Mohammed esh Sheikh el Mamun also spelled Muhammad al-Shaykh al-Ma'mun, (b.
[4] When Ahmad al-Mansur died in 1603, his two brothers refused to recognize him as the successor and immediately presented rival claims to the sultanate.
They held Zidan Abu Maali as the rightful heir as he was born to a legitimate wife of his father Ahmad al-Mansur, whose birth they stated would always surpass in legitimacy than that of the son of a harem slave concubine.
[7] It was during the reign of Muhammad al-Shaykh al-Ma'mun that arose the division of the Saadian realm: one part ruled from the main capital in Marrakesh, and the other from Fez in the north.
There he signed a treaty with Philip III of Spain whereby he obtained military support in return for ceding the northern Moroccan port of Larache (al-ʿArāʾis̲h̲).