Sayyida al Hurra was born around 1485 (890 Hijra) to a prominent Andalusian family in Granada who were descendants of Hassan ibn Ali. In 1492, the family fled to Morocco after the former fell to the Spanish Catholic King and Queen. Despite their forced flight from their home country, the family was able to succeed in Morocco’s and Sayyida al Hurra was able to get access to a high quality education. She was fluent in a number of languages, including Portuguese and Castilian Spanish and Abdallah al-Ghazwani, a Sufi Saint in Morocco, was one of her teachers. When she was 16, she married the governor of Tétouan and together they successfully ran the province, she acting as de factor leader when her partner went on trips outside of the city. After her husband died in 1515, the people accepted her as the governor of Tétouan and she became known as al-Hurra or “their partner in the diplomatic game”. She successfully ran the city and dedicated her entire life to the well being of the population. When she received an offer to marry a king from Fez, Sayyida required that he come to Tétouan to marry her, the first instance of a Moroccan king moving out of his king for marriage. Despite her dedication to Tétouan, she and the rest of the refugees from Andalusia never gave up hope if retuning to their home country. To keep these dreams alive, Sayyida al-Hurra turned to piracy and made contact with the Ottoman pirates of Algiers and begun taking “too much booty and many pirates” according to Spanish historical documents. After ruling as queen for 30 years, she was overthrown by her son in law and spent the last 20 years of her life in Chefchaouen, stripped of her title, her property and her power.