THREE

North Africa

8

The Idrīsids

172–375/789–985

Morocco

The Idrīsids were the first dynasty who attempted to introduce the doctrines of Shī‘ism, albeit in a very attenuated form, into the Maghrib, where the most vigorous form of Islam, – in a region where there was still much paganism and Christianity surviving – was that of the radical and egalitarian Khārijism. Idrīs I was a great-grandson of al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, hence connected with the line of Shī‘ī Imāms. He took part in the ‘Alid rising in the Ḥijāz of his nephew al-Ḥusayn, the ṣāḥib Fakhkh, against the ‘Abbāsids in 169/786, and was compelled to flee to Egypt and then to North Africa, where the prestige of his ‘Alid descent led several Zanāta Berber chiefs of northern Morocco to recognise him as their leader. There he settled at Walīla, the Roman Volubilis, but it seems that he also began the laying-out of a military camp, Madīnat Fās, nucleus of the later city of Fez. This last soon grew populous, attracting emigrants from Muslim Spain and Ifrīqiya, the eastern Maghrib, and became the Idrīsids’ capital. Its role as a holy city, home of the Shorfā (<shurafā’< i=""> ‘noble ones’), privileged descendants of the Prophet’s grandsons al-Hasan and al-Ḥusayn, also begins now, and henceforth these Shorfā play an important role in Moroccan history (see below, nos 20, 21). The Idrīsid period is also important for the diffusion of Islamic culture over the recently-converted Berber tribesmen of the interior.</shurafā’<>

However, during the reign of Muḥammad al-Muntaṣir, the Idrīsid dominions became politically fragmented as a result of his decision to divide out the family’s various towns – the Idrīsids’ hold on Morocco was essentially urban-based rather than on the countryside – as appanages for several of his numerous brothers. The Idrīsids thus fell prey to attacks from their Berber enemies, but in the early tenth century a more determined and dangerous foe appeared in the shape of the radical Shī‘ī Fāṭimids of Ifrīqiya. Yaḥyā IV had to recognise the suzerainty of the Mahdī ‘Ubaydallāh, and much of his territory was detached and given to the Miknāsa Berber chief Mūsā b. Abi ’l-‘Afiya. The Idrīsids were subsequently driven to the peripheries of Morocco, so that there were minor branches at places like Tamdult in the south, but the main line was established among the Ghumāra Berbers in the Rīf of northern Morocco. These last gave their allegiance variously to the Spanish Umayyads, who were now, under their caliph ‘Abd al-Rahmān III, attempting to extend their influence in North Africa, and to the Fāṭimids. In 353/974, the Idrīsid al-Ḥasan had to surrender to the Umayyads and was carried off to Cordova. Some years later, he managed to reappear, with Fāṭimid support, but was killed by Umayyad forces and the Idrīsid dynasty in North Africa ended.

However, during the period of Umayyad decadence in the early eleventh century, a distant branch of the Idrīsids, the Ḥammūdids, succeeded in establishing Taifa principalities in Málaga and Algeciras (see above, no. 5, Taifas nos 1, 2).

Lane-Poole, 35; Zambaur, 65 and Table 4; Album, 15.

EI² ‘Idrīs I,’ ‘Idrīs II,’ ‘Idrīsids’ (D. Eustache).

H. Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc des origines à 1’établissement du Protectorat français, Casablanca 1949–50, I, 107–34.

D. Eustache, Corpus de dirhams idrīsides et contemporains. Collection de la Banque du Maroc et autres collections mondiales, publiques etprivées, Rabat 1970–1, with a list of rulers and genealogical tables at pp. 3ff. and with notes at pp. 17–24.