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The Almoravid (or al-Murabitid) Rulers of Morocco and Spain, 448-541 H/1056-1147 AD
Abu Ya’qub Yusuf ibn Tashufin, (480-500 H/1087-1106 AD)
Aghmat – a south Moroccan caravan centre between mountain and desert
493 H (1099-1100AD)
Gold dinar
3.90 g / 25.0 mm
C 40
la ilah illa allah / muhammad rasul allah / al-amir yusuf ibn / tashufin
“no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God, the Amir Yusuf ibn Tashufin”
wa man yattabi‘u ghayr al-islami dinan falan yuqbala minhu wa huwwa fi-l’akhira min al-khasirin
“and whosoever desires other than Islam as a faith, then it will not be accepted from him.”
Sura 3 (Al ’Imran), v. 85 (in part)
al-imam / ‘abd / allah / amir al-mu’minin
“the Prince, Servant of God, Commander of the Faithful”
bism allah duriba hadha’l-dinar bi-aghmat sana thalath wa tis‘in wa arba‘mi‘a
“in the name of God this dinar was struck in Aghmat the year three and ninety and four hundred”
Yusuf ibn Tashufin, who was a first cousin once removed of Abu Bakr ibn ‘Umar, is generally considered to be the real founder of the Almoravid state. It is recorded that Abu Bakr appointed Yusuf his viceroy in Morocco in 453 H (1061 AD) and then spent the rest of his own life waging holy war in West Africa. Yusuf continued the conquests begun by Abu Bakr, and by the time of his death in 500 (1106) he bequeathed his son ‘Ali a vast empire that included the Maghrib, much of Ifriqiya and Muslim Spain.
In 479 (1086) the Abbadid ruler of Seville, al-Mutamid, asked Yusuf to come to his aid to protect his kingdom against Alfonso VI of Castille. This did not prove to be in al-Mu‘tamid’s best interest, however, for Yusuf’s military successes and his accession to the leadership on the death of Abu Bakr in 480 (1087) inspired him to defeat the Abbadids, seize the town of Seville, and then to occupy the remainder of Muslim Spain.
Yusuf’s coinage is similar to that of Abu Bakr. The obverse bears his name with the title amir, and Sura 3 (Al ’Imran), verse 85, which may be considered the Almoravid “symbol”, “And whosoever desires other than Islam as a faith, then it will not be accepted from him”, in the margin. The reverse refers to the Abbasid caliph as “The Prince, Servant of God, Commander of the Faithful”.
Yusuf’s coins were struck in many mints in Morocco and Spain, and most are very rare. Aghmat was a small town in southern Morocco, now known as Urika, which became the Almoravids’ chief urban centre in the region. Its prosperity was due to the industrious nature of its people and the well irrigated gardens that surrounded it. Yusuf’s highly intelligent wife, Zaynab al-Nafzawiyya, who had previously been married first to the king of Aghmat, and then, after his death, to Abu Bakr, attracted men of letters, scholars and artists to the city, and introduced a cultural life that it had never before experienced.
