[1] Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya was born into the powerful Wattasid family that had ruled the eastern Rif from Tazouta (near present-day Nador) since the late 13th century.
By the start of the 15th Century, the Wattasids had accumulated power while the Merinids were distracted attempting to repel Portuguese and Spanish invasions with the Granadans.
In the chaos that followed the 1465 Moroccan revolt, Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya fought against the Joutey branch of the Idrisids.
In 1471, he defeated their leader, Muhammad ibn Ali Amrani-Joutey, who had declared himself Sultan.
The documentarian who was one of the deportees from Spain, Rabbi Abraham ben Solomon, therefore calls Muhammad the title of Righteous Among the Nations.