Either that or to try to avoid the defeat at Las Navas (1212), that set in motion the decline of the Almohads, even if by that time the Muslim power in Spain was already going down.
Ah Las Navas, a perfect POD if you wish, a critical battle that helped pave the way for the Christians to conquest the rest of Southern Spain. The Almohads has superior numbers but of course, were caught by surprise and a general rout put the final nail in the coffin for Almohad rule in Spain. The insult to injury was the death of the Caliph after barely escaping death at the battle.
The Almohads were off a string of successes where they captured a number of cities and were so threatening that the Pope even called a
crusade (although not officially). My first and only POD would be the death of
Martín Alhaja at the hands of a marauding Almohad scouting party a decade before the critical battle. An act of
necessary barbarity, in the middle of the night, Martín was dragged out of his rural abode and put to the sword, and told to profess his belief
in Allah, the One and Only, beyond comparison, and that Muhammad was his Messenger. A proud Catholic, he was ready to face martyrdom at the hands of these infidels. He cursed them and forced his eyes shut. Then an intense pain for a split second and nothingness... he was with the Heavenly Father now.
A random act of barbarity that had untold consequences on civilisation, for there was no noble Spanish shepherd to guide the Christian armies to fight at that critical battle, through a narrow mountain pass around the main force. Instead, it was a day of irreparable loss for Spain and Christendom, for although the butterflies had pushed the battle a month later than OTL, the Spanish were left to acknowledge huge concessions to the Almohads. For when the dust rose above the morning sun after the battle, a scene of utter annihilation left even the Caliph begging "
Astaghfirullah" to Allah for desecrating his creation: the dry soils of Al-Andalus ran red with pious blood and infidels lay face down in the tens of thousands...
For a gem of military history was stained by the slaying of thousands and the weeping of millions of Catholics across the continent. Muslim scouting parties found the marauding Christians armies trying to catch the army by surprise, and them setting up an ambush a few kilometres ahead. The news was rushed to the Caliph, who only stated that "What must be done, must be done, by the will of the Almighty Allah, we bring the sword to those who slay our countrymen, our undisputed five centuries of rule for they have already shunned the pen and paper." And with those words, his royal advisors and slaves alike rose and suddenly grasped determination that only paralleled those in Kalid's army prior to the Battle of Yarmouk. That mammoth of a battle had, by the grace of Allah, led to the Muslim conquest of the Levant and thus, to their very existence.
At noon, contingents of the army were sent to coax the Spanish out of their hiding in the forests, but it was to no avail. Harassing parties couldn't penetrate the well-disciplined and nearly as determined pious Catholic soldiers, and they held their position. Hours drew into days until the Caliph had a lightbulb moment. A stalemate could be broken by splitting off a significant portion of the army to slowly construct an army of torches above the valley, and a few men banged the drums of Islam, while the rest of the portion stood stealthily at the top. The Caliph set off these instructions and put the main force in direct view of the Spanish. Noticing the Caliph's tent, King Sancho VII of Navarre, tired of sitting in enemy territory, decided to act on his superior seeming numbers and rush in (in OTL, he had pulled an alexander to save the battle, but butterflies are just too strong). King Alfonso VIII of Castille critically posed no argument to this, despite his thoughts that this was a massive trap.
The Sword of Islam was just getting started. As the Spanish charged, two cavalry units on each side, charged into the Spaniards before quickly and rapidly disengaging. King Sancho simply could not ignore these units as they chipped away at his forces, so he got his cavalry to counter them. Suddenly, the Caliph's personal guard sprinted away with the Caliph, the Spaniards were not that well-disciplined and followed seeking glory and riches in slaughtering the most powerful Muslim on this side of the Mediterranean. King Sancho tried to pull them back when he realised the trap but the overwhelming "DEUS VULT" from the army meant he had no chance of being heard. The Spanish cavalry well behind the main Spanish force was ambushed and quickly routed by mobile, light infantry. The Muslims hadn't gotten off scot-free from the engagements, at this point 210 Coalition forces and 50 Muslims lay dead. But that was about to all change.
As the Christian armies ran, exhausted through the dark forest valley (night had settled in by then), bounded by two rivers beyond the hills to the sides, a somewhat familiar light lit up the hilltops. Almost like a huge force holding torches... Before they realised, the Muslims blocked off the exit back and rushed down the hill. Men, from peasants to nobility, did the equivalent of shitting themselves (and in some cases, that wasn't far from the truth), and panicked, confused and staring death in the face, split up in all directions but to no avail. The disorganised, desperate rout made for no trouble for the Muslims, and when the dust finally cleared, and the morning sun rose, over 15,000 Christians were left lifeless and decidedly sent down to the depths of Hell. Men were cut down ruthlessly, the scene was such that the Caliph sought for Allah to forgive them for they fought bravely in the name of God. A thousand acts of barbarity and heroic actions happened simultaneously, as groups of Spaniards stood back to back, killing dozens in close-quarter combat before tasting the iron tang of blood flood their mouth and their life ruthlessly ripped out of their mortal bodies.
The two kings were among the bodies lying face down on the soil. They say that they had the blood of one hundred Moors on their swords before one of their heads was removed from his body to the immense regret of the soldier who dealt the fatal blow, for he had fought with a ferocity that only could have been the Lord's intervention. The other king fell quickly without support. They were given a joint royal procession through Casablanca, such was the respect the Caliph had for the monarchs. Castile was plunged into a succession crisis that doomed the nation (Navarra's centuries-long decline could also be seen from the aftermath of the massacre), formed both from the disastrous news of the battle and the loss of a king. And it was with the violent death of a humble shepherd a decade earlier, that the fate of Europe was changed forever...
at some stage
