Military Jihad against Muslims: 'Abd Allah b. Yasin and the Foundation of a Saharan Political Unit that Would Conquer the Maghreb and al-Andalus (Eleventh Century)

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 Zallaqa.(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 jihad against Muslims.