Idrisid Dynasty الأدارسة
← 789–927/985 →
Idrisid state, around 820 CE, showing its maximal extent.
Capital	Walilli (789–808) Fez (808-927) Hajar an-Nasar (927-985)
Religion	Zaidi Islam
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	Mediæval
- Established	789
- Disestablished	927/985

History of Morocco
This article is part of a series
Ancient Morocco Prehistoric and Berber Morocco Mauretania Tingitana
Early Islamic Morocco (7th C. – 11th C.) Umayyad Caliphate Barghawata Confederacy Emirate of Sijilmassa Idrisid kingdom Caliphate of Cordoba Fatimid Caliphate
Empire of Morocco (since 11th C.) Almoravid Empire Almohad Caliphate Kingdom of Marrakech, Kingdom of Fez, Imamate of the Souss, Oasis of Figuig, Kingdom of Sijilmassa, Land of Draa Kingdom of the Souss, Tekna Confederacy
European Protectorate (1912–1956) Treaty of Fez French Protectorate, Spanish Protectorate Rif Republic, Tangier Protocol
Modern Morocco (since 1956) Ifni War Sand War Green March Madrid Accords
Moroccan dynasties Idrisid dynasty Almoravid dynasty Almohad dynasty Marinid dynasty Wattasid dynasty Saadi dynasty Alaouite dynasty
Related Topics 1970s in Morocco 1980s in Morocco 1990s in Morocco 2000s in Morocco Economic history Military history Postal history Imperial cities
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The Idrisids (Arabic: الأدارسة‎ al-Idārisah, Berber: Idrisiyen) were a Zaydi-Shia^{[1][2][3][4][5]} dynasty of Morocco,^[6] ruling from 788 to 985. It was named after its founder Idriss I, the great grandchild of Hasan ibn Ali. Idrisids are traditionally regarded as the founders of the Moroccan state.^[7]

History[link]

Idrisid coin, minted at al-'Aliyah, Morocco, 840 CE.

The founder of the dynasty was Idris ibn Abdallah (788–791), who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. After the battle of Fakh, near Mecca, between the Abbasids and a Shiite party, he fled to the Maghreb. He first arrived in Tangier, at that time the most important city of Morocco, and by 788 he had settled in Volubilis.

The powerful Awraba Berbers of Volubilis (or Walili as the Berbers called it) took him in and made him their 'imam' (religious leader). The Awraba tribe was originally from the Tlemcen region and had supported Kusayla in his struggle against the Ummayad armies in the 670s and 680s. By the second half of the 8th century they had settled in northern Morocco, where their leader Ishak had his base in the Roman town of Volubilis. By this time the Awraba were already Muslim, but lived in an area where most tribes were either Christian, Jewish, Khariji or pagan. The Awraba seem to have welcomed a Sharifi imam as a way to strengthen their political position. Idris I, who was very active in the political organization of the Awraba, started instantly with the strengthening of his position and the subjugation of the Christian and Jewish tribes. In 789 he founded a settlement south east of Vollubilis, called Medinat Fas. In 791 Idris I was poisoned and killed by an Abbasid agent. Even though he left no male heir, his concubine Lalla Kanza bint Uqba al-Awrabi, gave him his only son and successor shortly after his death, Idris II. Idris' loyal Arab ex-slave and companion Rashid brought up his son and took on himself the regency of the state, on behalf of the Awraba. In 801 Rashid was killed by the Abbasids. In the following year, at the age of 11 years, Idris II was proclaimed imam by the Awraba.

Eventhough his father had spread his authority across much of northern Morocco, as far west as Tlemcen, he was completely dependent on the Awraba leadership. Idris II started instantly with the weakening of Awraba power, by welcoming Arab settlers in Walili and the appointment of two Arabs as his vizier and qadi. Thus he transformed himself from a protegé of the Awraba into their sovereign. The Awraba leader Ishak responded by plotting against his life with the Aghlabids of Tunisia. Idris reacted by having his former protector Ishak killed and in 809 moved his seat of government from the Awraba dominated Walili to Fes, where he founded a new settlement named Al-'Aliya. Idriss II (791–828) developed the city of Fez, already founded by his father as a Berber market town. Here he welcomed two waves of Arab immigration: one in 818 from Cordoba and another in 824 from Aghlabid Tunisia, giving Fes a more Arab character than other Maghrebi cities. When Idris II died in 828, the Idrisid state stretched from western Algeria to the Sous in southern Morocco and had become the leading state of Morocco, ahead of the principalities of Sijilmasa, Barghawata and Nekor.

Under his son and successor Muhammad (828–836) the kingdom was divided amongst eight brothers, whereby nine Idrisid statelets formed in Morocco and Algeria. Muhammad himself came to rule Fes, with only nominal power over his brothers. During this time Islamic and Arabic culture gained a stronghold in the towns and Morocco profited from the trans-Saharan trade, which came to be dominated by Muslim (mostly Berber) traders.

