Khadir Ghaïlan (Library of Congress, Ahmad al Khādir ibn 'Ali Ghaylān; generally known to English-speakers as Gayland or Guyland) was a powerful warlord in Morocco during the seventeenth century.
[1] He controlled large swathes of the region until his death in September 1672 at the hands of Moulay Ismail.
Despite gaining a success over the garrison at the Battle of Tangier (1664) he was never able to seriously threaten the port.
He agreed a number of truces with the Governors of Tangier.
The play "The Heir of Morocco, with the Death of Gayland" written by Elkanah Settle in 1682 was a political attack on John Dryden, and is entirely fictional in respect of the characters used.