Abu Abdallah Muhammad al-Zaghal (the Valiant) () ( 1444 – 1494) was the 23rd

Nasrid The Nasrid dynasty ( ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; ) was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Emirate of Granada from 1232 to 1492. It was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula. Twenty-three sultans ruled Granada from the foun ...

ruler of

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Christians called him Mahoma XIII el Zagal.

Life

Muhammad fought in the

Granada War The Granada War was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It ended with the defeat o ...

next to his brother Abu'l-Hasan Ali, also known as "Muley Hacén". He succeeded his brother in 1485. He abdicated in 1486. After passing the throne to his nephew Muhammad XII, also known as Boabdil, el Zagal ruled over a fractured remnant of the kingdom in its last days. When Muhammad XII surrendered the

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...

Palace to the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

, el Zagal left for

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

to gather an army. There he was imprisoned by the ruler of the

Wattasid dynasty The Wattasid dynasty (, ''al-waṭṭāsīyūn'') was a ruling dynasty of Morocco. Like the Marinid dynasty, its rulers were of Zenata Berber descent. The two families were related, and the Marinids recruited many viziers from the Wattasids. T ...

, Boabdil's friend, who ordered to blind him. He presumably died in north-western

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, in

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of ...

, in 1494.

References

* Harvey, Leonard Patrick (1992), ''Islamic Spain 1250 to 1500'', University of Chicago Press * Irving, Washington (1832), ''

Tales of the Alhambra ''Tales of the Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards'' is an 1832 collection of essays, verbal sketches and stories by American author Washington Irving (1783–1859) inspired by, and partly written during, his 1 ...

'',

Éditions Phébus The éditions Phébus is a French publishing house established in 1976 by Jean-Pierre Sicre and taken over in 2003 by the . Catalogue Phébus publishes a catalog of French and foreign literature that is both contemporary (Julie Otsuka, Elif Sh ...

, 1998
online edition

External links

* * Nasrid dynasty of Granada
بنو نصر/النصريون/بنو الأحمر في غرناطةRequiem for Granada
TV film. Sultans of Granada 1440s births 1490s deaths 15th-century monarchs in Europe 15th century in al-Andalus 15th-century Arab people {{Algeria-bio-stub