Al-Qadi Iyad

Born in Ceuta, Iyad ibn Musa al-Yahsubi studied in Cordoba and Seville under the greatest scholars of Al-Andalus, appointed Grand Qadi of Ceuta at age 35 and later Qadi of Granada. A fearless defender of legal orthodoxy, he codified Maliki judicial precedent in his biographical compendium *Tartib al-Madarik*.

His immortal theological masterpiece, *Kitab al-Shifa bi Ta'rif Huquq al-Mustafa*, celebrating the moral virtues of the Prophet, became the most widely read devotional work in the Maghreb. Banished to Marrakesh during the Almohad conquest, his shrine near Bab Aylan is one of the city's Seven Patron Saints (Sab'atu Rijal).