Editing History of Morocco (section)

== Almoravid dynasty (c. 1060 – 1147) ==
{{Cleanup section|reason=Section was likely copied directly from [[Almoravid dynasty]], but has insufficient citations and doesn't properly summarize the period, as it covers the early years in detail and nothing about the rest of the period.|date=October 2022}}{{Main|Almoravid dynasty}}
[[File:Almoravid Empire.png|thumb|left|The Almoravid empire at its height stretched from the city of [[Aoudaghost]] to the [[Taifa of Zaragoza|Zaragoza]] in Al-Andalus]]
The [[Almoravid dynasty]] (c.1060–1147) originated among the [[Lamtuna]] nomadic [[Berbers|Berber]] tribe belonging to the [[Sanhaja]]. They succeeded in unifying Morocco after it had been divided among several Zenata principalities in the late 10th century, and annexed the Emirate of Sijilmasa and the Barghawata (Tamesna) into their realm.

Under [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], the Almoravids were invited by the Muslim ''[[taifa]]'' princes of [[Al-Andalus]] to defend their territories from the Christian kingdoms. Their involvement was crucial in preventing the fall of [[Al-Andalus]]. After having succeeded in repelling Christian forces in 1086, Yusuf returned to Iberia in 1090 and annexed most of the major ''taifas''.<ref>Maxime RODINSON, « ALMORAVIDES  », Encyclopædia Universalis [en ligne], consulté le 23 octobre 2014. URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/almoravides/</ref>[[File:Cúpula_almorávide_(Marrakech).jpg|right|thumb|240x240px|The [[Almoravid Qubba]], built by the Almoravids in the 12th century.<ref>{{Citation|title=Empires of Gold {{!}} Hour Three {{!}} Season 1 Episode 3 {{!}} Africa's Great Civilizations|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/africas-great-civilizations-empires-gold-hour-three/|access-date=22 November 2019}}</ref>]]Almoravid power began to decline in the first half of the 12th century, as the dynasty was weakened after its defeat at the [[battle of Ourique]] and because of the agitation of the [[Almohads]]. The conquest of the city of [[Marrakech]] by the Almohads in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty. However, fragments of the Almoravids (the [[Banu Ghaniya]]) continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands and in [[Tunisia]].

The Berbers of the [[Tamazgha]] in the early Middle Ages could be roughly classified into three major groups: the [[Zenata]] across the north, the [[Masmuda]] concentrated in central Morocco, and the Sanhaja, clustered in two areas: the western part of the [[Sahara]] and the hills of the eastern Maghreb.<ref>{{cite book|author=ʻAbd al-Wāḥid Dhannūn Ṭāhā|title=The Muslim conquest and settlement of North Africa and Spain|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|isbn=0-415-00474-8}} ({{google books|TgcOAAAAQAAJ|online}})</ref><ref>Mones (1988), p. 119; (1992), p. 228.</ref> The eastern Sanhaja included the [[Kutama]] Berbers, who had been the base of the [[Fatimid]] rise in the early 10th century, and the [[Zirid dynasty]], who ruled [[Ifriqiya]] as vassals of the Fatimids after the latter moved to Egypt in 972. The western [[Sanhaja]] were divided into several tribes: the Gazzula and the [[Lamta]] in the [[Draa valley]] and the foothills of the [[Anti-Atlas]] range; further south, encamped in the western [[Sahara]], were the Massufa, the [[Lamtuna]] and the Banu Warith; and most southerly of all, the Gudala, in littoral [[Mauritania]] down to the borderlands of the [[Senegal River]].

The western Sanhaja had been converted to [[Islam]] some time in the 9th century. They were subsequently united in the 10th century and, with the zeal of new converts, launched several campaigns against the "[[Sudan (region)|Sudan]]ese" (pagan peoples of [[sub-Saharan Africa]]).<ref>Lewicki (1988), pp. 160–61; (1992), pp. 308–09.</ref> Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected (or captured) the citadel of [[Awdaghust]], a critical stop on the [[trans-Saharan trade]] route. After the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust passed over to the [[Ghana empire]]; and the trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata [[Maghrawa]] of [[Sijilmassa]]. The Maghrawa also exploited this disunion to dislodge the Sanhaja Gazzula and Lamta out of their pasturelands in the Sous and Draa valleys. Around 1035, the Lamtuna chieftain Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat (alias Tarsina), tried to reunite the Sanhaja desert tribes, but his reign lasted less than three years.

