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.

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.

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

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.

During the time of the Almoravids and especially the Almohads some were treated badly, in contrast to the policies of the earlier Umayyad Caliphs and later Emirs.

" Probable descendants of Bafours were pushed southward by the Berber dynasty of Almoravids.

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 ).

His father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position until the Almoravids were replaced by the Almohads in 1146.

It is possible that the Berber Muslim Almoravids were originally from the area.

The situation changed in the mid-12th century, when the Almoravids, were displaced from al-Andalus and western Maghreb by the Almohad.

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

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

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.

In 1126, a great number of Mozarabs were expelled to North Africa by the Almoravids.

The Almoravids, were ousted from the peninsula in 1148 ; however, the peninsula was again invaded, by the even more puritanical Almohades.

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.

After the pre-Romanesque period, in the architecture of Al-Andalus, important contributions were made by the Caliphate of Córdoba ( the Great Mosque of Córdoba ), the Taifas ( Aljafería, in Zaragoza ), the Almoravids and Almohads ( La Giralda, Seville ), and the Nasrid of the Kingdom of Granada ( Alhambra, Generalife ).

The Banu Ghaniya, distant relatives of the Almoravids, were a Sanhaja Berber dynasty.

Later, Abdelmoumen and the council of ten kept the death of Ibn Tumart secret for 3 years, since the Almohads were going into a difficult time in their fight against the Almoravids, he also feared that the Masmuda ( The Berber tribe of Ibn Tumart ) wouldn't accept him as their leader since he was an outsider.

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

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.

* July 25 – Battle of Ourique: The independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León declared after the Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques.

* October 24 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona conquers Lérida from the Almoravids after a siege of seven months as well as Fraga.

* Fall of Ceuta to the Almoravids after five years of siege.

With the support of locals, the Almoravids deposed the taifa Muslim princes, after helping to repel Christian attacks on the region by Alfonso VI.

The taifa was shortly recreated in 1228, after the fall of the Almoravids until it conquered by the Taifa of Murcia ; in 1244, Fernando III, King of Castilla y León and his son and heir, Prince Alfonso, the future Alfonso X of Castile, conquered Lorca.

* 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.

When Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at his Ribat in Tinmel, after suffering a severe defeat by the Almoravids, Abd al-Mu ' min kept his death secret for two years, until his own influence was established.

Both of them Berber Sanhaja desert tribes and one time allies, the Lamtuna formed the core of the Almoravids after the Gudala broke away.

After forty days of siege, in May ( others date April 14, 1130 ), heartened by news of the approach of a relief column from Sijilmassa, the Almoravids sallied from Marrakesh in force and crushed the Almohads in the bloody Battle of al-Buhayra ( named after a large garden east of the city ).

However, internal power struggles after 1060 enabled the Almoravids to conquer them in 1070 and put an end to their rule.

** July 25, Independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León declared after the Battle of Ourique against the Almoravids led by Ali ibn Yusuf: Prince Afonso Henriques becomes Afonso I, King of Portugal.

The town as is known today was founded in the 12th century after it was recaptured by the Spaniards from the Almoravids, or north African settlers.

From the late 11th century to the mid-12th century the Taifa kingdoms were united under the Almoravids ( of Saharan origin ), and after the collapse of the Almoravid empire, in 1151 the town was absorbed by the Almohad empire ( of North African origin ).

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.

* 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 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.

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.

During the taifa era, it was ruled by the Moor Banu al-Amiri from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by Valencia ( 1038 – 1041 ), then given by Zaragoza to the Banu Sumadih dynasty until its conquest by the Almoravids in 1091.

Later Tarifa was held by the taifa of Algeciras ( 1031 ) and by that of Seville ( 1057 ), and subsequently by the Almoravids.

In 1093, in a trade for aid against the Almoravids ( from the Maghreb ), the emir of Badajoz ceded to the imperator totius Hispaniæ Alfonso VI of León and Castile the castles of al-Ušbuna and aš-Šantaryin ( Santarém ), along with the territory of Sacavém.

At the time, Morocco, as well as much of Spain ( al-Andalus ) and North Africa ( al-Maghreb ), were ruled by the Almoravids, a puritanical Sanhaja Berber movement, whose original capital was nearby at Marrakesh.

There, he probably came across the writings ( and possibly the disciples ) of the late Andalusian legal philosopher Ibn Hazm ( d. 1064 ), a Zahiri scholar highly critical of the dominant Maliki school promoted by the Almoravids, and this was perhaps Ibn Tumart's first great intellectual influence.