Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub (d.936h./1555) is one of the most famous Muslim saints among the Berbers of the Sus region, located in southwestern Morocco. He is buried in the small rural village of Imi-n-Tatlt, which is situated deep in the mountains near the Saharan desert. Since Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub was alive, his descendants, the Ya'aqubiyin were beginning to disperse outward from this village encompassing the whole eastern part of the Sus region. At the same time, they built several traditional religious schools (madrasa, sing./madaris, pl.) and religious lodges (zawiya, sing.; zawaya, pl.) in the settlements and devoted themselves to traditional religious studies. In consequence, many religious scholars from Ya'aqubiyin have appeared in succession from the region ('alim, sing./'ulama', pl.), who obtained their recognition on the basis of their status as descendants of saints, and as religious scholars. Although Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub and his descendants, the Ya'aqubiyin have played an important religious role among the Berbers as stated, they have largely been overlooked in anthropological or historical studies on Muslim saint-worship in this area. In this paper, using Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub and the Ya'aqubiyin as a case study, I will examine how this saint's descendants diffused in particular places, and how they made use of their social networks to acquire religious knowledge and fame, and how they constructed social relationships with other prominent saints and with regional inhabitants, and finally, what kind of tactics and means they used to build their reputations. The main resources used for this article are the following: statements of oral traditions that I had collected during my field research, and some literary works of the great religious scholar Mukhtar as-Susi (1900-1963), such as al-Ma'asul, and Khilal Jazula. Chapter 1 is dedicated to an explanation and evaluation of the works of Mukhtar as-Susi to underscore the value of his works as a principal resource for the study of historical anthropology. Before discussing the Ya'aqubiyin, in chapter 2, I will concentrate on a description of Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub. The most important point of this chapter in relation to the later discussion is the multi-dimensional characteristics of his religious legitimacy as a saint-in particular, his noble pedigree as a descendant of prophet Muhammad (sharif), his miraculous power (karama), blessing from God (baraka), and his status as an ascetic (sufi). In chapter 3, Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub will be juxtaposed with two other distinguished saints of southern Morocco, Sidi Ahmad ou Musa and Sidi Mhammad ben Nasir, so as to shed lights on the social position of Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub in the Sus region. Sidi Ahmad ou Musa is well-known as the greatest saint of this region, and there are many oral traditions of him among the Berbers. Through an investigation of a hagiography written in 17th century by a Berber scholar, and some oral traditions, it becomes clear that Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub shared quite a close relationship with Sidi Ahmad ou Musa. This relation was not only in historiographical sense, but also existed in the context of the people's imagination. On the other hand, the oral tradition also elucidates the social imaginary of the strong relationship between Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub and Sidi Mhammad ben Nasir, who was the founder of a mystical order called Nasiriyya. The religious studies of this order have wielded an immeasurable influence upon an entire region of Morocco, especially in the south. Through a comparison of these figures and the basis of their religious legitimacy, we can determine the importance of their relationship in enabling the descendants of Sidi Mhammad ben Ya'aqub to acclaim their religious authority not only through associating

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