[2] Historical chronicles claim that Ibn Tashfin personally engaged himself in its construction, mixing the mortar with his own hands.

[3][4] Ibn Tashfin's son and successor, Ali ibn Yusuf (or "Ben Youssef" from the French transliteration), built a grand new central mosque, named the Masjid al-Siqaya ("mosque of the fountain") on account of the large fountain with a marble basin in its courtyard.

[17][10] The ornate street fountain known as Shrob ou Shouf was also built nearby during the reign of Ahmad al-Mansur (ruled 1578–1603).

Traditionally, the qadi (religious judge) of the Ben Youssef Mosque has jurisdiction over all of Marrakesh, and even over outlying areas.

The only other notable decoration in the mosque are the wooden ceilings, which have a typical sloped form with rafters but are enhanced with colorful painted geometric and arabesque motifs.

[20] The minaret, located at the southwestern corner of the mosque, has a traditional form with a square base measuring 8 meters per side.

[28] Ali ibn Yusuf famously commissioned an elaborate minbar (pulpit) for his mosque from a workshop in Cordoba, Spain (al-Andalus).

[33][34] Its artistic style and quality was hugely influential and set a standard which was repeatedly imitated, but never surpassed, in subsequent minbars across Morocco and parts of Algeria.

The large triangular faces of the minbar on either side are covered in an elaborate and creative motif centered around eight-pointed stars, from which decorative bands with ivory inlay then interweave and repeat the same pattern across the rest of the surface.

The spaces between these bands form other geometric shapes which are filled with panels of deeply-carved arabesques, made from different coloured woods (boxwood, jujube, and blackwood).

[30] There is a 6 centimetres (2.4 in) wide band of Quranic inscriptions in Kufic script on blackwood and bone running along the top edge of the balustrades.

Notably, the steps of the minbar are decorated with images of an arcade of Moorish (horseshoe) arches inside which are curving plant motifs, all made entirely in marquetry with different colored woods.