Abu Thabit had died at Tetouan in the Rif, while laying siege to Ceuta, then held by Othman ibn Idris, a Nasrid-sponsored pretender to the Marinid throne.
It is alleged that emissaries of Abu al-Rabi were party to the talks at Alcalá de Henares in late 1309 between Ferdinand IV of Castile and James II of Aragon directed against the Nasrid sultan Muhammad III of Granada.
After Muhammad III was deposed in a palace coup by his brother Nasr in March 1309, the Nasrids were quick to repair relations, abandoning the pretender Othman ibn Idris and actively assisting Abu al-Rabi in recovering Ceuta in July 1309.
The Nasrid ruler Nasr of Granada granted the Iberian towns of Algeciras and Ronda to the Marinids as dowry.
Without sons of his own, he was succeeded by an uncle, Abu Sa'id Uthman II as Marinid sultan of Morocco.