Background
Yusuf was the son of Abd al-Mu"minimum, the first caliph of the Almohad dynasty. Originally hailing from North Africa, Yusuf and his bloodline were descended from the Zenata Berbers.
Yusuf was the son of Abd al-Mu"minimum, the first caliph of the Almohad dynasty. Originally hailing from North Africa, Yusuf and his bloodline were descended from the Zenata Berbers.
He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakech. He had the Giralda in Seville built as well as Koutoubia in Marrakech and Hassan Tower in Rabat. Respected men of letters such as Ibn Rushd and Ibn Tufayl were entertained at his court.
Yusuf favored Cordoban polymath Ibn Maḍāʾ as his chief judge.
During the Almohad reforms, the two oversaw the banning of any religious material written by non-Zahirites. Yusuf"s son al-Mansur would eventually take the reforms even further, actually burning non-Zahirite books instead of merely banning them.
In 1170 he invaded Iberia, conquering al-Andalus and ravaging Valencia and Catalonia. The following year he established himself in Seville.
He ordered the construction of numerous buildings, such as the Alcazar, the Buhaira palace and the fortress of Alcalá de Guadaíra.
Abu Ya"qub Yusuf was defeated by Afonso I of Portugal at the Siege of Santarém (1184), in which he died, his body was sent from Seville to Tinmel where he was buried.
