Preamble
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It all began in 1086 when Yusuf ibn Tashfin was invited by the Muslim taifa princes of Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula to defend their territories from the encroachment of Alfonso IV, King of León and Castile. In that year, Yusuf ibn Tashfin crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Algecias, and defeated Castile at the Battle of az-Zallaqah (Battle of Sagrajas). He was prevented from following up his victory by trouble in Africa, which he chose to settle in person. He returned to Iberia in 1090, avowedly for the purpose of annexing the taifa principalities of Iberia. He was supported by most of the Iberian people, who were discontented with the heavy taxation imposed upon them by their spendthrift rulers. Their religious teachers, as well as others in the east, detested the taifa rulers for their religious indifference. The clerics issued a fatwa that Yusuf was of sound morals and had the religious right to dethrone the rulers, whom he saw as heterodox in their faith. By 1094, Yusuf had annexed most of the major taifas, with the exception of the one at Sargossa. The Almoravids were victorious at the Battle of Consuegra, during which the son of El Cid, Diego Rodríguez, perished. Alfonso, with some Leónese, retreated into the castle of Consuegra, which was besieged for eight days until the Almoravids withdrew to the south. After friendly correspondence with the caliph at Bagdad, whom he acknowledged as Amir al-Mu'minin ("Commander of the Faithful"), Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1097 assumed the title of Amir al Muslimin ("Commander of the Muslims"). He died in 1106, when he was reputed to have reached the age of 100. The Almoravid power was at its height at Yusuf's death: the Moorish empire then included all of Northwest Africa as far eastward as Algiers, and all of Iberia south of the Tagus and as far eastward as the mouth of the Ebro, and including the Balearic Islands.

In 1108 Tamim Al Yusuf defeated the Kingdom of Castile at the Battle of Uclés. Yusuf did not reconquer much territory from the Christian kingdoms, except that of Valencia; but he did hinder the progress of the Christian Reconquista by uniting al-Andalus. In 1134 at the Battle of Fraga the Almoravids dynasty was victorious and even succeeded in slaying Alfonso I of Aragon in 1139. Three years afterwards, under Yusuf's son and successor, Ali ibn Yusuf, Sintra and Santarém were added, and he invaded Iberia again in 1119 and 1121, but the tide had turned, as the French had assisted the Aragonese to recover Zaragoza. In 1138, Ali ibn Yusuf was defeated by Alfonso VII of León, and in the Battle of Ourique (1139), by Alfonso I of Portugal, who thereby won his crown. Lisbon was conquered by the Portuguese in 1147. According to some scholars, Ali ibn Yusuf was a new generation of leadership that had forgotten the desert life for the comforts of the city. He was defeated by the combined action of his Christian foes in Iberia and the agitation of Almohads (the Muwahhids) in Morocco. After Ali ibn Yusuf's death in 1143, his son Tashfin ibn Ali lost ground rapidly before the Almohads. In 1146 he was nearly killed in a fall from a precipice while attempting to escape after a defeat near Oran where Ibn Rushd saved his life. This my friends is where our story really begins. The Almohads conquered Afica and Tashfin was forced to flee to Tarifa and to the last Almoravid holdings in Al Andalusia.

