Jews and Christians were alternately tolerated and persecuted, the most notable examples of the latter being the conquest of Islamic Spain by Berber-Arab forces from north Africa ( the Almoravids, followed by the Almohads from the mid-12th century ).

The Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes ( see tagelmust ), a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers ( as can still be seen among the modern Tuareg people ), but unusual further north.

The Berber dynasties ( Almoravids, Almohads, Marinids and Wattasids ) gave the Berber people some measure of collective identity and political unity under a native regime for the first time in their history, and they created the idea of an " imperial Maghrib " under Berber aegis that survived in some form from dynasty to dynasty.

The Crusades which started late in the eleventh century only exacerbated the religious ideology of reconquest, confronted at that time with a similarly staunch ideology found on the Muslim actors strong in Al-Andalus: the Almoravids and, more, the Almohads.

Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu ' min not only defeated the Almoravids, but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Egypt, becoming Caliph of the Almohad Empire in 1149.

The Almoravids decisively beat the Castilians and many leaders are killed, including Sancho, Alfonso's only son ( by Zaïda, a Muslim princess ) and heir.

The Almoravids were crucial in avoiding a precipitated fall of Al-Andalus to the Iberian Christian kingdoms, when they decisively beat a coalition of the Castilian and Aragonese armies at the Battle of Sagrajas.

However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived and the Almoravids fell-at the height of their power-when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart.

The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids ' Maghribi and al-Andalus territories by 1147, surpassed the Almoravides in fundamentalist Islamic outlook, and they treated the non-believer dhimmis harshly.

During the reign of Almoravids, the position of the Jews was apparently free of significant abuses, but after another Berber dynasty, Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148 they have abolished the dhimma status ( i. e. state protection of life and wealth ) in some of their territories which threatened the Jewish and Christian communities with the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile.

The Almoravids were a Muslim militia, their ranks mainly composed of Berber and African Moors, and unlike the previous Muslim rulers, they were not so tolerant towards Christians and Jews.

The same year, the Almoravids start pushing back the Christians to the positions they occupied a decade earlier.

They ruled until they were eventually defeated by the Almoravids in May 1110.

On the West African coast they set up Zāwiyas on the shores of the river Niger and even established independent kingdoms such as al-Murābiṭūn or Almoravids. The Al Hakika Mizaan Mizaani Sufi Order deals with heavy internalization and meditations, their spiritual practice is called Al Qudra MizaanStates ) The Sanusi order were also highly involved in missionary work in Africa during the 19th century, spreading both Islam and a high level of literacy into Africa as far south as Lake Chad and beyond by setting up a network of zawiyas where Islam was taught.

Even though the Barghawata were subsequently much weakened, they were still able to fend off Almoravid attacks — the spiritual leader of the Almoravids, Ibn Yasin, fell in battle against them ( CE 1058 ).

Although the Almoravids were dominant in the first few years, they were in decline when Afonso Henriques definitively captured Lisbon ( al-Ušbuna ) in October 1147.

The Almoravids violated its women and declared everything that they took there to be booty of the community.

The Almohads ( or Almohadis ) were similar to the Almoravids, in that they similarly attacked any alternative beliefs that they saw as corruptions of Islam.

When the Almoravids conquered Spain in the 11th century they sent Muslim, Christian and Jewish artisans from Spain to Morocco to work on monuments.

But they could not maintain their resistance to the Magrawa in northern Morocco permanently, and, weakened by the struggle, they were subdued by the Almoravids in the 11th century.

At first, they were used as mercenaries against the Almoravids of Morocco-even when the Almoravids conquered territory as far as Algiers in 1081, they could be turned back with Bedouin help.

In 1086, they led the smaller kingdoms in their resistance to the Almoravids, who did not succeed in conquering Zaragoza until May 1110.

Peter continued his father's close alliance with the Church and pursued the Reconquista with even greater success, allying with Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid, the ruler of Valencia, against the Almoravids.

* 1083-In June – July Almoravids take Ceuta-the last outpost of the Zanata-and put to death the ruler, al-Muizz ibn Suqut.

* 1108-The Almoravids under Tamim ibn Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the brother of the ruler ; another general is Muhammad ibn Fatima, the grandson of Sir ibn Abi Bakr, take the small town of Uclés to the east of Toledo, but a ridge top fortress holds out.

