Salihids
The Salihids ( Arabic صالحيون, DMG Ṣāliḥiyūn ) were an Arab dynasty that ruled over a principality in the northern Moroccan Rif Mountains between the 8th and 11th centuries . Its capital was Nakur , about 140 km west of Melilla , from whose Mediterranean port al-Mazimma today's al-Husaima / Alhucemas emerged .
The founder of the dynasty was Salih ibn Mamun, who had supported Uqba ibn Nafi in the subjugation of the Maghreb . For this he received from Umayyaden - Khalifa al-Walid I. by the pacification of Berber under Musa ibn Nusayr the field of Gumara-Berber ( Masmuda ) between Tetouan and Melilla transmitted in fee. This principality developed alongside the Idrisid empire to become one of the most important in northern Morocco.
At the end of the 8th century , the city of Nakur was founded and expanded by Said ibn Idris as a new residence. It soon developed into an important economic center in northern Morocco through trade with al-Andalus . The Salihids had very close and good contacts with the Emirate of Córdoba and were one of the few dynasties in the western Maghreb under which the Sunnis were promoted and who also made up the majority of the population.
After Nakur was sacked by the Normans in 858 and occupied for eight years, the Salihids got caught in the struggle of the Umayyads and Fatimids for supremacy in Morocco in the 10th century . The Salihid emir Said was asked by the Fatimid caliph al-Mahdi to submit. Since he refused this in a spiteful poem, Nakur was attacked by the Miknasa- Berber Masala ibn Habus, the Fatimid governor of Tahert , and conquered on June 26, 917. While Said was killed, his three sons Idris, al-Mutasim and Salih were able to go to Málaga to Abd ar-Rahman III. flee. He took them in and helped them quickly regain Nakur, whom Masala had entrusted to a governor named Dalul after six months and then left. After the Salihids had returned from Malaga one night by surprise, the Fatimid occupation, the Prince Salih took control of the city and ruled it as a vassal of the Emir of Cordoba, who supplied him with weapons, among other things. As early as 921, however, Nakur was taken again by Masala and afterwards (928/29, 935) several Fatimid attacks were to follow.
Even if there is no information about the dynasty in the following years, it can be assumed on the basis of coin finds that the emirate of the Salihids was able to hold its own until the 11th century . Only the Almoravids seem to have finally conquered the principality.
literature
- Ulrich Haarmann : History of the Arab World. Edited by Heinz Halm . 4th revised and expanded edition. CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47486-1 ( Beck's historical library ).
- Stephan Ronart, Nandy Ronart: Lexicon of the Arab World. A historical-political reference work. Artemis Verlag, Zurich et al. 1972, ISBN 3-7608-0138-2 .