36 almsgiving
later AL-ANDALUSbetween 1056 and 1147. In the second
quarter of the 11th century, on his return from a pilgrim-
age to MECCA, the Sanhaja Berber chief Yahya ibn
Ibrahim al-Judali and a religious adviser, Abd Allah ben
Yasin al-Jazuli, created in 1059 a reforming movement
that preached a more strict legal system based on the
QURAN and SUNNA. The name of this movement was
taken from the word ribat,or a fortified convent, where
the adherents retreated and the movement’s religious and
ascetic followers gathered. The obligations and interdic-
tions of this new doctrine did not fit well with the cus-
toms and traditions of the barely Islamic local tribes.
However, military success into richer populated areas
drew followers. Under the leadership of skilled military
leaders, Abu Bakr ben Umar and then Yusuf ben Tashfin
(r. 1060–1106), the Almoravids embarked upon a policy
of conquest to spread their religious ideals, cleansing
heretical sects and destroying wine shops and musical
instruments along the way. FEZwas taken in 1063, and in
about 1069 they founded the town of MARRAKECH,the
capital of their new empire. Yusuf ben Tashfin took
Algiers in 1082/3 in the east.
ENTRY INTO AL-ANDALUS AND
THE CHRISTIAN REACTIONThese successes soon attracted the attention of Muslim
rulers in al-Andalus in need of help in defending their
petty kingdoms and Islam from the Christian RECON-
QUEST. The capture of Toledo in 1085 by King Alfonso
VI of Castile (1040–1109) caused several emirs to
request support from Yusuf ben Tashfin. After victories
over the Christians, he decided to undertake the con-
quest of the peninsula himself and eliminate the bicker-
ing Taifa emirs in their small kingdoms. CÓRDOBAand
SEVILLEfell to them in 1091, then Badajoz and LISBONin
1094, then VALENCIA in 1102. They had united the
whole of southern Spain under their rule; but this was a
regime that was unpopular with local Muslims of al-
Andalus, who prejudicially viewed the Almoravids as
semibarbaric. The Almoravids maintained the centers of
their power in Africa and remained strangers in Muslim
Spain.
The Christians soon fought back against Almoravid
expansion. After having taken Saragossa in 1118, the
king of ARAGON, Alfonso I the Battler (r. 1104–34),
invaded al-Andalus and threatened the major cities of
Murcia, Córdoba, and GRANADAin 1125. Some years
later, with the conquest of Tortosa in 1148 and of Lérida
in 1149, the Christians reoccupied the whole of the Ebro
valley in the northeast. At the same time, back in al-
Maghrib, the Almoravids were locked in a desperate con-
flict with the ALMOHADS, who took Marrakech in 1147,
after a battle in which the last Almoravid ruler, Ishaq ibn
Ali (r. 1146–47), was killed. Almoravid rule then came to
an end, apart from in a corsair state on the BALEARIC
ISLANDSthat lasted until 1203 and in Tunisia.
See alsoRODRIGODÍAZ DEVIVAR(ELCIDCAMPEADOR,
AL-SID).
Further reading: Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The
Islamic Dynasties (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 1967), 28–29; Julia Clancy-Smith, ed., North
Africa, Islam, and the Mediterranean World: From the
Almoravids to the Algerian War(London: Frank Cass,
2001); H. T. Norris and P. Chalmeta, “Al-Murabitun,”
Encyclopedia of Islam,7.583–591.almsgiving SeeCHARITY AND POVERTY.Alp Arslan (Alp Arslan Adud al-Dawla Abu Shudja
Muhammad ibn Daud Caghribeg)(ca. 1028–1072)sec-
ond Seljuk sultan of Persia and Iraq, member of the Turkish
dynasty who revitalized Muslim rule during the decline of
the Abbasid caliphate
Alp Arslan was born Muhammad ibn Daud in the Persian
province of Khurasan between 1026 and 1032. He was
the great-grandson of Seljuk, chieftain of the Ghuzz Turks
or TURKOMANS, who had invaded southwestern Asia
earlier in the 11th century. Famed as a military leader,
Alp Arslan, “Lion Hero,” began his career campaigning
extensively for his father, Daud Chaghri Beg, commander
of the Turkoman forces in Khurasan. Upon his father’s
death in 1059–60, Alp Arslan succeeded to his command.
Meanwhile, Seljuk Sunni forces under Chaghri’s brother,
TUGHRULBEG, had ended a century of SHIITEand BUYID
dominance in BAGHDAD, whereupon Caliph al-Kaim
(r. 1031–75) made him sultan, in effect in charge of the
government. At Tughrul’s death in 1063, Alp Arslan was
made sultan, despite an attempt to enthrone Tughrul’s
brother, Suleiman. As the new sultan he was immediately
faced with internal opposition. His father’s cousin, Kutul-
mish, led a revolt in Khurasan in 1064, and his own
brother, Kawurd, rebelled twice, in 1064 and 1067.
Between the suppression of rebellious relatives and recal-
citrant subordinates, Alp Arslan had to campaign against
threatening neighbors. He led raids in 1064 into Georgia
and ARMENIA, during which the Georgian king acknowl-
edged Seljuk suzerainty. The following year the sultan
led his forces into Transoxiana. In 1070 he took ALEPPO
during a campaign into Syria. His holdings then reached
from central Asia to the Mediterranean.
Alp Arslan was a courageous soldier, generous in his
treatment of opponents. His domestic affairs were han-
dled by his Persian vizier, Nizam al-Mulk. Military fiefs,
governed by Seljuk princes, were established to provide
support for the soldiers and to acclimate the nomadic
Turks to the established Persian agricultural scene.
In eastern ANATOLIA, the Seljuks and independent
Turkish bands had begun to raid the Byzantine frontier.
In retaliation the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV Dio-
genes (r. 1068–71) led his forces into Seljuk territory in
1071, and Alp Arslan on August 26 met the invaders at