Bu Yahya al-Ra'is

بويحيى الرايس

Appointed by Hasan b. Khayr al-Din in 965/1558 as commander of Badis; he ravaged the Spanish coast from Cartagena to Cape St Vincent and was rightly called lord of the Strait of Gibraltar — four warships in the strait's waters, two at Badis and one building, per the Spanish report of Francois de Ibanier. No ship could pass without his leave and fear spread along the coast, until Hasan deposed him in late 971/1563 ¹.

Summary

Commander of Badis under Hasan b. Khayr al-Din, rightly styled lord of the Strait of Gibraltar ¹.

Lord of the strait

Appointed in 965/1558, he ravaged the Spanish coast from Cartagena to Cape St Vincent; the Spanish report of Francois de Ibanier credits him with four warships in the strait, two at Badis and a third building — no ship could pass without his leave and fear spread along the coast, until Hasan deposed him in late 971/1563 ¹.

Abdallah al-Ghalib bi'llah al-Sa'di

Muhammad al-Shaykh's son and successor. His challenge to the Ottoman admiral — 'the sultan of the West will dispute Egypt's mahmal with you and come to you in Egypt' — showed, in al-Salabi's reading, his rejection of the Ottoman caliphate and his own ambition for the imamate. After his father's murder in 964/1557 he crushed the revolts of Mawlay Uthman in the Sous, Mawlay Umar in Debdou and Mawlay Abd al-Mu'min in Marrakesh, massacred three brothers who refused the bay'a to his son Muhammad al-Mutawakkil — sending Mawlay Umar, Abd al-Mu'min, Abd al-Malik and Ahmad al-Mansur fleeing to Tlemcen and Algiers — met Hasan b. Khayr al-Din inconclusively at Wadi al-Lin near Fez, and agreed to hand Badis to Spain in exchange for defence of Morocco's shores.

Bu Yahya al-Ra'is

At a glance

Summary

Lord of the strait

Connections

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People

Abdallah al-Ghalib bi'llah al-Sa'di