Yahya ibn Muhammad (; died 863) was the fifth Idrisid 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 ...

Life

Yahya was a younger son of the fourth Idrisid emir, Muhammad ibn Idris, and took over the rule in Morocco after the death of his brother Ali I in January 849. Following the stabilization and consolidation of Idrisid authority by his brother, Yahya's reign is commonly regarded, in the words of historian Chafik T. Benchekroun, as "the very picture of prosperous and tranquil rule". During this time, the Idrisid capital at Fes expanded greatly with the arrival of people from

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 ...

and

Ifriqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya). It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of ...

. Thus the establishment of the two great mosques of Fes, the al-Qarawiyyin ('Mosque of the

Kairouan Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( , ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by the Umayyads around 670, in the period of Caliph Mu'awiya (reigned 661� ...

is') and the

Andalusian Mosque The Mosque of the Andalusians or Al-Andalusiyyin Mosque (), sometimes also called the Andalusian Mosque, is a major historic mosque in Fes el Bali, the old medina quarter of Fez, Morocco. The mosque was founded in 859–860, making it one of t ...

, is traditionally ascribed to his reign, in 859. At least for the Qarawiyyin, this claim is clearly a legend, as an inscription has been found proclaiming its foundation in 877. Despite the traditional view of the reign as peaceful, modern historians have remarked on the complete absence of coins minted in his name at Fes, whereas there exist coins in the name of a certain Abu Sahl, possibly related to Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sahl al-Judhami, whose family is known to have fought the Idrisids for control of Fes a few years after Yahya's death. Yahya died in 863 and was succeeded by his son, Yahya II.

Genealogy

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yahya Ibn Muhammad 863 deaths Royalty from Fez, Morocco Idrisid emirs 9th-century monarchs in Africa 9th-century Moroccan people 9th-century Arab people