Circa 1036-Circa 1090
Political Strategist

Rise to Power. A daughter of a wealthy merchant residing in Qayrawan, a trading city in the Sus region of Tunisia, Zaynab married a Masmuda ruler of Aghmat when she was around sixteen years old. She later left him for Laqqut ibn Yusuf al-Maghrawi, a chief of the desert Zanata, who took over Aghmat. After the Almoravids overran the Zanatas in Aghmat, they executed Laqqut. Zaynab became a significant political figure when she married Abu Bakr, who introduced her to the intrigues of creating a Muslim empire. Abu Bakr divorced her when he was required to return to the desert for a lengthy military campaign, and she married Abu Bakr's cousin and eventual successor, Ibn Tashfin. Zaynab encouraged her new husband to buy West African slaves to increase his military manpower and avoid dependence on the Sanhaja Berbers. She convinced him...