Idris II of Morocco

Idris Al-Azhar Ben Idris Ben Abdellah Al-Kamel (Arabic: إدريس الْأَزْهَرَ بْن إدريس بْن عَبْدِ اللهِ الْكَامِلِ‎) known as Idris II (791-828), (Arabic: إدريس الثاني‎) was the son of Idris I, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty in Morocco. He was born in Volubilis two months after the death of his father. He succeeded his father Idris I in 803.

Idris II إدريس الثاني
Imam of Morocco
Reign	803-828
Predecessor	Idris I ibn Abdullah
Successor	Muhammad ibn Idris
Born	August 791 Volubilis, Morocco
Died	828 Fes, Morocco
Burial	Fes, Morocco
Full name Idris Al-Azhar ibn Idris
Dynasty	Idrisid
Father	Idris I ibn Abdullah
Mother	Kanza
Religion	Zaydi Shia

Biography

Idris II was born on August 791, two months after the death—June 791—of Idris I. His mother, Kanza, was a Berber concubine of his father. He was raised among the Berber Awraba tribe of Volubilis. In 803, he was proclaimed Imam in the mosque of Walila succeeding his father.[1][2]

Of the Idrisid sultans Idris II was one of the best educated. In the work of Ibn al-Abbar correspondence between Idris II and his contemporary Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab is quoted in which he invites him to renounce his claims to his territories.[3]

Idris II died in Volubilis in 828. His grave is contained in the Zawiyya Moulay Idris in Fez. It was rediscovered under Abd al-Haqq II (1420–1465) in 1437, and became an important place of pilgrimage in the 15th century. It is, up till the present, considered the holiest place of Fez.

References

1. Eustache, D. (1986) [1971]. "Idrīs II". In Lewis, B.; Ménage, V. L.; Pellat, C.; Schacht, J. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. III (2nd ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. BRILL. p. 1031-1032. ISBN 9004081186.
2. Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1987). A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-521-33767-0.
3. Ibn Abbar, o.c., ed. Müller, 201-202/ed.Monés, I, p.55 quoted in Herman L. Beck, L'image d'Idrīs II, BRILL, 1989, p.36