Muhammad an-Nasir

Muhammad an-Nâsir (الناصر لدين الله محمد بن المنصور an-nāṣir li-dīn allah muḥammad ben al-manṣūr), date of birth unknown. He succeeded his Abû Yûsuf Ya'qûb al-Mansûr as Almohad caliph in 1198. He died in 1213.

Biography

An-Nâsir inherited an empire that was showing signs of instability. Because of his father's victories against the Christians in Spain, he was temporarily relieved from serious threats on that front and able to concentrate on combating and defeating Banu Ghaniya attempts to seize Ifriqiya (Tunisia). Needing, after this, to deal with problems elsewhere in the empire, he appointed Abû Muhammad ben Abî Hafs as governor of Ifriqiya, so unwittingly inaugurating the rule of the Hafsid dynasty there, which lasted until 1574.

He now had to turn his attention back to Spain, to deal with a crusade proclaimed by Pope Innocent III. This resulted by his defeat by a Christian coalition at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (العُقَاب al-`uqāb, Al-`Uqâb) (1212). He died the following year, and was succeeded by his young son Yûsuf al-Mustansir .

His viziers were :

• Abû Zayd ben Yûjân (1198-1199) (أبو زيد بن يوجان abū zayd ben yūjān)
• Abû Muhammad ben ash-Shaykh Abî Hafs (1199-1205) (أبو محمد بن الشيخ أبي حفص abū muḥammad ben aš-šayḫ abī ḥafs), the future governor of Ifriqiya (see above).
• Abû Sa`îd ben Jâm`i (1205-1214) (أبو سعيد بن جامع abū sa`īd ben jām`i)

Sources

• JULIEN, Charles-André, Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, des origines à 1830, first edition 1931, recent edition Payot, Paris, 1994