Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Death-Defying Dynasty: The Idrissids
Looking back on early Berber kingdoms, the 14th-century historian Ibn Khuldun noted a
pattern that would repeat throughout Moroccan dynastic history. A new leadership would
arise determined to do right, make contributions to society as a whole and fill the royal cof-
fers, too. When the pursuit of power and royal comforts began to eclipse loftier aspirations,
the powers that be would forfeit their claim to moral authority. A new leadership would
arise determined to do right, and the cycle would begin all over again.
So it was with the Idrissids, Morocco's first great dynasty. A descendant of the Prophet
Mohammed's daughter Fatima, Idriss I fled Arabia for Morocco in AD 786 after discover-
ing ambitious Caliph Haroun ar-Rashid's plan to murder his entire family. But Idriss didn't
exactly keep a low profile. After being proclaimed an imam (religious leader) by the local
Berbers, he unified much of northern Morocco in the name of Islam. Just a few days after
he'd finally settled into his new capitol at Fez in 792, Haroun ar-Rashid's minions finally
tracked down and poisoned Idriss I. Yet death only increased Idriss I's influence; his body
was discovered to be miraculously intact five centuries later, and his tomb in the hillside
town of Moulay Idriss remains one of the holiest pilgrimage sites in Morocco.
His son Idriss II escaped Haroun's assassins and extended Idrissid control across north-
ern Morocco and well into Europe. In perhaps the first (but certainly not the last) approx-
imation of democracy in Morocco, Idriss II's 13 sons shared power after their father's
death. Together they expanded Idrissid principates into Spain and built the glorious
mosques of Fez: the Kairaouine and the Andalous.
