Facsimile · p. 44
This is also confirmed by what Ibn al-Maqqat mentioned, that when Ali bin Yusuf decided to build the wall around Marrakech, he consulted the jurists and men of good. And what al-Himayri mentioned, that Yusuf bin Tashfin "gave permission to the ruler of Sebta to intend to invade, and his eagerness to support the Muslims in al-Andalus. He asked him to allow the armies to pass through the strait, but it was difficult for him. Yusuf bin Tashfin, when he wanted to annex al-Andalus to his state and remove the kings of the sects, did not dare to do so except after consulting the jurists. The jurists and men of consultation from the Maghreb and al-Andalus issued a fatwa to depose them and seize power from them. With this, he obtained fatwas from the prominent scholars of the East, such as al-Ghazali and al-Turtushi. When Yusuf called himself the Commander of the Faithful and wanted the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustazhir billah to recognize him in the Maghreb and al-Andalus, he entrusted this mission to one of the Andalusian jurists, Abdullah bin Muhammad bin al-Arabi, the father of Abu Bakr bin al-Arabi, who accompanied his father on this embassy. This status that the jurists enjoyed in the politics of the Almoravid state was, in its beginning, a natural matter, as the nature of the knowledge they possessed qualified them to occupy a position of consultation in the various affairs of the state, as jurisprudence deals with all aspects of life, including politics, in what is known as "Sharia politics." We can add to this a contributing circumstantial factor, which is that the jurists in al-Andalus were opposed to the kings and led most of the popular revolutions. When Yusuf entered al-Andalus, they considered him the savior from the kings of the sects. They expressed their strong loyalty to him and offered him their great services. This resonated with his admiration for the jurists. He promoted them and involved them in the affairs of governance, and this became a characteristic of the state. This meaning was transferred from al-Andalus to the capital, Marrakech.