Almoravids

Almoravid Origin Story

Genealogy

Origin Story

Almohad Interpretation

The Veil as Military Prowess

Two 12th-century Texts

Almoravid Claims to Power

Yusuf b. Tashfin

‘Ali b. Yusuf b. Tashfin

Marrakesh, the Almoravid Imperial Capital

Minbar of Kutubiyya Mosque, Marrakesh (1137)

Almoravid Qubba in Marrakesh (ca. 1125)

…compare to the Mosque of Cordoba:

The Great Mosque of Tlemcen

The Mihrab

…compare to the Mihrab of the Mosque of Cordoba:

Two 11th-/12th-century Coins

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Left: Center: no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God, the Amir Yusuf ibn Tashufin; Margin: and whosoever desires other than Islam as a faith, then it will not be accepted from him [Q. 3:85]

Right: Center: the Prince, Servant of God, Commander of the Faithful; Margin: in the name of God this dinar was struck in Aghmat the year three and ninety and four hundred.

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Left: A largely illegible imitation in both field and margin of a standard Almoravid (Murabitid) dinar

Right: A largely illegible imitation in both field and margin of a standard Almoravid (Murabitid) dinar.

Almoravid Conquests

Ghana

Spain