Around 1040, [[Yahya ibn Ibrahim]], a chieftain of the Gudala (and brother-in-law of the late Tarsina), went on [[Hajj|pilgrimage]] to [[Mecca]]. On his return, he stopped by [[Kairouan]] in [[Ifriqiya]], where he met [[Abu Imran al-Fasi]], a native of [[Fes]] and a jurist and scholar of the [[Sunni]] [[Maliki]] school. At this time, Ifriqiya was in ferment. The [[Zirid dynasty|Zirid]] ruler [[al-Muizz ibn Badis]], was openly contemplating breaking with his [[Shi'ite]] [[Fatimid]] overlords in Cairo, and the jurists of Kairouan were agitating for him to do so. Within this heady atmosphere, Yahya and Abu Imran fell into conversation on the state of the faith in their western homelands, and Yahya expressed his disappointment at the lack of religious education and negligence of [[Sharia|Islamic law]] among his southern Sanhaja people. With Abu Imran's recommendation, Yahya ibn Ibrahim made his way to the ''ribat'' of Waggag ibn Zelu in the [[Sous]] valley of southern Morocco, to seek out a Maliki teacher for his people. Waggag assigned him one of his residents, [[Abdallah ibn Yasin]].

Abdallah ibn Yasin was a Gazzula Berber, and probably a convert rather than a born Muslim. His name can be read as "son of [[Ya Sin]]" (the title of the 36th [[Sura]] of the [[Qur'an]]), suggesting he had obliterated his family past and was "re-born" of the Holy Book.<ref>M. Brett and E. Fentress (1996), ''The Berbers'', Oxford: Blackwell, p. 100. Revealingly, the 36th Sura begins the salutation "You are one of messengers" and the imperative duty to set people "on the straight path". Ibn Yasin's choice of name was probably not a coincidence.</ref> Ibn Yasin certainly had the ardor of a puritan zealot; his creed was mainly characterized by a rigid formalism and a strict adherence to the dictates of the [[Qur'an]], and the [[Sunnah|Orthodox tradition]].<ref name="shilling88" /> (Chroniclers such as al-Bakri allege Ibn Yasin's learning was superficial.) Ibn Yasin's initial meetings with the Gudala people went poorly. As he had more ardor than depth, Ibn Yasin's arguments were disputed by his audience. He responded to questioning with charges of apostasy and handed out harsh punishments for the slightest deviations. The Gudala soon had enough and expelled him almost immediately after the death of his protector, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, sometime in the 1040s.

Ibn Yasin, however, found a more favorable reception among the neighboring Lamtuna people.<ref name="shilling88">{{cite book|last=Shillington|first=Kevin|title=History of Africa|year=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-333-59957-0|page=88}}</ref> Probably sensing the useful organizing power of Ibn Yasin's pious fervor, the Lamtuna chieftain [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni]] invited the man to preach to his people. The Lamtuna leaders, however, kept Ibn Yasin on a careful leash, forging a more productive partnership between them. Invoking stories of the early life of Muhammad, Ibn Yasin preached that conquest was a necessary addendum to Islamicization, that it was not enough to merely adhere to God's law, but necessary to also destroy opposition to it. In Ibn Yasin's ideology, anything and everything outside of Islamic law could be characterized as "opposition". He identified tribalism, in particular, as an obstacle. He believed it was not enough to urge his audiences to put aside their blood loyalties and ethnic differences, and embrace the equality of all Muslims under the Sacred Law, it was necessary to make them do so. For the Lamtuna leadership, this new ideology dovetailed with their long desire to refound the Sanhaja union and recover their lost dominions. 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 a campaign to bring their neighbors over to their cause.