made clear when the Portuguese took some tribal warriors captive and demanded that the local tribes choose a leader or representative with whom they could negotiate their release. Either way, in 1510 the Saadian chief Muhammad al-Qa'im (full name: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibnʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Qāʾim Biamr Allāh) was formally recognized in Tidsi by the tribes of the Sous and the Sufi groups as their military leader and political representative. Tidsi remained Al-Qa'im's base for three years until he moved to Afughal in the Haha region in 1513, the burial site of Al-Jazuli. This was done at the invitation of the Shayazima tribe, which had been involved decades earlier in a rebellion against the Wattasids. This associated the early Saadians with both the followers of al-Jazuli and with an implicit opposition to the Wattasids. In 1513 Al-Qa'im also appointed his elder son Ahmad al-'Araj as his successor and left him as governor in the Sous while he moved to Afughal. The Sous valley was a crucial stage in the trans-Saharan trade routes and, despite the jihad against Portuguese encroachment, European trade also increased in the region, all of which brought great profit to Al-Araj and to the Saadian movement. In 1515 the Saadians helped repel a Portuguese attack on Marrakesh but they were not yet in a position to claim the city for themselves. The sons of Al-Qa'im Upon Al-Qa'im's death in 1517 he was buried next to Al-Jazuli in Afughal. Al-Araj inherited his father's main position at Afughal, north of the Atlas Mountains, while his younger brother Muhammad al-Shaykh was in turn charged with the Sous, south of the mountains. These two amirs became the true founders of the Saadian dynasty and its growing power. Among other things, Muhammad al-Shaykh also encouraged the production and export of sugar from the Sous, which thereafter became the region's main export. While famine or plague in 1520-1521 interrupted military efforts, Saadian power continue to grow across much of southern Morocco and began expelling the Europeans (Portuguese and Spanish) from their posts in the region. In 1523 open hostilities were declared between the Saadians and the Wattasid ruler in Fes, Muhammad al-Burtuqali. Al-Araj was admitted peacefully into Marrakesh in 1521 upon marrying the daughter of the Hintata leader Muhammad ibn Nasir Bu Shantuf who was occupying the city, but in 1524 or 1525 he had Bu Shantuf assassinated and, with the help of