3.5.1 - The City of Fez

The city of Fez is located in the north part of Maghreb, occupying the easy roads linking the western coast overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The history of Fez dates back to the second century AH, when Idris Ibn Abdullah, the founder of the Idrisid state, built a city on the right bank of the Fez River in 172/789 to replace the old capital, which had been densely populated. Then dozens of Arab families from the villagers came to establish the first neighborhoods in what was then known as the villagers quarter, while those who were forced to emigrate from Andalusia, were populated in the Andalusians quarter. When Idriss died, before the full development of Fez, after twenty years his son Idriss Ibn Idriss founded a second city on the left bank of the river. The city remained so split until the age of Almoravids when ordered Yusuf Ibn Tashefin united the two parts into one big city that became the main military base in northern Maghreb.

It should be noted that Shaykh Muhyiddin stayed in the city of Fez at least three times, for varying periods in 591 and 593-594 and 597 AH, as we shall see shortly, and therefore some of the events mentioned in Fez without mentioning the exact date because we could not determine the year with good accuracy, so we may have mentioned them in the wrong period, and God knows best.