Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali (Arabic: أبوالحسن الحسن بن علي الزيري; 1109–1167) was the last ruler of the Zirid dynastyinIfriqiya (1121–1148).
Al-Hasan succeeded his father, Ali ibn Yahya, upon the latter's death in 1121.[1] Reduced to the coasts of modern Tunisia, during his reign, the Zirid emirate faced the increasingly threatening attacks of the Italo-Norman Kingdom of Sicily. 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.[1] In 1135, the Normans occupied Djerba, and finally targeted the Zirid capital of al-Mahdiya itself in 1148.[1] 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 HammadidsinAlgiers.[1]
There he remained under virtual house arrest until 1152, when the Almohad Caliphate under Abd al-Mu'min captured Algiers. Brought to the Almohad capital of Marrakesh, 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.[1] 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.[1]
| Preceded by | Zirid emir of Ifriqiya 1121–1148 |
Sicilian conquest |
