The Great Battle Between Ibn Tashfin and the Franks

This battle is called in some books "the epic of al-Zallaqa". The sources differ over its date: according to al-Suyuti it was in 504 AH, between the Franks and Ibn Tashfin, and the Muslims were victorious in it. ²

The data record notes that the widely known date of al-Zallaqa is 479 AH, and the source's date has been kept as it stands.

Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad and Ibn al-Aftas met the Almoravids at al-Zallaqa in the district of Badajoz, and the defence of the Lamtuna weakened the arm of the Franks. ³

Al-Maqqari, quoting "al-Rawd al-Mi'tar" and Ibn Khallikan, relates that Alfonso saw in a dream a vision that a Muslim interpreter explained as a great affliction. He promised the Muslims a meeting on Saturday and then betrayed them, and came at the dawn of Friday in the middle of Rajab. The horsemen surrounded Ibn Abbad until he was wounded and three horses were hamstrung under him. Then Yusuf came up with his army and ordered the household of the Sudanese to dismount, and they cut the horses with their swords and lances. Alfonso turned to flee after he had been stabbed in his knee, and took refuge on a hill with about five hundred horsemen. ⁴

Al-Mu'tamid wrote to his son at Seville the letter of the victory. The jurist Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Rumayla and the judge of Marrakesh Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik al-Masmudi were martyred in the battle. The armies stayed four days until the spoils were gathered. ⁴