34 chapter one
al- ‘ibar to the history of these soldiers from 1262 until the arrest of their
last leader in 1369.^102 He traced the origin of this corps to the revolt around
the year 1260 at Salé (Salā) by a grandson of the founder of the Marīnid
dynasty against the sultan Abū Yūsuf.^103 The rebellion was supported by
Christian merchants living in the port city as well as three nephews of the
sultan, whose names are mentioned here because they are critical to the
history of the Aragonese jenets: Muḥammad b. Idrīs, ‘Āmir b. Idrīs, and
Raḥḥū b. ‘Abd Allāh.^104 Nevertheless, this putsch failed. Abū Yūsuf massa-
cred the Christian community at Salé and then marched against the three
princes and their followers, who had retreated to their tribal homeland
in the Rīf Mountains, in the western Maghrib, beyond Marīnid control.^105
Anticipating their own defeat, the young rebels repudiated their rebellion
and negotiated terms. Crucially, rather than killing these princes, the sultan
strong- armed them into accepting his terms.^106 According to Ibn Khaldūn,
“He forced (intadaba) them to perform jihād (ghazw) and to cross the sea
because of the cries of the Muslims of al- Andalus.”^107 In short, they were
exiled, banned from the kingdom. In this sense, Abū Yūsuf kept these
quarrelsome competitors at a distance, while nevertheless using them to
support his overarching efforts to aid the Muslims of al- Andalus. In 1262 ,
therefore, the cousins, now bandits, crossed into the Iberian Peninsula at
the head of three thousand cavalry soldiers.^108
The Naṣrid ruler in Granada greeted these exiles with honors, as new
allies against the encroaching Christian kingdoms to the north, and named
them the first leaders of the Ghuzāh:
They pressed the amīr of al- Andalus to give them the leadership [of the Ghuzāh]
on the coast. So he ceded to them (tajāfā lahum) the battlefront, command of
the Ghuzāh living on the shore (ahl al- ‘udwa) as well as the other tribes and
factions of Berbers. They passed [command] to one another and shared the tax
revenues ( jibāya) with him [the amīr]. He also generously paid the salary of
their soldiers (bi- farḍ al- ‘aṭā’ wa’l- dīwān fa- badhalahu lahum). They continue
in this manner until today. Their impact on [al- Andalus] was great, as we will
note in the history that follows.^109