Yusuf V of Granada

Yusuf V (c. 1440/1410–1447), also known as known as "The Lame One" (al-Ahnaf / el Cojo), was the seventeenth Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada.

Traditionally, historians have identified this emir as Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. 'Uthman, ruling as Muhammad X. This assessment was based on Castilian chronicles which identified him only as el Cojo ("the Lame One"). However, following publication of a new Nasrid-era Arabic source, Ibn c Āṣim's Junnat al-Rida, it has been shown that he was actually Yusuf b. Ahmad ruling as Yusuf V.

Born in the first decade of the fifteenth century, he was the son of Abū l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Naṣr. Although his father never ascended the throne, Yusuf belonged to the core of the Nasrid royal lineage. He first gained prominence in 1431 as commander of the Granadan army at the Battle of Higueruela against John II of Castile, and soon emerged as a central figure in the restoration of Muḥammad IX to the throne. Appointed warden of Almería amid growing tensions at court, he gradually asserted increasing autonomy, ultimately proclaiming himself sultan and forcing his uncle’s abdication in 1445.

Yūsuf V’s brief reign (1445–1446) was marked by administrative reorganization, factional realignments, and renewed frontier warfare, but it was quickly undermined by rival claimants and internal dissent. Deposed in early 1446 by the pretender Ismāʿīl III, he continued to resist from Almería, conducting vigorous campaigns against both his rival and Castilian strongholds, and recovering several fortresses along the frontier. His efforts significantly weakened Ismāʿīl’s position, yet his career ended abruptly when he was assassinated by his own vizier in 1447.