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The Saadi Dynasty of Morocco, Arabic سعديون (in English also Saadite or Saadian, original name Bani Zaydan), began with the reign of Sultan Mohammed ash-Sheikh in 1554. From 1509 to 1554 they had ruled only in the south of Morocco. The Saadian rule ended in 1659 with the end of the reign of Sultan Ahmad II. The Saadī family claimed descent from Muhammad through the line of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima Zahra (Muhammad's daughter). The Saadi came from Tagmadert in the valley of the Draa River. They claimed sharifian origins and rendered Sufism respectable in Morocco. The name Saadi or Saadian was given to the Bani Zaydan (shurafa of Tagmadert) by later generations and rivals for power, who tried to deny their Hassanid descent by claiming that they came from the family of Halimah Saadiyya, Muhammad's wet nurse.^[1] The most famous sultan of the Saadi was Ahmad I al-Mansur (1578–1603), builder of the El Badi Palace in Marrakech and contemporary of Elizabeth I. One of their most important achievements was ousting the Portuguese from Morocco and defending the country against the Ottomans. Before they conquered Marrakech, they had Taroudant as their capital city.

The Saadian Tombs were rediscovered in 1917 and can be seen in Marrakech.

Until 1554 only in Southern Morocco:

• Abu Abdallah al-Qaim (1509-1517)
• Ahmad al-Araj (1517-1544)
• Mohammed ash-Sheikh (1544-1557) (ruling all of Morocco after 1554)

• Abdallah al-Ghalib (1557–1574)
• Abu Abdallah Mohammed II (1574–1576)
• Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I (1576–1578)
• Ahmad I al-Mansur (1578–1603)
• Abu Fares Abdallah (born 1564) (r.1603–1608 in parts of Morocco)

1603-1659 the Saadian rulers of Morocco based in Marrakesh

• Zidan Abu Maali (r.1603–1627)
• Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik II (r.1627–1631)
• Al Walid ben Zidan (r.1631–1636)
• Mohammed esh Sheikh es Seghir (r.1636–1655)
• Ahmad el Abbas (r.1655–1659)

1603-1627 the Saadian rulers based in Fes (with only local power)

• Abdallah Mohammed esh Sheikh el Mamum (born 1560), (r.1604-1613)
• Abdallah II (r.1613-1623)
• Abd el Malek (r.1623-1627)

• El Badi Palace
• Saadian Tombs
• Draa River
• History of Morocco
• History of Spain

1. ^ The use of Analogy and the Role of the Sufi Shaykh in Post-Marinid Morocco, Vincent Cornell, International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 15, no. 1 (feb, 1983), pp.67-93)

• Rosander, E. Evers and Westerlund, David (1997). African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters Between Sufis and Islamists. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1-85065-282-1
• http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/generalities/history/history.html History of Morocco
  • Morocco in the Sixteenth Century. Problems and Patterns in African Foreign Policy by Dahiru Yahya, Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 18, No. 1 (1984), pp. 252-253

Preceded by Wattasid Dynasty

Saadi Dynasty 1554–1659

Succeeded by Alaouite Dynasty