Zidan Abu Maali
| Zidan Abu Maali | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saadi Sultan | |||||||||
| Reign | 1603–1627 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Ahmad al-Mansur | ||||||||
| Successor | Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II | ||||||||
| Born | Saadi Sultanate | ||||||||
| Died | September 1627 Saadi Sultanate | ||||||||
| Issue | Ahmed Elasgher Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II Al Walid ben Zidan Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | House of Saadi | ||||||||
| Father | Ahmad al-Mansur | ||||||||
| Mother | Aisha bint Abu Bakkar al-Shabani | ||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||
Zidan Abu Maali (or Muley Zidan; Arabic: زيدان أبو المعالي, romanized: Zaydān Abū 'l-Maʿālī; died September 1627) was the embattled Saadi sultan from 1603 to 1627. He was the son and heir of Ahmad al-Mansur by his wife Lalla Aisha bint Abu Bakkar, a lady of the Chebanate tribe.
He ruled only over the southern half of the country after his brother, Mohammed esh Sheikh el Mamun, took the northern half and a rebel from Tafilalt, Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli, marched on Marrakesh claiming to be the Mahdi. This led Muley Zidan to be encircled in Safi amid other failed military campaigns against the rebellious north. These events were exacerbated by a context of chaos that ensued amid a pandemic of bubonic plague, which left a third of the country dead. Spanish privateers seized Zidan's manuscripts while they were in transit off the coast of Morocco. They brought them to El Escorial, where the Zaydani Library still maintains them.
His reign saw the end of the Anglo-Spanish war with the Treaty of London 1604, which broke the Anglo-Dutch axis that Morocco was relying upon as a means of protection from Spain. This permitted the Spanish navy to resume devastating raids on the Moroccan coast and to incite a rebellion by one of his provincial governors, who established the independent Republic of Salé between Azemmour and Salé.