Zidan Abu Maali

Zidan Abu Maali (died September 1627; or Muley Zidan) was the embattled <a href="/facts/Saadi_dynasty/JLrz9b3Q">Saadi</a> Sultan of <a href="/facts/Morocco/6ly8170M">Morocco</a> from 1603 to 1627. He was the son and heir of <a href="/facts/Ahmad_al-Mansur/DE0d2uYm">Ahmad al-Mansur</a> by his wife Lalla Aisha bint Abu Bakkar, a lady of the Chebanate tribe.
He ruled only over the southern half of the country after his brother <a href="/facts/Mohammed_esh_Sheikh_el_Mamun/elMoJnJn">Mohammed esh Sheikh el Mamun</a> took the northern half and a rebel from <a href="/facts/Tafilalt/PJAAcRBM">Tafilalt</a>, <a href="/facts/Ahmed_ibn_Abi_Mahalli/W4NkHCqq">Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli</a>, marched on <a href="/facts/Marrakesh/aVpGaF8h">Marrakesh</a> claiming to be the <a href="/facts/Mahdi/LCwdHM4W">Mahdi</a>. This led Muley Zidan to be encircled in <a href="/facts/Safi%2c_Morocco/kwxp4qno">Safi</a> amid other failed military campaigns against the rebellious north. These events were exacerbated by a context of chaos that ensued amid a <a href="/facts/Plague_(disease)/4r7oe5lC">plague</a> pandemic which left a third of the country dead.
His reign saw the end of the <a href="/facts/Anglo-Spanish_War_(1585%25E2%2580%25931604)/dqmXsha4">Anglo-Spanish war</a> (with the 1604 <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_London_(1604)/g3CcvhKI">Treaty of London</a>)—which broke the Anglo-Dutch axis that Morocco was relying upon as a means of protection from Spain, and so caused the Spanish navy to resume devastating raids on the Moroccan coast—and the rebellion of one of his provincial governors who established his own independent state of the <a href="/facts/Republic_of_Sal%25C3%25A9/BDDJ24b4">Republic of Salé</a> between <a href="/facts/Azemmour/95IPaUBV">Azemmour</a> and <a href="/facts/Sal%25C3%25A9/DKCz3PGH">Salé</a>.

Zidan Abu Maali open-in-new

Zidan Abu Maali