Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Sa'd ( ar, أبو الحسن علي, Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Saʿd; d. 1485), known as Muley Hacén in Spanish (''Muley'' being derived from Arabic Mawlay = "My Lord"), was the twenty-first

Nasrid The Nasrid dynasty ( ar, بنو نصر ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; Spanish: ''Nazarí'') was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, ruling the Emirate of Granada from 1230 until 1492. Its members claimed to be of Ara ...

ruler of the

Emirate of Granada The Emirate of Granada ( ar, إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ, Imārat Ġarnāṭah), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada ( es, Reino Nazarí de Granada), was an Emirate, Islamic realm in southern Iberia during the Late Middle Ages. It was the ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, from 1464 to 1482 and again from 1483 to 1485.

Life

The son of Sa'd, Abu'l-Hasan Ali became sultan in 1464, and in 1477 he refused to pay tribute to the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accessi ...

. In 1481 he ordered an invasion to the city of

Zahara de la Sierra Zahara de la Sierra is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the hills of Andalusia, southern Spain. It is perched on a mountain, overlooking a valley and a man-made lake formed by the dam that must be driven over to access the town. It is ...

by surprise, killing and enslaving the unarmed Christian Zaharans. This action was taken by

Isabella I of Castile Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as List of Aragonese royal consorts, Queen consort ...

as a reason to start the war against Granada. He was the father of

Muhammad XII Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الثاني عشر, Abū ʿAbdi-llāh Muḥammad ath-thānī ʿashar) (c. 1460–1533), known in Europe as Boabdil (a Spanish rendering of the name ''Abu Abdallah''), was the ...

(also known as ''Boabdil''), the last sultan of Granada, by his relative

Aixa Aisha al-Hurra ( ar, عائشة الحرة), generally known under her Spanish name Aixa (''fl.'' 1493), was the spouse of Muhammed XI and of Abu l-Hasan Ali, and the mother of Muhammad XII. Aixa was also known by the Muslims as Aisha al-Horra; " ...

. He abandoned Aixa to marry the former Christian slave

Isabel de Solís Isabel de Solís () ( fl. 1510) was the slave concubine and later the consort of Abu l-Hasan Ali, Sultan of Granada. Originally a Christian from Castile, she converted to Islam under the name of Zoraya. She exerted a strong influence over her spou ...

, the daughter of Sancho Jiménez de Solís, ''

Alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

'' of La Peña de Martos, who he gave the name Zoraida or Soraya (Thuraya, "Star") after her conversion to Islam and with whom he had two sons. This marriage caused a scandal. In 1482, he was ousted by a rebellion supported by Aixa and replaced by the son of his first marriage, Boabdil. He was able to retake the throne in 1483, and reigned a further two years. He died in 1485, and was succeeded by his brother. After the defeat of Granada in 1492, Zoraida and her two sons re-converted to Catholicism. The sons took the names of Juan de Granada and Fernando de Granada.Drayson, Elizabeth.
The Moor’s Last Stand
'. Profile Books Limited (2017). .

Culture

Mulhacén, the highest mountain of Spain, is named after Abu'l-Hasan Ali. Abu l-Hasan Ali appears as a character, along with

, in the novel "

People of the Book People of the Book or Ahl al-kitāb ( ar, أهل الكتاب) is an Islamic term referring to those religions which Muslims regard as having been guided by previous revelations, generally in the form of a scripture. In the Quran they are ident ...

" by Geraldine Brooks, an
Part 17
of

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

's '' Tales of the Alhambra'' briefly mentions Mula Abul Hassan. He has also been mentioned by nasim hejazi in his one of the famous novels

Shaheen (novel) ''Shaheen'' (Urdu: شاہین) is a historical novel written in Urdu by Pakistani Islamic historian and novelist Naseem Hijazi. It details the situation of the Muslims in Granada in 1492 when they were about to be expelled from Spain. The novel ...

, he was portrayed as brave and Mujahid who is not even ready to pay tribute to Christians as he considers it as a form of slavery and his conscience doesn't permit him to do so.

References

External links

"Réquiem por Granada" (1991)
- DVD Sultans of Granada 15th-century monarchs in Europe 1485 deaths Year of birth unknown People from Granada 15th century in Al-Andalus 15th-century Al-Andalus people 15th-century Arabs {{Al-Andalus-royal-stub