Ibn Rushd ("Averroes" to the West), the savior of Tashfin was born in Córdoba to a family with a long and well-respected tradition of legal and public service. His grandfather Abu Al-Walid Muhammad (d. 1126) was chief judge of Córdoba under the Almoravids. His father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position in 1146 as the Almohads conquered Afica and Ibn Rushd saved he life of Tashfin near Oran. Ibn Rushd's education followed a traditional path, beginning with studies in Hadith, linguistics, jurisprudence and scholastic theology. Throughout his life he would write extensively on philosophy and religion, attributes of God, origin of the universe, metaphysics and pychology. It is generally believed that he was once tutored by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace). His medical education was directed under Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo in Seville. Ibn Rushd began his career with the help of Ibn Tufail ("Aben Tofail" to the West), the author of Havy ibn Yaqdhan and philosophic vizier of Almohad king Abu Yaqub Yusuf who was an amateur of philosophy and science. It was Ibn Tufail who introduced him to the court and to Ibn Zuhr ("Avenzoar" to the West), the great Muslim physician, who became Ibn Rushd's teacher and friend. Ibn Rushd's aptitude for medicine was noted by his contemporaries and can be seen in his major enduring work Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb (Generalities), influenced by the Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir (Particularities) of Ibn Zuhr. Ibn Rushd later reported how it was also Ibn Tufail that inspired him to write his famous commentaries on Aristotle. Ibn Rushd also studied the works and philosophy of Ibn Bajjah ("Avempace" to the West), another famous Islamic philosopher who greatly influenced his own Averroist thought.

However, while the thought of his mentors Ibn Tufail and Ibn Bajjah were mystic to an extent, the thought of Ibn Rushd was purely rationalist. Together, the three men are considered the greatest Andalusian philosophers. Ibn Rushd became close friend to the Almoravid ruler Tashfin ibn Ali after he saved his life and devoted the next 30 years to his philosophical studies, writings and aiding the Almoravid Caliph in his rule. Together they met in the palace of Córdoba in 1145 when Calif Tashfin feared that his Almoravid Dynasty would be crushed by the Almohad Caliphate in the south and the Reconquista christian states of Portugal, Léon, Castile, Navarre and Aragon in the north. It was there where the Averroist philosophy and thoughts would start to become the doctrine of the Almoravid Dynasty and later create a cornerstone of a Almoravid own monotheistic view (called Almoravidi, Averroi or Rushdi) that would combine Muslim, Christian and Jewish elements.
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Go on...

Ah, Islamic Iberia. One of those AHs that everyone wants to see but is always hard to pull off in the long term.
 
Chapter One: Cordoba Talks
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In the garden of his palace in Cordoba, Tashfin ibn Ali welcomed his life savior, mentor and friend Ibn Rushd to discuss matters of urged importance with him. The Taifa of Badajoz in the west was half lost to the Kingdoms of Portugal and León, the Taifa of Toledo in the north with the city itself was nearly completely lost to the Kingdoms of León and Castile, in the east the Taifa of Valencia was under heavy pressure from the Kingdom of Aragon while at the same moment itself rebelling against the Almoravid Caliph Tashfin and in the south the Almohads had conquered all of his African possessions. It looked like it was only a matter of time since these enemies would crush the Almoravid Caliphate from all sides.

“Ibn Rushd my good friend it is good to see you so soon.” declared the Caliph happily as the young man entered the garden if his palace.

“It's good to see you too great Caliph.” declared Rushd humble and smiled at his friend. “But you seem quiet stressed ever since the fall of Oman.” added the well educated man as he observed his ruler more closely.

“How can I not with the christian enemies pressuring us from the north, the Emir of Valencia rebelling against me and the Almohad Caliphate just on the other side of the strait in Africa, waiting to invade us.” and he sounded weak, almost defended since he has had not much sleep lately. Despite this sound, the Almoravid Caliph Tashfin was eager to stay in power and to reconquer all land lost to his enemies one day.

“Troubling times for our Caliphate for sure, but we are standing for the moment and thanks to our fleet the Almoravids will take a little time till they continue to advance into Al-Andalus.” assumed Ibn Rushd, hoping to lift up his friends mood while at the same time being completely honest to him. As they walked to the garden he noticed the giraffes and other animals walking around in it that were kept to please the Caliph.

“Yes I still have loyal Emirs and troops, but of what use are they if I just wait for the overwhelming numbers of enemy's to attack us again and again?” questioned Tashfin ibn Ali “Oh Allah what have we done to deserve this fate?” questioned the Caliph looking up in the sky.

