Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali (; February 1109 –March 1171 ) was the last ruler of the
Zirid dynasty in
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya). It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of ...
(10 July 1121–1148).
Life
Al-Hasan succeeded his father,
Ali ibn Yahya, upon the latter's death in 1121. Reduced to the coasts of modern
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
, during his reign, the Zirid emirate faced the increasingly threatening attacks of the
Italo-Norman Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily (; ; ) was a state that existed in Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula, Italian Peninsula as well as, for a time, in Kingdom of Africa, Northern Africa, from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was ...
. The Normans were provoked largely by
Almoravid attacks on their shores, but blamed them on the Zirids, as al-Hasan's father had requested Almoravid aid against Sicily. In the fall of 1135, the Normans occupied
Djerba, and finally targeted the Zirid capital of
al-Mahdiya itself in 1148. With his state's economy already in decline, and weakened further by drought and famine, al-Hasan was unable to resist the Norman attack, fleeing instead to the
Hammadids in
Algiers
Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
.
The Hammadids also attacked
Mahdia in the summer of 1135.
There he remained under virtual house arrest until 1152, when the
Almohad Caliphate under
Abd al-Mu'min
Abd al-Mu'min (c. 1094–1163) (; full name: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlwī ibn Yaʿlā al-Kūmī Abū Muḥammad) was a prominent member of the Almohad movement. Although the Almohad movement itself was founded by Ibn Tumart, Abd al-Mu' ...
captured Algiers. Brought to the Almohad capital of
Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
, al-Hasan urged the Almohads to reconquer Ifriqiya. An Almohad expedition indeed expelled the Normans from al-Mahdiya in 1160, but al-Hasan was only allowed to settle in its extramural quarter of Zawila. He remained there until the death of Abd al-Mu'min in 1167, when he was ordered to return to Marrakesh, but died on the way at
Tamasna.
See also
*
Mahdia campaign of 1123
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasan ibn Ali
1109 births
1167 deaths
Zirid emirs of Ifriqiya
12th-century Berber people
12th-century monarchs in Africa
12th-century people from Ifriqiya