Muhammad III of Granada

Muhammad III (Arabic: محمد الثالث; 15 August 1257 – 21 January 1314) was the ruler of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula from 8 April 1302 until 14 March 1309, and a member of the Nasrid dynasty.

Later in his life, he became visually impaired—which caused him to be absent from many government activities and to rely on high officials, especially the powerful Vizier Ibn al-Hakim al-Rundi.

He negotiated a treaty with Castile the following year, in which Granada's conquests were recognised in return for Muhammad making an oath of fealty to the King of Castille, Ferdinand IV, paying him tribute.

Al-Andalus, or the Muslim Iberian Peninsula, was ruled by multiple small kingdoms or taifas after the break-up of the Almohad caliphate in early thirteenth century.

[3] Through a combination of diplomatic and military manoeuvres, the kingdom succeeded in maintaining its independence, despite being surrounded by two larger neighbours, Castile to the north and the Muslim Marinid state based in Morocco.

Sa'd was a prominent companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, from the Banu Khazraj tribe in Arabia; his descendants migrated to Spain and settled in Arjona as farmers.

[13] In September 1301, Muhammad secured an agreement with Aragon which planned a joint offensive and recognised Granada's rights to Tarifa, an important port on the Straits of Gibraltar taken by Castile in 1292.

[1] There were allegations, cited by Ibn al-Khatib, that Muhammad III, perhaps impatient to assume power, killed his father by poison, although this rumour was never confirmed.

"[17] Initially, Muhammad III continued his father's war against Castile, the alliance with Aragon and the Marinids, and support for Alfonso de la Cerda, a pretender to the Castilian throne.

Domestically, many were not happy with the alliance with the Christians, especially the Volunteers of the Faith, a military group who came from North Africa to Granada to fight a holy war.

[25] Aragon, while part of the alliance, was worried that strong Castile-Granada relations would mean the bloc could establish a choke-hold on the Strait and devastate Aragonese trade.

The Aragonese king James II sent an envoy, Bernat de Sarrià to the Marinid Sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf, for negotiations—although ultimately these were unsuccessful.

[26] Taking advantage of the peace with the Christian powers, Granada attempted an expansion to Ceuta, on the North African side of the Straits of Gibraltar.

[29] Abu Yaqub was occupied in a war against his eastern neighbour, the Zayyanid Kingdom of Tlemcen, and was therefore unable to take any strong action.

[27] Concurrently, a dissident Marinid prince, Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula, declared a rebellion, conquered a mountainous area in northern Morocco and allied himself with Granada.

Uthman responded by declaring himself sultan in May or June 1307,[30] while Abu Thabit ended his grandfather's siege of Tlemcen and returned to Morocco with his troops.

[1][25][33] Originally from Ronda and descended from a branch of the former Abbadid dynasty, he had entered the court as a katib (secretary) in 1287 during the reign of Muhammad II and then had risen to the highest rank in the chancery.

[36] He was the one who signed the 1303 treaty with Castile at Córdoba in the name of Muhammad III, and the one who visited Ceuta after its conquest by Granada instead of the Sultan.

[40] The three powers—"a devastating line-up of enemies", according to historian L. P. Harvey[41]—prepared for war against Granada and the two Christian kingdoms—without mentioning the Marinid collaboration—asked the Pope Clement V to grant a crusading bull and financial support from the church.

[43] Aragon's naval preparation was noticed by Granada, and at the end of February 1309, Muhammad III queried James II about the target of the operation.

[40] The Nasrid governor of Almería responded by arresting Catalan merchants based in his city and confiscating their goods, while the Granadan fleet prepared for war.

On 14 March 1309 (on Eid ul-Fitr, 1 Shawwal 708 AH), a palace coup deposed Muhammad and executed his vizier, Ibn al-Hakim.

The coup involved the vizier's political rival Atiq ibn al-Mawl, a group of Granadan notables who preferred Muhammad's 21-year-old half-brother Nasr, and the angry populace of Granada.

[1] The vizier was seen to hold the real power of the state; his policy and extravagant lifestyle caused him to be the main target of popular anger.

[1] Muhammad III was then imprisoned in the Dar al-Kubra (La Casa Mayor, "Big House") of the Alhambra and was rumoured to have been killed.

[48] Ibn al-Khatib, who wrote histories and poetry in the mid-fourteenth century, considered Muhammad III to have been ruled by conflicting impulses.

[49] Ibn al-Khatib told a story he had heard about Muhammad III's irrational cruelty: at the start of his reign, he imprisoned his father's household troops and then refused to feed them.

[57] The second highest judicial post, qadi al-manakih ("judge of marriages"), was held by the North African Muhammad ibn Rushayd,[58] who also served as the imam and khatib of Granada's great mosque.

[59] Muhammad III ordered the construction of the great mosque (al-masjid al-a'ẓam) of the Alhambra, the Nasrids' royal palace and fortress complex.

[1][60] He decorated it with columns and lamps, and granted the mosque a perpetual income (waqf) from the rents of the public bathhouse which he built nearby.