Military Jihād against Muslims: ‘Abd Allāh b. Yāsīn and the Foundation of a Saharan Political Unit that Would Conquer the Maghreb and al-Andalus (Eleventh Century)

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Urban II delivered a speech that roused the crowds against the infidels. 1 Soon thereafter, the Christian sovereigns rallied the troops, targeting Jerusalem. Even in the Iberian Peninsula, the population went into raptures at the prospect of taking up arms, 2 and had to be appeased by the Pope so as not to undermine the military efforts against Muslims. Urban II viewed the First Crusade as a triptych composed of the conquest of Sicily (1091), the successes in Iberia, which included the taking of Toledo (1085) and Lisbon (1093), and the conquest of Jerusalem (1099). 3 However, the winds of war changed in 1086, when the Almoravids won the Battle of Zallāqa. 4 The Berbers, who expanded their power over al-Andalus until 1095, 5 saw themselves as defenders of the community against Christians. However, in the foundation of their movement they engaged in military jihād against Muslims.