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 father, Abû Yûsuf Ya'qûb al-Mansûr, as Almohad caliph in 1198. He died in 1213.
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Biography
An-Nâsir inherited an empire that was showing signs of instability. Because of his father's victories against the Christians in the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus), 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 Iberia, 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)
An-Nâsir and King John
In the early 13th-century, King John of England was under pressure from all sides. A quarrel with Pope Innocent III led to England being placed under an interdict by which all forms of worship and other religious practices were banned. John himself was excommunicated, parts of the country were in revolt and there were threats of a French invasion.
Writing some two decades after the events, Matthew Paris, a St Albans chronicler of the early thirteenth century, claims that, in desperation, John sent envoys to An-Nâsir asking for his help. In return John offered to convert to Islam and turn England into a Muslim state. Among the delegates was Master Robert, a London cleric. But An-Nâsir was so disgusted by John's grovelling plea that he sent the envoys packing. Historians have cast doubt on this story, due to the lack of other contemporary evidence.[1][2]
References
- ^ Times Online: The king who wanted Sharia England by Graham Stewart
- ^ National Review Online: United States of Islam by John Derbyshire
Sources
- Julien, Charles-André (1931). Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, des origines à 1830.
| Preceded by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur |
Almohad dynasty 1199–1213 |
Succeeded by Abu Ya'qub Yusuf II |
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