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Yusuf al-Khwarizmi

يوسف الخوارزمي

c. 24 November 1072 CE · Rabi' I 465 AH

The fortress-commander on the Oxus who killed Sultan Alp Arslan: brought bound before him on 6 Rabi' I 465 and condemned to the stakes, he taunted the sultan — 'shall the likes of me die such a death?' — and when Alp Arslan's own arrow missed and the sultan stumbled rising from his dais, Yusuf sprang and drove a knife into his side before the guards cut him down 1.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
military
Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Persia & Central Asia
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Life in time

97510001025105010751100112511501175 c. c. c. c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks Contemporaries: Abu al-Fath Abd al-Baqi al-Haddad al-Hanbali al-Faradi · Abd al-Malik Ibn Attash · Abdallah ibn Hamuwayh al-Juwayni · Abu al-Hasan al-Ibadi · Abu al-Mahasin al-Ruyani

Overview

Yusuf al-Khwarizmi, master of a well-defended fortress on the Jayhun; he was brought as a captive to Sultan Alp Arslan on 6 Rabi' I 465. 1

Killing Alp Arslan

The sultan cursed him and ordered four stakes driven for him and his limbs bound to them; Yusuf said "Effeminate one — is a man like me killed this way?" The sultan, enraged, took his bow and shot — and missed; Yusuf ran at him as he sat on the throne; Alp Arslan rose to descend, tripped and fell on his face, and Yusuf leapt on him and stabbed him in the flank — the wound that killed him. The soldiers caught Yusuf and killed him. 1

Connections

Explore the connections

Participated in
The killing of Sultan Alp Arslan and the accession of Malikshah

People and things also explored

ألب أرسلان عضد الدولة بن جغري بك· السلطان ملكشاه جلال الدولة بن ألب أرسلان· نظام الملك وزير ألب أرسلان· Bukhara· The killing of Sultan Alp Arslan and the accession of Malikshah

Sources

  1. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.8 p.618-619
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Yusuf al-Khwarizmi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/yusuf-al-khwarizmi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story. Related

ألب أرسلان عضد الدولة بن جغري بك

Second Seljuk sultan, succeeding his uncle Tughrul in 455 with al-Qa'im's investiture; al-Dhahabi: the first called 'sultan' on Baghdad's minbars, he reached what no king had reached, opened many Christian lands, and took Nizam al-Mulk as vizier — who ended his predecessor's cursing of the Ash'aris, championed the Shafi'is, honoured Imam al-Haramayn and al-Qushayri, and built the Nizamiyya, 'said to be the first school built for the jurists'. He died of Yushk the Khwarizmian fortress-keeper's knife at Barbar on the Jihun in 465, entrusting the realm to Malikshah and Nizam al-Mulk; he never saw Baghdad though it lay within his kingdom, and it was he who domed Abu Hanifa's grave.