Ahmad al-A'raj al-Sa'di

أحمد الأعرج السعدي

The Sa'di sultan who profited from Ottoman-Algerian pressure: he besieged Safi and Azemmour in 941/1534 (relieved only by Portuguese aid), crushed his Wattasid rivals at Bi'r 'Uqba in 943/1536, then accepted a three-year truce and trade agreement with Portugal on 25 Dhu'l-Qa'da 944/25 April 1537 1.

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Roles
Ruler
Era
The Gunpowder Empires
Region
Maghreb
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
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Summary

The Sa'di sultan in Khayr al-Din Barbarossa's day 2.

Against Portugal and the Wattasids

He besieged Safi and Azemmour in 941/1534, and the cities nearly fell to him but for Portuguese relief; then he defeated his Wattasid rivals at Bi'r 'Uqba in 943/1536 3.

The truce

Answering a Portuguese overture, the two sides agreed a truce on 25 Dhu'l-Qa'da 944/25 April 1537 for three years with reciprocal trade — in al-Salabi's reading, the Portuguese aim was to prevent real cooperation between the Ottomans and the Sa'dis 4.

Connections

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Ruled over
Saadi dynasty
Opposed by
Hasan b. Khayr al-Din Barbarossa
Participated in
Battle of Bi'r 'Uqba (1536)· Sa'di capture of Santa Cruz (1541)

People and things also explored

Battle of Mostaganem (965/1558)· Great Siege of Malta (973/1565)· Siege of Oran and Mers El Kébir (971/1563)· Abd al-Aziz b. Abbas· Abdallah al-Ghalib bi'llah al-Sa'di· Abu Zayyan Ahmad II· Ahmad al-Wattasi· Ahmad Muqran al-Zawawi

Sources

  1. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 219-222
  2. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 219
  3. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 219-221
  4. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 222
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ahmad al-A'raj al-Sa'di”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ahmad-al-araj-al-sadi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Related

Battle of Mostaganem (965/1558)

Seeing the Ottoman recovery of Tlemcen as a mortal threat, the Count of Alcaudete led twelve thousand men against Mostaganem — the Ottoman base against Oran — hoping to make it his own base against Algiers; the attempt failed, the Spanish force suffered heavy losses in Dhu'l-Qa'da 965/August 1558, and the count himself was among the dead.