The Almoravids conquered the Ghana Empire sometime around 1075 CE.

According to Arab tradition, the ensuing war pushed Ghana over the edge, ending the kingdom's position as a commercial and military power by 1100, as it collapsed into tribal groups and chieftaincies, some of which later assimilated into the Almoravids while others founded the Mali Empire.

The conquests of the Almoravids extended over present-day Morocco, Western Algeria and the Iberian peninsula to the north and Mauritania and Mali to the south reaching the Ghana Empire.

* 1076: the Ghana Empire is attacked by the Almoravids, who sack the capital of Koumbi Saleh, ending the rule of king Tunka Manin

* The Almoravids complete the conquest of the Ghana Empire, and reach Spain.

Ibn Khaldun suggests a link between the decline of Ghana and rise of the Almoravids.

The king of Takrur sided with the Berber and Tuareg tribes of the Almoravids in their political intervention of the Ghana Empire.

Ibn Khaldun suggests a link between the rise of the Almoravids and the decline of Ghana.

* When Ghana collapsed in the face of invasion from the Almoravids, a series of brief kingdoms followed, notably that of the Sosso ; after 1235, the Mali Empire rose to dominate the region.

It is unclear from this text how long prior to the arrival of the Almoravids the town had been part of the Ghana Empire.

In addition, the Almoravids are traditionally believed to have attacked and brought about the destruction of the West African Ghana Empire.

By the late twelfth century, the formerly dominant Ghana Empire had collapsed, following internal strife and political intervention of the Almoravids in the eleventh century.

The Arab geographer al-Zuhri writing in the middle of the 12th century, reported that the Almoravids helped Ghana in a war against Tadmekka in 1083-4 and as a result Tadmekka became Muslim.

The Almoravids ( Imṛabḍen, Al-Murābiṭūn ) were a Berber dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th-century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus.

It is uncertain exactly when or why the Almoravids acquired that appellation.

Whichever explanation is true, it seems certain the appellation was chosen by the Almoravids for themselves, partly with the conscious goal of forestalling any tribal or ethnic identifications.

The 13th-century Moroccan biographer Ibn al-Zayyat al-Tadili and Qadi Ayyad before him in the 12th-century, note that Waggag's learning center was called Dar al-Murabitin ( The house of the Almoravids ), and that might have inspired Ibn Yasin's choice of name for the movement.

Although practical for the desert dust, the Almoravids insisted on wearing the veil everywhere, as a badge of " foreignness " in urban settings, partly as a way of emphasizing their puritan credentials.

It served as the uniform of the Almoravids, and under their rule, sumptuary laws forbade anybody else from wearing the veil, thereby making it the distinctive dress of the ruling class ( the later Almohads made a point of mocking the Almoravid veil as symbolic of effeminacy and decadence.

In the early 1050s, the Lamtuna, under the joint leadership of Yahya ibn Umar and Abdallah ibn Yasin-soon calling themselves the al-Murabitin ( Almoravids )-set out on campaign to bring their neighbors over to their cause.

From the year 1053, the Almoravids began to spread their religious way to the Berber areas of the Sahara, and to the regions south of the desert.

Under him, the Almoravids soon began to spread their power beyond the desert, and subjected the tribes of the Atlas Mountains.

However, the Almoravid religious influence was gradual and not heavily involved in military strife, as Almoravids increased in power by marrying among the nation's nobility.

The conquest of the city of Marrakech by the Almohads in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Almoravids ( the Banu Ghaniya ), continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in Tunisia.

The Almoravids ' first military leader, Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni, gave them a good military organization.

al-Bakri reports that, while in combat, the Almoravids did not pursue those who fled in front of them.

In 1122 in Belchite, he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Almoravids.

" A small independent kingdom in the area arose around 768 AD, and continued until it was conquered by the Almoravids in 1068.

The Almoravids, Berber residents of present-day North Africa, led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, were asked to help defend the divided Moors from Alfonso.

In October 1092 an uprising occurred in Valencia inspired by the city's chief judge Ibn Jahhaf and the Almoravids.

El Cid and his wife Jimena Díaz lived peacefully in Valencia for five years until the Almoravids besieged the city.

* 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques.