Muhammad IV of Granada

A map of the Emirate of Granada, depicting relevant towns and cities

Due to his youth, he was subject to the influence of his court ministers and his grandmother. At first Abu al-Hasan ibn Mas'ud continued to serve as vizier, but he died from his wounds a month after Muhammad's accession. He was replaced by Muhammad ibn al-Mahruq, nominated by Uthman, who kept his post as Chief of the Volunteers (shaikh al-ghuzat).[1] Uthman's military command and his link to the vizier made him a powerful figure in the young king's court.[2] Muhammad's guardianship was left to his tutor, the hajib (chamberlain) Abu Nu'aym Ridwan, and his grandmother, both of whom also participated in government.[4][5]

Soon, Uthman's despotic behaviour alienated the other ministers, as he deprived them of authority and appropriated the state funds almost exclusively for the payment of the Volunteers. This led Ibn al-Mahruq to fear that the ambitious Uthman was planning a coup to seize power for himself, and an open rivalry emerged between the two, which climaxed in December 1326 when Uthman's troops occupied the city and forced Ibn al-Mahruq and his followers to confine themselves to the Alhambra palace, while Ibn al-Mahruq appointed Yahya ibn Umar ibn Rahhu, Uthman's son-in-law and a member of the Banu Rahhu clan, as a rival Chief of the Volunteers. This led the Volunteer troops to abandon Uthman, who was left with his own family and their followers, numbering only 1,000 men.[1][6]

Uthman and his followers marched to Almería, pretending that he planned to return from that port to his native North Africa. However, there he invited an uncle of Muhammad IV, Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Faraj, and declared him a rival sultan, with the laqab (regnal honorific) Al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah ("He who carries out God's orders"). Uthman and Abu Abdullah won the allegiance of the people of the nearby fortress of Andarax. He turned it into his stronghold for the struggle against Muhammad IV's ministers. The surrounding areas soon also recognised his authority, throwing Granada into an open civil war.[1][6]

Uthman made contact with the Castilians to support him in the war.[6] King Alfonso XI of Castile quickly took advantage of the division in Granada by invading its western provinces, and some Muslim sources even report that one of Uthman's sons guided Alfonso XI during his invasion of the province of Ronda and the capture of Olvera in June 1327.[1] Muhammad IV's court was forced to seek help from the Marinid Sultanate in North Africa, and he had to surrender Ronda and Marbella, followed by Algeciras in the next year, to the Marinids in exchange for troops.[1] The Marinid Sultan Abu Said Uthman II sent troops to the peninsula in 1327 and 1328 to help Muhammad IV.[7] The losses inflicted by the civil war forced Muhammad IV to act: in July/August 1328, Muhammad IV effected a reconciliation with Uthman, who settled in Guadix.[1][8] On 6 November 1328 Muhammad IV's household slaves assassinated Ibn al-Mahruq when the vizier was visiting Fatima's residence to discuss state affairs.[9][1] Muhammad IV reappointed Uthman as shaykh al-ghuzat, a post that he held until his death in 1330.[8] Uthman, back in his previous position of power, sent the pretender Abu Abdullah to North Africa, definitively ending the civil war.[1] Meanwhile Muhammad, now 13 years old, began to exercise effective control of his government.[7]

Granada and the surrounding kingdoms, 14th century

Alfonso XI had been proclaimed to have reached majority on 13 August 1325, his fourteenth birthday, ending the period of weak leadership that had followed the death of his regents at the Battle of the Vega of Granada in 1319 and the decisive Granadan victory in that battle.[7][10] He was already involved during the civil war between Muhammad IV's ministers, fighting on Uthman's side and capturing frontier castles.[1] His neighbour, James II of Aragon, preferred to renew the 1321 peace treaty with Granada. The new treaty was signed by James on 23 February 1326 and by Muhammad on or around 19 May of the same year. It included a provision for free movement for James' Muslim subjects who wished to emigrate to Muslim lands.[1] However, James II died in 1327 and was succeeded by his son Alfonso IV, who took a more belligerent stance towards Granada.[7] He renewed his father's treaty with Muhammad IV, but at the same time he allied himself with Alfonso XI, signing the treaties of Agreda in 1328 and of Tarazona on 6 February 1329 aiming at a joint attack against Granada.[7][1][11] Alfonso IV also married the Castilian king's sister Eleanor.[12] He cancelled the Aragon–Granada treaty in March 1329.[11]

