page_title: Ali ibn Yusuf
section_title: Patronage
hierarchical_section_title: Ali ibn Yusuf / Biography / Patronage
caption_attribution_description: English: Close-up of the decoration inside the Almoravid Qubba.
context_page_description: Ali ibn Yusuf was the 5th Almoravid emir. He reigned from 1106–1143.
context_section_description: He commissioned a minbar now known as the Minbar of the Kutubiyya Mosque from a workshop in Córdoba to furnish his grand mosque, the original Ben Youssef Mosque (destroyed under the Almohads), in the imperial capital, Marrakesh. The Almoravid Qubba also bears Ali's name.
  At the advice of Abu Walid Ibn Rushd (grandfather of Averroes), Ali built walls around Marrakesh as Ibn Tumart became more influential. There had been walls around the mosque and the palace, but Ali ibn Yūsuf spent 70,000 gold dinars on the city's fortifications, doubling the city's size, and told the amirs of Al-Andalus to fortify their walls as well. 
  He also established an irrigation system in Marrakesh, a project managed by Obeyd Allah ibn Younous al-Muhandes. This irrigation system made use of qanawat (قناة, p. قنوات). Ali also had the first bridge over the Tensift River built.
  In 1139, he lost the Battle of Ourique against the Portuguese forces led by the count Afonso Henriques, which allowed Afonso to proclaim himself an independent King.
  Ali was succeeded by his son Tashfin ibn Ali in 1143.
caption: Internal view of the Almoravid Qubba, inscribed with Ali's name.[4]
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