Abdallah al Ghalib

Abdallah al-Ghalib Billah (1517 – 22 January 1574, reigned 1557–74) was the second Saadian sultan of Morocco. He succeeded his father Mohammed ash-Sheikh as Sultan of Morocco.

With his first wife, Mohammed ash-Sheikh had three sons, but the two oldest had died while he was still alive (in 1550 and in 1551). Abdallah, the third, was 40 years old when he became sultan and received the name al-Ghalib Billah. Before that he had been vice-king of Marrakesh and governor of Fes.

Shortly after Abdallah came to power, three of his younger brothers fled the country and joined the Ottoman Turks. Abd al-Malik and Ahmad, both future Sultans of Morocco, spent 17 years in exile in the Ottoman Empire, moving between Algiers and Constantinople, where they were trained by the Ottomans.

During a relatively peaceful reign Abdallah succeeded in warding off both the Spanish and the Turks and in consolidating the sovereignty of the Saadians over Morocco.

He fought the invading Turks in 1558 at the Battle of Wadi al-Laban, the Ottomans had to retreat because the Spaniard were launching an expedition on Oran. The Moroccan ruler formed an alliance with the Spanish against the Ottomans. After his victory he even occupied Tlemcen for a short period. The Spaniard, and the Morrocans were destroyed at the expedition of Mostaganem in 1558 by the Ottomans. In 1568 he supported the insurrection of the Moriscos in Spain.

Abdallah al-Ghalib Billah died on 22 January 1574 of an asthma attack. After his reign a period of civil war was to follow that lasted four years.

During his reign, Abdallah al-Ghalib Billah resided in Marrakesh. He had the Muassin mosque constructed in the city, along with a maristan (a hospital usually attached to a mosque) and the Ben Youssef Medrassa. He also reconstructed the al-Mansouria mosque.

He was succeeded by his son Abdallah Mohammed, despite a Saadian inheritance rule that decreed that the throne pass on to his eldest surviving brother, the exiled Abd al-Malik.