Ibn Abi Amir (known as Almanzor, or Al Mansur), the royal vizier, becomes regent (981-1002) and establishes himself as virtual dictator when Hisham II, grandson of Abd al Rahman III, inherits the throne in 976 at age twelve.

The caliph is no more than a figurehead for the next twenty-six years, and Al Mansur is the actual ruler.

Al Mansur wants the caliphate to symbolize the ideal of religious and political unity as insurance against any renewal of civil strife.

Notwithstanding his employment of Christian mercenaries, Al Mansur preaches jihad, or holy war, against the Christian states on the frontier, undertaking annual summer campaigns against them, which serves not only to unite Spanish Muslims in a common cause but also to extend temporary Muslim control in the north.