Mohammed
esch Cheik and El Aredj were brothers, and members of a 'noble' family
in the region of Taroudant.
The Sa'adiens were Sharifs, a family who claimed descendence from the
prophet Mohammed. However, this alone was not sufficient to claim power,
as many such families existed in Morocco (note that the ruling dynasty
at the time, the Wattasides were not Sharifs).
The real factor which helped rally supporters to their cause was their
reputation for encouraging the' Jihad' (religious war) against the Portuguese.
As they gathered momentum and became outspoken rivals to the Fassi crown,
they started calling themselves "Dawal esch Sharifia"- the
Sharifian Dynasty, thus marking their difference with the non-Sharifian
Wattasides.
During
their rule, the name "Sa'adian" was not used by them, or others
to describe them. At the death of Mohammed el Mansour (1603), when the
dynasty was disintegrating, the challengers became more vocal and more
vicious. They started referring to their rulers as "Dawal as Sa'diyyah"
(the Sadi dynasty)- which suggested they descended not from the prophet,
but from as-Sadiyyah, the prophet's foster mother!
