Jalila watched the sea on the porch of the beautiful house near the beach that she and Hamid were living at Cifalù; in Greek Κεφαλοίδιον. The residence was some miles away from the capital Palermo, a demand that imposed sacrifices on Hamid, but Jalila no longer wanted to live in the nucleus of power. In her arms was carrying a baby, a two-month-old girl named Subh, who as we know means Aurora. She had given birth to the girl nine months after the painful and turbulent journey from Andalusia to Sicily.

Hamid had achieved a good position as promised, and with his diplomatic experience quickly gained positions in the Kalbid dynasty of Fatimid origin, and occupied a post that allowed him to be officially informed of what was happening in Andalusia so that he could leave Jalila aware of the events.

That was how she learned of Subh's premature death in 998, possibly displeased with her fate. They did not know the details of his death or if she became ill and so they were very surprised because she was still relatively young. Jalila had to mourn her friend from a distance, lamenting that fate had separated them.

They also learned that despite being involved in a war with Mauritania, Almanzor did not hesitate to launch simultaneously a campaign against Bermudo in the North, perhaps to show Ziri and all his enemies that he was stronger than ever. What they did not know was that the Minister was also about to start the most famous attack of his entire career; would attack Santiago de Compostela, the famous Christian shrine.

Except for Rome, the eternal city, there was not any place more renowned for its sanctity than Compostela in Galicia. In Andalusia, everyone had heard of Compostela and its splendid Cathedral, which in the words of an Arab chronicler, was to Christians what Kaba was to the Muslims. However, the sanctuary was only a vision in the imagination of the Andalusians because no Arab prince had dared to go so far with an army in this rude and distant region. What no one had yet tried, Almanzor considered feasible, since he wanted to show that what was impossible for others was possible for him and nurtured the ambition to destroy the holiest of the sanctuaries of his enemies, the chapel of the Apostle whom the Leonese believed often present, side-by-side, with the Christians in the fighting.

On Saturday, July 3, 997, Almanzor left Córdoba leading his cavalry. He would find his fleet in Porto, embarking his infantry and thus saving him a great march, as well as propitiating the shipment of large quantities of supplies and weapons. The fleet, moored stem to stern, forming a bridge over which the army crossed the Douro. The lands between the Douro and the Minho belonged to friendly Counts and the troop did cross without disturbance. Crossing the Minho was in enemy territory. The lands between the Douro and the Minho belonged to friendly Counts and the troop did cross without disturbance. Crossing the Minho was in enemy territory.

The chroniclers' narrative is quite interesting, and is about as follows:

"The night was cold and rainy when Almanzor called for a batter he could rely on: Ride swiftly into Taliares's canyon, he told the batsman. Arriving there, act as a sentinel and bring me the first man to approach the passage. "The knight immediately departed, reached the ravine, and watched all night cursing the bad weather, but not seeing a living soul at all. At the first signs of dawn, he saw approaching from the direction of the camp, an old man riding an ass. He was apparently a logger and brought with him, tools of his trade. The sentry approached him and asked where he was going. "Cut down trees in the forest," answered the stranger. The soldier felt confused. Was this the man the General wanted to be taken to him? It was unlikely that he wanted to meet with this old logger. In view of this, he let the old man pass. A few minutes later, he remembered that the chief's orders had been quite accurate and that it was dangerous to disobey them. Spraying his horse, he reached the old man. "I need to lead you to my General Almanzor." "What does Almanzor have to say to someone like me?" Asked the old logger. Thus, saying the old man refused at first to fulfill the order received but ended up being led by force to the camp.

The Minister was almost lying down when the old man was introduced to him and did not seem surprised by ordering the soldier to check him out. The order was obeyed, and nothing was found with him. "Make a search on your rags and the donkey," ordered Almanzor. Thistime they confirmed the suspicions and hidden in his cell was found a messagesent by some Leonese member of his own army informing a badly protected part ofthe camp showing exactly where it should be done the attack to be successful. Finding out from the letter who the letter writer was, he had the traitor executed as well as the false logger who acted as an intermediary. The energetic measure yielded results and no other Leonese made any attempt to communicate with the enemy.

The army completed its march and soon it gets into the plain. The monastery of São Cosme and Damião was plundered and the fortress of São Paulo destroyed.

They continued with plundering in the villages by the way and on 11 of August arrived at Compostela. They found the city empty, for all the inhabitants had left it with the news of the arrival of the enemy. A solitary monk stood before the tomb of the Apostle.

- What do you do here? Asked Almanzor.

"I'm praying to St. James," said the man.

"Keep praying," the minister said, forbidding the soldiers to bother the monk.

Almanzor put a guard to protect the tomb, but the rest of the city was delivered to plunder with the destruction of everything including the church that according to chroniclers was razed to the point that no one could say that there was a temple there. All neighboring territory was devastated even remote locations such as San Cosmo de Mayanca and Coruna.

After staying a week in Compostela, Almanzor ordered the retreat to Lamego. There he distributed the booty to his allied counties and dispatched to the Court a detailed report of the campaign, the content of which was literally preserved word for word in Arabic.

Almanzor made his way to Cordoba accompanied by a crowd of Christian prisoners carrying the gates of Santiago and church bells on his back. The doors were installed in the Mesquita still unfinished and the bells were hoisted in the same building, to serve as lamps. Who could have foreseen the day when a Christian king would retrieve those bells to Galicia loaded on the backs of Muslim prisoners?