Alfonso IV sent his troops to Granada in early 1330, while Alfonso XI personally led his troops from Córdoba in July 1330.[11] Castilian forces laid siege to the fortress of Teba on 7 August, and were confronted by the Granadan army led by Uthman. The Granadan forces were defeated and the fortress surrendered on 30 August.[13] Uthman died in the same year at Málaga, and was replaced by his son Abu Thabit Amir as Chief of the Volunteers.[14] Castilian forces ravaged the Granadan countryside, causing severe food shortages and leading Muhammad IV to sue for peace. A peace treaty in Seville was agreed on 19 February 1331, which was to last for four years. Muhammad IV agreed to pay tributes to Castile and sent his representative to pay homage to Alfonso XI. As part of the peace treaty, Castile agreed to export wheat and livestock to alleviate the suffering in Granada.[15] Despite Muhammad IV's request, Alfonso IV refused to join the treaty.[1]

Alfonso XI soon broke the truce by stopping the food exports to Granada.[16] Granada continued to be in a state of war with Aragon. Muhammad sent an army led by Abu Nu'aym Ridwan (now vizier of Granada) to invade the region around Alicante. The Granadan army sacked Guardamar on 18 October 1331, raided the surrounding countryside, then returned with captives and 400 Aragonese Muslims who had decided to join the army. Ridwan's army returned in April 1332 and besieged Elche for five days.[1] Muhammad, considering the continuing threat to his realm and aware of Castile's treaty violation, requested help from the Marinid Sultan Abu al-Hasan Ali, who had succeeded Abu Said Uthman in August 1331.[17] On 7 September, Muhammad IV personally sailed to Morocco to meet Abu al-Hasan at his court in Fez. The Marinid sultan responded positively, promising to send troops to help the Granadan Muslims and providing Muhammad IV with gifts.[1][18] Muhammad IV also tried to form an alliance with the rebellious Castilian nobleman Juan Manuel.[18]

Abu al-Hasan's aid to Granada consisted of 5,000 soldiers led by his son, Abu Malik Abd al-Wahid. They sailed to Algeciras in the beginning of 1333, soon besieging Gibraltar by sea and land (Gilbraltar had been taken from Granada by Castile in 1309).[18] The Marinid army was joined by Granada's troops led by Abu Nu'aym Ridwan.[1] The Castilian admiral Alonso Jofre Tenorio tried to deliver supplies to Gibraltar, but this was prevented by the Marinid blockading fleet. He attempted to fire bags of flour into the town using the trebuchets in his ships, but most of them did not reach the castle.[19] Meanwhile, Muhammad unsuccessfully attacked Castro del Rio but subsequently captured the fortress of Cabra.[20] Gibraltar's defenders surrendered around 20 June 1333,[1] after about five month of siege, when Alfonso XI's relieving army was just a few days' march away at Jerez.[20]

Castilian attempt to retake Gibraltar

Alfonso XI continued his march and besieged Gibraltar in order to retake it. To divert Castile's attention, Muhammad IV led a counterattack into Castilian territory, capturing Benamejí and raiding the areas surrounding Córdoba. He then moved to Gibraltar to relieve Abu Malik. The Muslim and Christian armies faced off for several days, but after several skirmishes neither side was confident of a decisive victory. A truce was agreed on 24 August 1333, with Muhammad and Alfonso reaffirming the 1331 treaty of Seville.[21][1] Muhammad visited Alfonso's tent bringing various gifts, while the Castilian king welcomed him on foot and bareheaded as a sign of respect and they had a sumptuous meal together.[21]

Muhammad IV was assassinated on 25 August 1333 (13 Dhu al-Hijja 733) near the mouth of the Guadiaro. Uthman's sons Abu Thabit and Ibrahim were responsible for the plot, although the actual killing was carried out by a slave named Zayyan.[1][22][23] According to near-contemporary historian Ibn Khaldun, they killed him because the Banu Abi al-Ula family considered the Marinid sultans their enemy, because the sultans had exiled them to Granada and considered them political dissidents. Moreover, the Marinid military involvement on the Iberian Peninsula caused the leaders of the Volunteers to lose the influence they previously had as the dominant military force fighting for Granada.[1] Contrary to the Muslim sources who attribute the Marinid factor as the motive for the assassination, Castilian sources state that Muhammad IV was killed due his excessive friendliness with Alfonso XI.[24] The vizier Ridwan, who was present at the time of the assassination, rode quickly to the capital, arriving on the same day, and, after consultation with Fatima, arranged for the declaration of Muhammad's younger brother Abu'l-Hajjaj Yusuf as the new sultan, Yusuf I.[22][25] Muhammad IV's corpse was recovered and buried near al-munya al-sayyid in Malaga the next day. As per Islamic customs for a martyr, his corpse was buried immediately without washing. Later a domed mausoleum was built on his tomb and poetic epitaphs were inscribed on his tombstone.[1]