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1.7.1.2 - Ibn Mardanish (518/1124-567/1171)

After the fall of Almoravids state in Andalusia, the period of the second Kings of Sects started, such as Ibn Mardanish in Granada and Murcia and Banu Ghaniya in the Balearic Islands. However, these small kingdoms did not last long, because they could not resist Almohads armies who marched to Andalusia to replace the corrupted Almoravids reign as we mentioned above.

Abdul-Momin al-Qaysiy fought many battles against Ibn Mardanish who resorted to the Christians for help, but was defeated and his soldiers were killed. After loosing Granada in 557/1163, Ibn Mardanish settled in Murcia and Valencia until his death in 568/1172 and the Almohads took over his last emirates.

Ibn Mardanish is Muhammad Ibn Saad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ahmad al-Jasami al-Andalusi. He was the son-in-law of Abu Muhammad Abdullah Ibn Ayad, the famous hero who defended eastern Andalusia in the late Almoravids state, and when he died his soldiers agreed on Ibn Mardanish to lead them, although he was still a young man, but he was known for his great couragefootnote{See: Siar Aalam al-Nubalaa, the classification of Imam Shamseddine Muhammad Ibn Ahmed Ibn Othman al-Dhahabi, achieved his texts and came out of his hadiths and commented on it Shoaib al-Arnot and Hussein al-Assad, al-Risala Foundation, Beirut, 1981-1986: c20 p. 240-242..

When he took power of Murcia, he gathered the industrialists who worked on the construction of magnificent palaces and great orchards. He then expanded his kingdom to include Valencia, Shatiba and Dania and even was looking forward to capture Cordoba, and all of Andalusia. However, when Almohads got up to fight him he did not hesitate to seek to the help of the Spanish, which was one of his great mistakes which caused people to prefer Almohads over him, until they beat him and besieged him Murcia where he died in 568/1172. Al-Safadi said that his mother poisoned him, so when he felt he was dying he ordered his family and leaders to hand over the country, and they moved to Seville, the capital of Almohads [Siyar Aalaam al-Nubalaa, v.4, p. 137].

When they met Yusuf Ibn Abdul-Momin, he received them with joy, having captured their country, and he married their sister, and honored them to stay with him.

There is no doubt that Ibn al-Arabi's father, Ali, who was close to Ibn Mardanish, went with them to Seville in 568/1172 when Ibn al-Arabi was eight years old.

In the Meccan Revelations, Shaykh Muhyiddin recalls Murcia and its Sultan Ibn Mardanish, when he says that

one of his people once called upon him saying: “Allah spoke with Moses, so why you speak with me!”. The Sultan said to him: “You are not like Moses”, but he replied: “And you are not Allah!”. So the Sultan stopped his horse and listened to him until he mentioned his need, and he honored him. Ibn al-Arabi then says: “This was Muhammad Ibn Saad Ibn Mardanish, the Sultan of eastern Andalusia, where I was born in his time and in his country in Murcia.” [Futuhat, IV.264, see also: Muhadarat al-Abraar, I.34].