| Zidan Abu Maali | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sultan of Morocco | |||||||||
| Reign | 1603 – 1627 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Ahmad al-Mansur | ||||||||
| Successor | Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II | ||||||||
| Born | Unknown ? Saadi Sultanate | ||||||||
| Died | September 1627 Saadi Sultanate | ||||||||
| Issue | Ahmed Elasgher[1] Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II Al Walid ben Zidan Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | House of Saadi | ||||||||
| Father | Ahmad al-Mansur | ||||||||
| Mother | Aisha bint Abu Bakkar al-Shabani | ||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||
Zidan Abu Maali (Arabic: زيدان أبو معالي) (died September 1627; or Muley Zidan) was the embattled Saadi Sultan of Morocco from 1603 to 1627. He was the son and heir of Ahmad al-Mansur by his wife Lalla Aisha bint Abu Bakkar,[2] a lady of the Chebanate tribe.[3]
He ruled only over the southern half of the country after his brother Mohammed esh Sheikh el Mamun took the northern half and a rebel from Tafilalt, Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli, marched on Marrakesh claiming to be the Mahdi. This led Muley Zidan to be encircled in Safi amid other failed military campaigns against the rebellious north. These events were exacerbated by a context of chaos that ensued amid a plague pandemic which left a third of the country dead.
His reign saw the end of the Anglo-Spanish war (with the 1604 Treaty of London)—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 Republic of Salé between Azemmour and Salé.
Moulay Ahmed el-Mansour had married ... Aicha bent Abou Baker ..., often called by Arab chroniclers because of her origin Lalla Chebania