Muhammad ibn al-Fath Wasul ibn Maymun al-Amir () () was the tenth Midrarid emir of

Sijilmasa Sijilmasa (; also transliterated Sijilmassa, Sidjilmasa, Sidjilmassa and Sigilmassa) was a medieval Moroccan city and trade entrepôt at the northern edge of the Sahara in Morocco. The ruins of the town extend for five miles along the River Ziz ...

. He was the first Midrarid ruler to adopt

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

Biography

He was a son of al-Fath Wasul ibn Maymun al-Amir (), and cousin of his predecessor, al-Muntasir Samgu ibn Muhammad and was an enemy of the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

and supporter of the

Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

. It is known that he served in the Umayyad armies in

al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

at the Battle of Simancas on August 1, 939, and had converted to Maliki Sunnism, the prevailing ''

madhhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...

'' on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. He carried out a coup in 942–943 against the 13-year-old al-Muntasir and his grandmother who acted as regent, and took the power; al-Muntasir was imprisoned. Considered a partisan of the Umayyads, his assumption of power alarmed the Fatimid Caliph. Muhammad sought the support of the Berbers to make war on the Fatimids. He assumed the caliphal title of ''

amir al-mu'minin () or Commander of the Faithful is a Muslims, Muslim title designating the supreme leader of an Ummah, Islamic community. Name Although etymology, etymologically () is equivalent to English "commander", the wide variety of its historical an ...

'' and the regnal title ''al-Shakir li-llah'' ("the grateful one toward God") and from 944 to 950 started minting coins called ''mathaqil shakiriyya''. These moves irritated the Fatimid government, which decided to put an end to it. The caliph

al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid caliph and the 14th Ismaili imam, reigning from 953 to 975. It was during his caliphate that the center of power of the Fatimid dynasty was m ...

sent the general

Jawhar Jawhar is a city and a municipal council in Palghar district of Maharashtra, Maharashtra state in Konkan division of India 130km Away from Mumbai .Jawhar was a capital city of the erstwhile Jawhar State, princely state of Jawhar. Situated in th ...

against Sijilmasa. The general, when he arrived, addressed the notables, demanding the delivery of Ibn Wasul, but they refused; despite this, Ibn Wasul left the city with his family and treasures and his most loyal supporters, towards the fortress of Tasagdalt. On September 958, Jawhar entered the city without fighting and changed the ''shakiriyya'' coins to Fatimid coins. Ibn Wasul left his refuge and approached the city to see what was happening. He was recognized by a member of the Matghara tribe, who handed him over to Jawhar, and on October of the same year, Ibn al-Fath was taken prisoner, chained, and sent to al-Mansuriyya with the Maghrawa emir of Fez, Ahmad ibn Bakr, captured at the same time, and some children of the notables of the city of Sijilmasa as hostages. They arrived in al-Mansuriyya on November 959. He was confined in a castle and received a humiliating treatment by being taken around in a cage. Jawhar appointed a governor whose name was not known, but shortly after leaving the city he was expelled by the rebellious population who proclaimed again the al-Muntasir Samgu ibn Muhammad.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn Wasul 10th-century Berber people 10th-century deaths 10th-century monarchs in Africa 10th-century Moroccan people Miknasa Prisoners and detainees of the Fatimid Caliphate