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

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 ...

ruler of

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 t ...

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, which ...

, whom he succeeded in 1307.

History

The

sultan

was in the Kingdom of Tlemcen 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-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 as ...

from landing in

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 ...

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 to allow an orderly lifting of the siege of

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...

. 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, 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 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 People from Fez, Morocco Marinid sultans of Morocco 13th-century Berber people 13th-century Moroccan people 14th-century Berber people 14th-century Moroccan people 14th-century monarchs in Africa