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 invited after the fall of Toledo ( 1085 ), and the Almohads after the fall of Lisbon ( 1147 ).

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.

He vowed revenge for his father's death, but fighting with the Almoravids, who had been ousted from the throne, delayed him in Africa.

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.

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.

El Cid's son Diego Rodríguez was killed while fighting against the invading Muslim Almoravids from North Africa at the Battle of Consuegra ( 1097 ).

The empire expanded throughout West Africa from the 8th century until 1078, when it was conquered by the Almoravids.

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.

* 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.

* The Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu ' min conquers most of Morocco from the Almoravids.

* October 18 – Peter I of Aragon conquers Barbastro ( North ) from the hands of the Almoravids.

* The Portuguese conquer Palmela, Alcácer do Sal and Sesimbra from the diminished Almoravids.

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

* The Almoravids overrun Morocco and establish a kingdom stretching from Spain to Senegal.

When in the same years the Almoravids laid siege to the Portuguese city of Santarém, Ferdinand II came to help his father-in-law, and helped to free the city from the menace.

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.

The first results of his extensive studies in Oriental literature, Arabic language and history, manifested themselves in 1847, when he published a translation from Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, born 1185, resident in South Spain between 1208 and 1217, leaving then for Egypt and visiting Mecca in 1221, dated 1224, Kitab al-mujib fi talkhis akhbar ahl al-Maghrib under the title The history of the Almohads, preceded by a sketch of the history of Spain from the time of the conquest till the reign of Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and of the history of the Almoravids, printed again in 1881 and reprinted in 1968.

Beginning in 1090 the situation deteriorated further with the invasion of the Almoravids, a puritan Muslim sect from Morocco.

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.

* 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.

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.

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.