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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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A defensive structure established on the fringes of conquered Muslim territories. Ribats were garrisoned with murabitun, or military volunteers, and provided a safe structure to guard against attacks, especially in Northern Africa. Building a ribat was seen as a pious activity, and garrisoning the ribat was also seen as a righteous act. A ribat also gave shelter to the surrounding population during an enemy attack.

However, a ribat is unlike a fort in that it served a religious purpose. It was a center in which information about Islam was disseminated to the surrounding lands, and later it housed Islamic scholars traveling through the Islamic world.