Abu Abdallah al-Qaim

Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Qaim bi-Amr Allah, often shortened to Abu Abdallah al-Qa'im was the first political leader of the Saadi Dynasty of Morocco. He ruled the Sous and other parts of southern Morocco from 1510 to 1517, setting the stage for his sons to lead the dynasty to power over the rest of Morocco in the decades after his death. They migrated to the Draa valley in the 14th century before moving or spreading to Tidsi in the Sous valley in the following century.

According to one traditional account, when Abu Abdallah visited Medina he dreamed of two lions entering a tower with a crowd of people close behind. Taking his vision to a Sufi sheikh, he was told that his two sons would have an important future in his country. Upon returning to Morocco he began to broadcast the vision among his people, who believed him, according to Moroccan historian al-Nasiri, because of his reputation for honesty, and he adopted the Mahdist title "al-Qaim bi Amrillah" (the one called by God).

Al-Qa'im's rise to power took place in the context of weak central rule in Morocco and of Portuguese expansionism along its Atlantic coast. The Wattasid dynasty, which ruled from Fez in the north, had little authority over the south of the country. In 1505 the Portuguese occupied Agadir (on the coast, near the mouth of the Sous river), which they called Santa Cruz do Cabo de Aguer, and from their territory here other European merchants also operated, notably the Genoese. He then sent his two sons Ahmad al-Araj and Mohammed Amghar (later called Mohammed ash-Sheikh) to Fez, where they established themselves as teachers of religion and literature and exhorted the sultan to raise a full jihad in the south. Tidsi remained Al-Qa'im's base for three years until he moved to Afughal in the Haha region in 1513, the burial site of Al-Jazuli.