Ahmad al-Mansur al-Dhahabi al-Sa'di

أحمد المنصور الذهبي السعدي

Abd al-Malik's brother and right hand in all state affairs; he fled with him to the Ottoman sultan and was acclaimed on the field of Wadi al-Makhazin, 30 Jumada II 986/4 August 1578, having concealed his brother's death with the chamberlain Ridwan and led the vanguard into the Portuguese rear. He continued his brother's programme: building institutions, holding ministers to office hours, a cipher alphabet for secret correspondence, separation of the judiciary with his own mazalim council at the Qasba mosque of Marrakesh, guarded stations every twenty kilometres for caravans, the flexible Diwan council, an army on the Ottoman model with merit-based commands, field hospitals, a gun foundry, the Larache and Salé fleets — then extended Sa'di sway over the western Sudan and played Spain, England and the Ottomans off one another ¹. When Uluj Ali reached Algiers to annex Morocco in 989/1581, al-Mansur camped at the Tensift, sealed his passes, fortified the shores and sent an embassy to Istanbul — after a near-agreement with Spain trading Larache for military aid — and the Ottomans backed off. Embassies shuttled between Istanbul and Fez in 997–999/1588–1590 and he received an Ottoman envoy in 998/1589, yet the al-Andalus alliance never materialised, the Porte busy with Safavids, Habsburgs and the Hejaz ².

Summary

Abd al-Malik's brother and right hand, then sultan of Morocco styled al-Dhahabi ¹.

In the battle

With the chamberlain Ridwan he concealed his brother's death at Wadi al-Makhazin and led the vanguard into the Portuguese rear; he was acclaimed sultan on the field itself, 30 Jumada II 986 ³.

The state

He continued his brother's programme: ministers held to office hours, a cipher alphabet for secret letters, the judiciary separated from the executive with his own mazalim council at the Qasba mosque, guarded posts every twenty kilometres, the Diwan council, an Ottoman-model army with merit-based commands, field hospitals, a gun foundry, the Larache and Salé fleets, and expansion into the western Sudan ⁴.

Facing Uluj Ali

When kapudan Uluj Ali reached Algiers in Jumada II 989/June 1581 to annex Morocco, al-Mansur camped his troops at the Tensift, sealed his kingdom's passes, fortified the shores and sent an embassy to Istanbul — after a near-agreement with Spain trading Larache and other concessions — and the Ottomans backed off ⁵.

The shuttle embassies

Embassies ran between Istanbul and Fez between 997/1588 and 999/1590 — among them those of Ahmad ibn Wada', al-Shazimi and Abu al-Hasan al-Tamakrouti — and he received an Ottoman ambassador in 998/1589; yet the alliance to recover al-Andalus never came to be, the Porte absorbed by the Safavid and Habsburg wars and its duty to the Hejaz ⁵.

Sources

al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 265-270

al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 270-271

al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 265-267

al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 268-270

al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 271

Abd al-Malik al-Mu'tasim bi'llah al-Sa'di

The Sa'di sultan who had fled to the Porte; the Ottomans armed him with five thousand well-equipped fighters to take Fez from his nephew al-Mutawakkil, then sent trainers, weapons and a corps against the Portuguese invasion. His reforms: renewed shipbuilding, maritime trade, a modern army on the Ottoman model of arms and ranks, strengthened diwans and a consultative body versed in home and foreign affairs — his brother Ahmad al-Mansur his right hand. He won the awe of his age even among Europeans; the contemporary French poet Agrippa d'Aubigné called him his people's fairest, sharp of mind, versed in Spanish, Italian, Armenian and Russian, an excellent Arabic poet. At Wadi al-Makhazin he cut the enemy from his fleet, blew the bridge, and repelled the first charge sword drawn though ill — 'since when does sickness bar Muslims from jihad?' — then died in his tent, finger to his lips: conceal it until victory.

Ahmad al-Mansur al-Dhahabi al-Sa'di

At a glance