Even so, the Islamic and Arabic culture only made its influence felt in the towns, with the far majority of Morocco's population clinging to their Berber language and often adhering to Islamic heterodox and heretical doctrines: the Idrisids were principally rulers of the towns and had little power over the far majority of the country's population. The Idrisid family in turn was heavily berberised, with its members aligning itself with the Zenata tribes of Morocco. Already in the 870s the family was described by Ibn Qutaybah as being berberised in customs. By the 11th century this process had developed to such an extant, that the family was fully integrated in the Berber societies of Morocco. In the 11th century the Hammudid family arose among these Berber Idrisids, which was able to gain power in several cities of northern Morocco and southern Spain.

In 868 the Berber Khariji tribes of Madyuna, Ghayata and Miknasa of the Fes region formed a common front against the Idrisids. From their base in Sefrou they were able to defeat and kill the Idrisid Ali ibn Umar and occupy Fes. His brother Yahya was able to retake the city in 880 and establish himself as the new ruler. The Idrisids attacked the Kharijis of Barghawata and Sijilmasa, and the Sunnis of Nekor multiple times, but were never able to include these territories in their state.

In 917 the Miknasa and its leader Masala ibn Habus, acting on behalf of their Fatimid allies, attacked Fes and forced Yahya ibn Idris to recognize Fatimid suzerainty, before deposing him in 921. Hassan I al-Hajam managed to wrest control of Fez from 925 until 927 but he was the last of the dynasty to hold power there. From Fes, the Miknasa began a violent hunt across Morocco for members of the Idrisid family, seeking to exterminate them. Most of the Idrisids settled among the Berber tribes of the Rif Mountains where they were protected by the reluctance of tribal elders to have the local descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's family be whiped out. In the Rif they had a stronghold in the fortress of Hajar an-Nasar, from where they tried to restore their power base, until the last Idrisid made the mistake of switching allegiances back to the Fatimids, and was deposed and executed in 985 by the Cordobans.

The remaining Idrisids were integrated in the Berber societies of the Rif, and in turn contributed to the linguistic Arabization of the tribes of the Western Rif (see the Jbala).

Rulers[link]

• Idris I - (788-791)
• Idris II - (791-828)
• Muhammad ibn Idris - (828-836)
• Ali ibn Idris, known as "Ali I" - (836-848)
• Yahya ibn Muhammad, known as "Yahya I" - (848-864)
• Yahya ibn Yahya, known as "Yahya II" - (864-874)
• Ali ibn Umar, known as "Ali II" - (874-883)
• Yahya ibn Al-Qassim, known as "Yahya III" - (883-904)
• Yahya ibn Idris ibn Umar, known as "Yahya IV" - (904-917)
• Fatimid overlordship - (922-925)
• Al-Hajjam al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qassim - (925-927)
• Fatimid overlordship - (927-937)
• Al Qasim Gannum - (937-948)
• Abu l-Aish Ahmad - (948-954)
• Al-Hasan ibn Kannun, known as "Hassan II" - (954-974) (not to be confused with Hassan II, born in 1929)
• Ali ibn Hammoud ibn Ahmed ibn Abdullah ibn omar ibn Idriss II, Caliph of Cordoba in 1016

Timeline of Idrisid Imams[link]

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Branches of the Idrisid dynasty[link]

• Hammudid dynasty in al-Andalus - (1016–1058)
• Idrisid emirs of Asir - (1906–1934)
• Senussi dynasty of Libya - (1918–1969)

See also[link]

• Hammudid dynasty
• Kingdom of Libya
  • Senussi
• Muhammad al-Idrisi, descendant of the Idrisid dynasty
• History of Algeria
• History of Morocco
• List of Shi'a Muslim dynasties

Notes and references[link]

1. ^ Ibn Abī Zarʻ al-Fāsī, ʻAlī ibn ʻAbd Allāh (1340), Rawḍ al-Qirṭās: Anīs al-Muṭrib bi-Rawd al-Qirṭās fī Akhbār Mulūk al-Maghrib wa-Tārīkh Madīnat Fās, ar-Rabāṭ: Dār al-Manṣūr (published 1972), pp. 38 
2. ^ Introduction to Islamic theology and law, By Ignác Goldziher, Bernard Lewis, pg.218
3. ^ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 24, By James Hastings, pg.844
4. ^ The Idrisids
5. ^ Shi'ah tenets concerning the question of the imamate
6. ^ Hodgson, Marshall (1961), Venture of Islam, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 262 
7. ^ Mahjoob Zweiria & Christoph Königb, Are Shias rising in the western part of the Arab world? The case of Morocco, in The Journal of North African Studies, Volume 13, Issue 4, 2008, pages 513-529.

Sources[link]

• Ibn Abi Zar, Rawd al-Qirtas contains a chronicle of the dynasty.

External links[link]

• The Shia Idrisid State in Maghrib

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