Editing Almanzor (section)

=== Alliance with the queen mother and troubled government ===
For twenty years, until the breakup of his alliance with the caliph's powerful mother in 996,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=117}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir acted in part as her representative, advisor, treasurer, mediator, informant, and her commander of the armies and the police.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=100}} It was she who made most of the decisions, in consultation with her son's regents. She was aware of all the political developments of the government and the court and was a dominant force in factional struggles. Subh had a lot of trust and affection for Almanzor, and her support for him was so obvious to everyone that it caused rumors that they were in love. From the reign of Caliph Al-Hakam II to the new Caliph Hisham, it was Subh's patronage, apart from his own ability, that promoted him and removed his opponents from the court.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=100}} 

Despite years of competition at court for power and administration by others, however, the Caliph, upon reaching his majority, made no move to assume control,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=100}} possibly due to some kind of illness or other inability to carry out the responsibilities of his position.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=101}} The historian, [[Al-Dhahabi]], attributes Almanzor's locking up the Caliph to the latter being "feeble minded, believing what can't be true".<ref>{{Cite book |last=الذهبي |first=شمس الدين |url=https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1_%D8%A3%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1/%D9%87%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87 |title=سير اعلام النبلاء}}</ref> For example, someone brought him a piece of rock, saying it is from Jerusalem's site of the [[Isra' and Mi'raj|prophet's ascent to heaven]]. The Caliph rewarded him with a lot of gold. In another instance, someone presented him with a donkey's hoof, claiming it is [[Uzair|Uzair's donkey]], and he was also rewarded. Yet another person brought him hair, claiming it is the prophet's.<ref>{{Cite book |last=الذهبي |first=شمس الدين |url=https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3755&bk_no=60&idfrom=3896&idto=3896 |title=سير اعلام النبلاء}}</ref>

Almanzor not only assumed the caliphal power, but also roles as guardian of the incapacitated Caliph and guarantor of dynastic power.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=101}} The fact that he merely controlled the administration and army on behalf of Hisham, however, made him expendable, so he took steps to strengthen his position.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=122}} The capital was placed in the hands of a cousin of his, who controlled it tightly,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=122}} and he elevated a series of supporters, generally unpopular and considered despotic,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=137}} who managed to gain control of various [[Taifa]]s after the disintegration of the Caliphate.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=138}} He also allied himself with important border lords.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=137}}

In 988 and 989 he had to face a double threat: a long drought{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=157}} that caused famine and forced him to apply some social measures to alleviate the shortage (delivery of bread or rescission of taxes, among others) and the emergence of a new rebellion against him in which his eldest {{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=102}} son sought to replace him.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=115}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=518}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=147}} Almanzor managed to disrupt the conspiracy,{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}} which had been joined by the governor of [[Zaragoza]], ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muhammad of the [[Banu Tujib]],{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}} and that of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]],{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=147}} an Umayyad descendant of Caliph [[Al-Hakam I]],{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=152}} 'Abd Allah bin Abd al-'Aziz al-Marwanid{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}} also known as Abdullah ''Piedra Seca'',{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=115}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=517}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=415}} but his efforts to get his son to submit proved fruitless.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=148}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=103}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=100}} The latter took refuge with the Castilians after the arrest of his fellow conspirators.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=149}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=420}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=100}} Almanzor launched a successful campaign against Castile and took custody of his wayward son, who was tried and beheaded at dawn on 8 September 990.{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=518}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=103}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=116}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=150}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=421}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=101}} Almanzor, still reeling from his eldest son's betrayal, disowned him,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=421}} while also ordering those who had killed him at Almanzor's command to themselves be executed.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=152}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=103}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=519}} The governor of Zaragoza would be executed in his presence while he spared the life of ''Piedra Seca''--perhaps because Almanzor did not want to stain his hands with Umayyad blood.{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}}

Almanzor also clashed with some of his enemy's satirical poets, including Abu Yafar al Mushafi (d. 982) and Yûsuf ibn Hârûn al-Ramâdî (d. 1012–3), known as Abû Ceniza. Persecuted and subsequently forgiven, Abû Ceniza went to Barcelona in 986. Ibrahim ibn Idrís al-Hassani also paid for his satire of Almanzor with exile in Africa. Almanzor threw the poet Abu Marwan al-Jaziri in prison, where he died in 1003.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pérez Rosado|first1=Miguel|title=La época Omeya|url=http://www.spanisharts.com/books/literature/omeyas.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018081629/http://www.spanisharts.com/books/literature/omeyas.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2018-10-18|work=Historia de las literaturas hispánicas}}</ref>