Abu Inan's father Abu'l Hasan had taken the town of Tlemcen in 1337. In 1347 Abu'l Hasan annexed Ifriqiya, briefly reuniting the Maghrib territories as they had been under the Almohads. However, Abu'l Hasan went too far in attempting to impose more authority over the Arab tribes, who revolted and in April 1348 defeated his army near Kairouan. Abu Inan Faris, who had been serving as governor of Tlemcen, returned to Fez and declared that he was sultan. Tlemcen and the central Maghreb revolted. Abu Inan took the title of Amir al-Mu'minin. Abu'l Hasan had to return from Ifriqiya by sea. After failing to retake Tlemcen and being defeated by his son, Abu'l Hasan died in May 1351. In 1352 Abu Inan Faris recaptured Tlemcen. He also reconquered the central Maghreb. He took Béjaïa in 1353. The Nasrid rulers of Granada were concerned that if Abu Inan was able to gain full control of the Maghreb, he would then invade Granada. To weaken him, they sponsored a rebellion by his brother Abul Fadl, who had briefly been governor of Tunis from December 1349. Sultan Abul-Hajjaj of Grenada hired ships from Castile and used them to take Abul-Fadl and his supporters to Sousse, where he launched a short-lived rebellion. Abu Inan continued his eastward expansion, and took Tunis in 1357, becoming master of Ifrikiya. Due to the intrigues of his vizier, Faris bin Maymum, he was forced to retreat from Tunisia in 1357. Abu Inan fellill in November 1357. His vizier Hasan bin Umar al-Fududi had a dispute with his heir apparent Abu Zayyan Muhammad, so nominated his young son Abu Bakr Sa'id as his successor instead. When Abu Inan began to recover from his illness, the vizier feared he would be punished for nominating Abu Bakr. On 10 January 1358 he had Abu Inan strangled.
Legacy
Under Abu Inan's rule the Black Death and the rebellions of Tlemcen and Tunis marked the beginning of the decline of the Marinids. They proved unable to drive back the Portuguese and the Spaniards, who settled on the North African coast during the reign of the Wattasids, which succeeded to the Marinids. Abu Inan commissioned one of his secretaries, Ibn Juzayy, to record an account of Ibn Battuta's 29 years of travelling. The result, Ibn Battuta's rihla, was completed in December 1355. Abu Inan built madrasas in Meknes and Fes in 1350, and built another madrasa in Fes in 1357. The Bou Inania Madrasa of Fes and that of Meknes were named after him.
