[5] Yusuf supported the Almohad doctrine and, like his predecessors, favored the literalist Zahiri school of Islamic jurisprudence and was a religious scholar in his own right.

[7] Yusuf favored the Córdoban polymath ibn Maḍāʾ as his chief judge; during the Almohad reforms, the two oversaw the banning of any religious material written by non-Zahiris.

[10] He ordered the construction of numerous buildings, such as the Alcázar of Seville, the Buhaira Gardens, and the fortress of Alcalá de Guadaíra.

The arrival of the zealous Almohads heralded the end of the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.

Abu Ya'qub Yusuf was wounded at the Siege of Santarém (1184), in which he died on the road to Seville, near Évora.