“Maybe that's the problem.” started Ibn towards his friend Tashfin “For the last hundred years we have been defensive and pushed back again and again instead of going into a offensive of our own.” Rushid suggested. “The Christian Kingdom's aren't united, everyone of them want's to grab as much territory from us as possible for his own crown. That also means they aren't coordinating their attacks and effort even if they help each other out against our Muslim territories sometimes.” knew the young Ibn Rushd as he thought about what they could do to strengthen the position of the Almoravid Caliphate against it's foreign enemies and these within it's boarders.

“It is true my ancestors were able to stop their advance sometimes, but now Alfonso VII of León is ruling Galicia, León and Castile as the Emperor of All Spain.” and as that emperor, Alfonso VII had serious ambitions and power knew Tashfin ibn Ali.

“True but much like you not every noble under his rule is happy that he reunited Castile, León and Galicia and even now he isn't coordinating his actions with the Kings or Aragon and Portugal who he still sees as his enemies and rivals to rule all of Al-Andalus. I'm sure we can use that to our advantage.” suggested Ibn Rushd but he soon added. “But more than these external enemies I fear these from inside, we can't risk that Taifa such like Valencia rebel against you Caliph, once their Emir are independent Emirates again our rule in Iberia might end for good.” feared Ibn Rushd.

“But what should I do against the rebelling Emirates?” asked Caliph Tashfin worried that others might follow the example of Valencia.

“You could establish a ruling council of Emir's that act as advisers and help you reign. They might feel like you give them more power and calm their ambitions, but their sheer number and disagreement on many topics would left the true power in you hands only my Caliph.” started Ibn Rushd and Tashfin thought that such an idea and scheming could actually work in his favor long enough to gather more power to face all his intern and external enemies.

“A wise suggestion like always but what about out overwhelming external enemies?” asked Caliph Tashfin thoughtful.

“Maybe we could arrange ourselves with the Count of Barcelona, the King of Aragon, or the King of Portugal to focus on Alfonso's Empire. Or we could defend our mainland Alfonso's Empire for now until we secured our flanks against these weaker states.” and Rushd's thoughts were on pair with the Caliph on this. They could try to focus on one enemy first or even ally themselves with the infidels against common enemies like Alfonso as the christian Crusaders had done in their Reconquista so often against the Taifa Emirates as they had been not united.

“I suppose this strategy could work better than the alternative as long as our trade riches give us enough money for our troops and our fleet prevent the Almohads Caliphate from crossing the strait to attack us from Africa for now.” sounded Caliph Tashfin more relieved now and the ruler even allowed himself to smile a little for the first time in weeks.
 
Nice stuff! A new monotheistic religion on Iberia, well, so long as they can stave off the crusades from the North and Jihads from the South.
 
Oh, there are many TLs that pull it off, but it's usually far from the main focus.
That's because there are a billion finicky problems to solve when you main-focus it.

That said, it's certainly possible - in some ways more likely - to have it stick around as the northern frontier of a greater Maghrib Empire that's ethnically Berber.
 
Nice stuff! A new monotheistic religion on Iberia, well, so long as they can stave off the crusades from the North and Jihads from the South.
More like a combind monotheisic religion planned further in the futre of TTL. Ibn Rushd will study Islam, Christianity an Judaism but I haven't decided if his teachings and hmsl will reatethis new combined religion or just the people following him after his death in 1198.
 
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Why should Ibn Rushd create a new religion and why would the people follow him?
A new islamic school of thought would be more realistic.
 
Why should Ibn Rushd create a new religion and why would the people follow him?
A new islamic school of thought would be more realistic.
Depends I guess, maybe his combind monotheisic religion will not be accepted as another islamic school by the rest, or the people following him after his death will not see it as such in a few years and split of themselves, maybe there will be a shism between his school and the rest, thinks like this have happened even if the founder of a new school never wanted to create a own new religion OTL, we will have to wait and see.
 
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