Abu Thabit 'Amir ibn Yusuf () (1284 – 28 July 1308) was a

Marinid The Marinid dynasty ( ) was a Berber Muslim dynasty that controlled present-day Morocco from the mid-13th to the 15th century and intermittently controlled other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula ...

ruler of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

for around a year. Son or grandson of

Abu Yaqub Yusuf Abu Ya‘qub Yusuf or Yusuf I ( ''Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf''; 1135 – 14 October 1184) was the second Almohad ''Amir'' or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakesh. He was responsible for the construction of the Giralda in Seville, whi ...

, whom he succeeded in 1307.

History

The

sultan

was in the

Kingdom of Tlemcen The Kingdom of Tlemcen or Zayyanid Kingdom of Tlemcen () was a kingdom ruled by the Berber Zayyanid dynasty in what is now the northwest of Algeria. Its territory stretched from Tlemcen to the Chelif bend and Algiers, and at its zenith reached ...

laying siege to the Abd al-Wadid capital when he was assassinated. During this long siege, which had been in place since 1299, the Marinid sultan was unable to prevent a

Nasrid The Nasrid dynasty ( ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; ) was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Emirate of Granada from 1232 to 1492. It was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula. Twenty-three sultans ruled Granada from the foun ...

-sponsored pretender

Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula Abu Sa'id Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula (; also Don Uzmén in Castilian sources; died 1330) was a Marinid prince who led an unsuccessful rebellion aiming to capture the throne, and fled to the Nasrid Emirate of Granada in its aftermath. There he served a ...

from landing in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

in 1306 and seizing much of northern Morocco. The new Marinid sultan Abu Thabit, whose ascendancy was contested by four pretenders, had to choose between pressing the siege or recovering his dominions. He opted for the latter. Acting quickly, Abu Thabit dispatched three of the pretenders, then struck a deal with the Abd al-Wadid ruler

Abu Zayyan I Abu Zayyan (I) Muhammad ibn Abi Said Uthman ibn Yaghmurasan () (died 1308), known as Abu Zayyan I, was the third Zayyanid Sultan of the Kingdom of Tlemcen. He succeeded his father Abu Said Uthman I on June 6, 1304. Biography Siege of Tlemce ...

to allow an orderly lifting of the siege of

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of ...

. Abu Thabit rushed his troops back to Morocco to take on the fourth pretender, Uthman, leaving little or no garrisons to hold the Marinid positions in his wake. The Abd al-Wadids set about razing the Marinid siege camp at Tlemcen (by now, evolved into a veritable city, known as 'al-Mahalla al-Mansura') and proceeded down the coast to

Oujda Oujda (, ) is a major city in northeast Morocco near the Algeria–Morocco border, border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental (Morocco), Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of 506,224 people (2024 censu ...

, rolling back the hard-won Marinid gains of the last few years. To coordinate his operations against Uthman, Abu Thabit erected a new town, Tetouan, just south of Ceuta. In July 1308, Abu Thabit fell ill and died in Tetouan. He was succeeded by his brother,

Abu al-Rabi Sulayman Abu ar-Rabi Sulayman ( abū ar-rabīʿ sulaymān) (March 1289 – 23 November 1310, reigned 28 July 1308 – 23 November 1310) was a Marinid ruler. He was the son or grandson of Abu Yaqub Yusuf and brother of Abu Thabit Amir, whom he succeeded ...

as Marinid sultan of

Sources

*C. A. Julien, ''Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, des origines à 1830'', Payot (1961, reedit. orig. 1931) *C. E. Bosworth
''The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual''
Edinburgh University Press (2004), pp. 41–42 {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Thabit 1283 births 1308 deaths Royalty from Fez, Morocco Marinid sultans 13th-century Berber people 13th-century Moroccan people 14th-century Berber people 14th-century Moroccan people 14th-century monarchs in Africa