Compared to other sultans, Ismail enforced a stricter and more orthodox

implementation of Islamic law. Biographers emphasise his enforcement of the

prohibition of alcohol, and he increased punishments for those who violated it. He
prohibited the performance of female slave singers in gatherings attended by men.
He ordered Jews to wear a distinctive mark, a practice rarely enforced by Islamic
monarchs.[9] He imposed the jizya tax on the Jews which resulted in a significant
revenue.[44]

Among his ministers were Abu Fath al-Fihri and Abu al-Hasan ibn Mas'ud al-Muharibi,
who shared the function of the vizier (chief minister).[45] Ismail named the
renowned poet Ibn al-Jayyab as his royal secretary,[9] and Muhammad ibn al-Mahruq
as officer in charge of the his finances, titled the wakil.[46] Ibn al-Mahruq would
go on to become vizier during the reign of Muhammad IV, replacing Ibn Mas'ud who
died of the wounds received during the attack against Ismail.[46][47] Ismail
appointed Abu Nu'aym Ridwan, a Castilian-Catalan convert to Islam, as tutor of the
prince Muhammad. When the young Muhammad ascended the throne, Abu Nu'aym maintained
his influence over him and would be named hajib (chamberlain), a post he continued
to occupy under Yusuf I and during the early period of Muhammad V's reign.[48] In
political matters, Ismail was also assisted by his mother Fatima, despite his
falling out with his father. According to historian Mar�a Jes�s Rubiera Mata, in
this she was "as gifted with great qualities" as her husband.[49] In the judiciary,
Ismail appointed the judge Yahya ibn Mas'ud ibn Ali as qadi al-jama'a (chief
judge), replacing Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Farkun who had served under Muhammad III and
Nasr.[50]

Family
Ismail I had at least three umm walad (concubines), four sons and two daughters. A
Christian named 'Alwa was his favourite, who was the mother of Muhammad (his
successor Muhammad IV), Faraj, and two daughters: Fatima and Maryam. Another
concubine was Bahar, who bore Yusuf (Muhammad successor's Yusuf I), and from
another, Qamar, was born Ismail's youngest, named Ismail.[9] Towards the end of his
life, he separated from Alwa due to an unknown act of disobedience; she was still
alive at the death of Muhammad IV in 1333.[47]

Death
Ismail was assassinated on 8 July 1325 (Monday 26 Rajab 725 AH) by a relative,
Muhammad ibn Ismail, son of the Sultan's cousin (also named Ismail) known as the
sahib al-Jazira (Lord of Algeciras).[9][51] Historian Ibn al-Khatib � who was
eleven years old and lived in Granada at the time of the murder[52] � wrote that
the Sultan had previously censured Muhammad due to an unspecified act of
negligence, and that the rebuke wounded him so much he decided to murder Ismail.
Christian sources reported another motive for the assassination: according to the
Chronicles of Alfonso XI, Muhammad ibn Ismail captured a Christian woman at Martos,
whom Ismail wanted to be given to him. When Muhammad refused, the sultan spoke in a
manner Muhammad considered disrespectful. Muhammad then discussed this with Uthman
ibn Abi al-Ula, who agreed to join the plot to kill Ismail.[53][54] Harvey cautions
that an outsider's account with such colourful details on "what went on behind
closed doors" might not be reliable, especially as it differs from other sources.
[55]

The assassination took place in broad daylight in the Alhambra, in front of the
public as well as Granadan high officials.[56] The perpetrator embraced Ismail in
the middle of an audience, and then stabbed him three times with a dagger he had
hidden inside his arms. One of the blows hit the sultan's neck just above the
collarbone. Ismail collapsed, prompting his vizier Ibn Mas'ud to come to his
defense. The vizier fought the assailant and his collaborators; a sword-fight
ensued followed by the flight of the conspirators.[57] The conspirators were then
found and killed on the spot � [58] by Uthman, according to Ibn Khaldun.[59] Their
corpses were hung by the walls of the Alhambra, and their houses were sacked by the
mob.[58] Meanwhile, the Sultan was kept alive by a turban applied to his wound. He
was carried to the palace of his mother Fatima, and there succumbed to his wounds.
[56] The vizier � who was seriously wounded in the attack � and Fatima rallied the
court to secure the succession of Ismail's ten years old son Muhammad, now Muhammad
IV.[60][47] The vizier died of his wounds about one month later.[47] Uthman was not
implicated and remained an influential figure at court.[60]

Ismail was buried in the royal cemetery (rawda) of the Alhambra, where his
grandfather Muhammad II had also been buried. Centuries later with the surrender of
Granada, the last Sultan Muhammad XII (also known as Boabdil) exhumed the bodies in
this cemetery and reburied them in Mond�jar, part of his Alpujarras estates.[61]