II, the last ruler of the Marinid dynasty, and his Jewish vizier Harun ibn Batash. Morocco was in severe crisis in the ...

, Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya fought against the Joutey branch of the

Idrisid The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ar, الأدارسة ') were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid and ...

s. In 1471, he defeated their leader, Muhammad ibn Ali Amrani-Joutey, who had declared himself Sultan. He went on to rule the Kingdom of Fez which controlled the northern part of Morocco.

Absorption of Jewish deportees from Spain

Muhammad a-Sheikh welcomed the deportees from Spain with open arms. The documentarian who was one of the deportees from Spain,

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Abraham ben Solomon, therefore calls Muhammad the title of

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

Succession

He was succeeded by his son Abu Abd Allah al-Burtuqali Muhammad ibn Muhammad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya Wattasid dynasty Sultans of Morocco Berber rulers 15th-century Berber people 15th-century monarchs in Africa Year of birth unknown 1511 deaths