Almohads works, fled to BARCELONA in Christian Spain. There, he composed a work, still in manuscript, in which he strongly disagreed with Maimonides’ views about the persecution. Ibn Aknin viewed the Almohads as waging a true “religious persecution” in which Jews were required to sacrifice themselves in order to sanc tify God’s name, and he praised the “saints” of Fez, Sijilmasa, and Draa (all in North Africa) for having done just this. By implication, the Jews of Tlemcen, Marrakesh, Ceuta, and Meknes had been killed by the Almohads in the invasions or afterward, and had not chosen death as martyrs. The renowned poet and biblical commentator A braham I bn c Ezra from al-Andalus, although then wandering through Europe and thus not an eyewit ness, composed a lengthy eulogy on the calamities that befell the Jews in all of these cities. If this poem reflects reality, it would appear that some of these towns (Draa has altogether vanished in modern times) were indeed very important centers of Jewish learning and population. In al-Andalus there is some evidence that the early period of persecution, when Jews were severely re stricted in certain areas (particularly business), lessened. There was widespread recognition among the Muslims that the Jews were far from being sincere converts. Nevertheless, they soon were again living in luxury and dressing in the finest CLOTHING. The ruler Abu Yusuf Yaqub (1184-1199) took steps against this and introduced the requirement that Jews must dress in the Muslim fashion of mourning (dark blue or black), with long cloaklike garments. The subsequent ruler, Abu Abd-Allah, ordered that Jews wear yellow cloaks and turbans, which continued until 1224. (The con jecture that this had anything to do with the so-called Yellow Badge imposed upon Jews in some lands by the Fourth Lateran Church Council of 1215 is wholly groundless; there was no requirement that the badge be yellow at all. However, the original wording of the council decree, which called for “distinctive clothing” to be worn by Jews, may have been indirectly influ enced by this Muslim requirement.) Neither in North Africa nor, even more so, in al- Andalus did Jewish communities or Jewish life entirely come to an end, as exaggerated claims would have it. Nevertheless, this long period of persecution certainly depleted both the Jewish population and culture. NORMAN ROTH BIBLIOGRAPHY Corcos (Abulafia), David. “Le-ofey yabasam shel she- litey ha-Almuhadim le-Yehudiym,” Zion ($iyyon) 32 (1967): 137-60. Hirschberg, H. Z. “A1 gezeirot ha-meyahadim ve- sehar Hodu,” in Salo W. Baron et al., eds., Sefer Yovel le-Yi$haq Baer (Jerusalem, I960), 134-53 (English summary, xii-iii). Roth, Norman. Jews, Visigoths & Muslims in Me dieval Spain (Leiden, 1994), index, “Almohads.” Almoravids The Almoravid (al-Murdbitun) dynasty was founded in North Africa in the early eleventh century. Unlike the later more fanatical ALMOHADS, they did not par ticularly single out Christians and Jews for persecution. However, the Almoravid ruler Yusuf Ibn Tashufln was invited by the Muslims of al-Andalus (southern Spain) to help defend against the invasion of the Castilian king Alfonso VI in 1086. This was a major land and sea battle, which turned the tide temporarily against the Christians in their efforts to reconquer al-Andalus. Using the opportunity presented them, the Almoravids (incorrectly: Almoravides; cf. Roth, 1994, 261 n. 101) remained in al-Andalus and took it over from the weaker local rulers, many of whom were forced to flee. Although the Almoravids were fierce warriors, they were hardly “barbarians,” as they sometimes have been described. They were often intolerant of philosophical ideas. All b. Yusuf, who succeeded his father as ruler in 1106, ordered that the works of the mystic philosopher al-Ghazall be burned on religious grounds because he disagreed with his views. On the other hand, the Al moravids were not able to eradicate the strong hold of secular studies and literature among the Muslims of al- Andalus, and poetry especially continued to flourish. It appears from the few substantial sources avail able to us that there was no persecution of Jews either in North Africa or in al-Andalus, at least in the early years of the dynasty. According to al-ldrisl (d. 1162) , the Jewish Barghawata tribe in the region of Mar rakesh had a sort of “capital of the South,” the Jewish center of Agmat (Aghmat). The Almoravids fought the “Judaized” Berbers there in 1059, and their deci sive victory marked the decline of the Jewish Berber tribes. The responsa of Isaac al-FasI report a couple of 22