The Murābiṭūn Did Not Invent the Ribāṭ. They Just Enforced it.

This study argues that ribāṭs represent the earliest form of institutional Islam in Morocco, emerging in the 3rd/9th century as a spatial and social response to Idrīsī political fragmentation rather than as juridical institutions shaped by Mālikī orthodoxy. By re-centering ribāṭs as foundational Idrīsī structures, it reframes Moroccan Islamic history around continuity, genealogy, and territorial legitimacy.