On the other hand, the campaign in Mauritania had not initially been favorable to Almanzor. In the beginning, Wadhih had some success surprising Ziri and inflicting heavy losses to its army. However, shortly after this auspicious beginning, his fate left him, and defeated had to exile in Tangier. From there he sent a message to the Minister requesting reinforcements. Help was provided urgently as soon as his lieutenant arrived at Almanzor who sent a mighty force to Algeciras. In order to streamline operations, he appeared in person at the port. He then assigned his son Al-Malik the command of the expedition, which crossed the strait with a very well-equipped army.

He camped in Ceuta, which brought excellent results. Most of the princes who supported Ziri changed sides. Connecting with Wadhih's army, the consolidated army soon confronted Ziri's troops who had advanced to oppose the enemy. A pitched battle took place in October 998. It lasted from dawn to sunset.

Ziri was wounded by a member of his own army whose brother he had condemned to death. Al-Malik's final attack was devastating and Ziri's power was finally broken and his territory resumed control of the Caliphate of Cordoba.

Almanzor's career was coming to an end. He was not a Muslim of the most devoted to Islam, but as he grew older, he became more devoted and since the Qur'an claimed that Allah would save from hellfire that which was covered by the sands of his way. Therefore, as part of a ritual, he waved the dust off his robes after every battle and stored it in a trunk so that all the sand obtained from the battlefields would be used to sprinkle upon him in his tomb. He was so sure that he would die in a battle that he also always carried his shroud to the battlefield.

His final campaign, directed against Castile, was as successful as the others. On his return journey home, he began to suffer from a disease that already harassed him. Disagreeing with the doctors who did not conclude about what was troubling him, he was not following medical advice and was convinced that he would not recover. No longer able to mount his horse, he was transported in a litter in great pain. After being so loaded for a fortnight, he arrived at Medinaceli. A single thought ran through her mind. His authority had never been challenged, and in spite of his numerous victories and glories, he had sometimes been at risk; he feared that a revolt would settle down and his family loses control of power. Bothered by these thoughts, he summoned his son Al-Malik to his death bedside and giving him his last instructions instructed him to return to the Capital leaving the army command with his brother Abd-er-Rhaman and, there, to suppress any hint of rebellion.

As soon as Malik left, he had a moment of great courage and stood up to speak with his army. They barely recognized their chief as the pallor and weakness of his voice. Partially for signs or speaking with difficulty, he bid farewell to his troops, and shortly afterward, during the night of August 10, 1002, he breathed his last breath and was buried in Medinaceli. In his tomb the following inscription was written:

"Your story is written under the earth if your eyes can see it. By Allah! The years will never produce anyone like him, nor such a defender of our shores. "

On the other hand, the epitaph written by a Christian monk and preserved in his chronicle is no less enlightening. "Almanzor," he wrote, "died in 1002: he was buried in Hell."

In fact, the Christians of northern Spain have never had such a difficult opponent to fight. Almanzor led more than fifty campaigns against Christians; his custom was to undertake two each year in the spring and fall respectively-and in none of them had he failed to improve his fame. Not to mention the number of cities, including three capitals, Leon, Pamplona, and Barcelona. He laid the sanctuaries of Galicia and Castile on the ground. In those days, reports one chronicler, "divine praise has been abolished, the glory of the Christian servants has been left on the lowest level, and the treasures that the Church has amassed for centuries have been plundered." The Christians trembled at the sound of Almanzor's name.

While Almanzor was the terror of his enemies, his soldiers who considered him a father whom they resorted to in need, though implacable with discipline, worshiped him.

Thanks to the type of army that he created free of tribes and tribal traditions, Almanzor gave to Muslim Spain power and prosperity that it did not obtain even in the golden days of Al-Rahman III.

It was also beneficial to the crop. Men of letters and poets were welcome at court.

Summarizing his actions, we can fill with criticism the way in which he took power, but we are obliged to recognize the noble form with which he exercised it. In these circumstances, he must be remembered as one of the great princes whose memory History reveres. In some ways, he was a great man, but if we judge him by the strict canons of morality, considering that he cared little for the legitimacy of the methods he used to achieve his goals, we will find it impossible to love him and even difficult to admire him.

Almanzor was right in recommending the instructions that he passed to his son on his deathbed, his death caused political instability, Malik sustained it well, continuing to promote the growth of the caliphate until 1008 when he had a suspicious death. The government assumed his brother Abd al-Rahman Ibn Sanchi, better known as Sanchuelo. From there begins the decay and final disintegration of the Caliphate of Cordoba invaded by Berbers from North Africa and divided from 1013 into Taifas or independent Muslim principalities. Hisham II who would have remained in the same figurative condition, imposed since the times of Almanzor, would have died at the hands of the invaders in 1013.

***

Hamid arrived after two days in Palermo and brought some news that he thought would comfort a little Jalila, who in his opinion had a slight feeling of guilt over what had happened to Amal, especially because he could not do anything in his favor. With the Berber invasions began in 1009, both the famous Al-Zahara library and the castle itself had been razed.

Thus, the triumph of Nasr, who had possibly died during the invasions, had not been completed.