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Revision as of 09:43, 1 June 2005 by Gh.ahmed~enwiki (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Battle of az-Zallaqah (October 23, 1086), was a great victory of the Almoravid Yusuf ibn Tashfin over the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin replied to the call of three Andalusian leaders (Al Mu'tamed be Allah & others) and crossed to Andalusia with 7,000 warriors from Almoravides, and marched with his army to the north of Andalusia till he reached "az-Zallaqah" the army of Almoravides accumulated worriers from every place in Andalusia the army reached 30,000 warriors.
Alfonso VI of Castile reached the battle ground with 60,000 warriors from allover Europe.
The two leaders exchanged messages before the battle, Yusuf ibn Tashfin offered three choices:
1- Convert to islam
2- Pay Jizyah
3- Battle
Alfonso VI chosen to fight the Almoravides.
The battle started at Friday at dawn by attack from Alfonso VI.
Yusuf Ibn Tashfin divided his army into 3 division, the first division was lead by (Al Mu'tamed be Allah) and consist of 15,000 warriors, the second division consist of 11,000 warriors lead by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the third division were 4,000 black African warriors with Indian swords and long javelins.
(Al Mu'tamed be Allah) and his division battled with Alfonso VI alone till the after noon, then Yusuf and his division joined the battle and circled Alfonso VI and his troops, the Alfonso's troops panicked and started to loose ground, then Yusuf ordered the third division of his army to attack and finish the battle.
The casualties of Alfonso's troops were tremendous (more than 59,500 dead) only 100 knights made it back to Castile, Alfonso VI survived the battle but he lost his leg.
The battleground was called ("az-Zallaqah" in English Slippery ground) because the warriors were slipping allover the battle ground because of the tremendous amount of blood shed this day.