The Murīdūn ("disciples") were a Sufi order in al-Andalus that rebelled against the authority of the Almoravid dynasty in 1141 and ruled a taifa based on Mértola in the al-Gharb from 1144 until 1151.
The sudden loss of the leaders of the Sufi movement in Almería, presumably at the hands of the authorities, convinced Ibn Qasī to act.
The high point of the rebellion occurred on 12 August 1144, when a force of seventy Murīdūn captured the town of Mértola, which Ibn Qasī made the capital.
The Almoravid counter-attack was cut short by the rebellion of Ibn Ḥamdīn in Córdoba, but not before it has caused a split in the Murīdūn movement.
In September 1145, Ibn Qasī went to Marrakesh to request support from the Almohad Caliph, a staunch enemy of the Almoravids.