The Fitna of al-Andalus, a period of instability and civil war, precedes the ultimate collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.

In addition to the political turmoil, large purges are also carried out throughout Muslim al-Andalus by Almanzor, its de facto ruler.

It begins in the year 1009 with a coup d'état that leads to the assassination of Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo, the son of Almanzor, the deposition of the Caliph Hisham II al-Hakam, and the rise to power of Muhammad II of Córdoba, great-grandson of Abd-ar-Rahman III.

The conflict will eventually divide all of Al-Andalus into a series of small kingdoms, or statelets; called taifas.

Abd al-Malik Al-Muzaffar had come to power after his father Al-Mansur's death in 1002, and secured his position in the Caliphate with successful campaigns against Navarre and Barcelona before being poisoned, allegedly, by his younger brother Abd al-Rahman, commonly known as Sanchuelo, whose mother is Abda (born Urraca), daughter of King Sancho II Garcés of Pamplona.

Sanchuelo seizes the dictatorship, coercing the weak caliph, Hisham II, to name him as heir; this precipitates a rebellion at Córdoba, the seat of Moorish Spain’s government, whose citizenry already disliked the rule of Almanzor because he had recruited for his safety many Berbers as mercenaries.

When Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo goes on an expedition against King Alfonso V of León in February 1009, a popular uprising in 1009 led by Muhammad II al-Mahdi, a member of the Umayyad dynasty, deposes both Sanchuelo and Hisham II, the latter being kept imprisoned in Cordoba under the new regime.

Muhammad destroys the residence of Sanchuelo, called al-Madina al-Zahira ("the flourishing city").

On receiving this news, Sanchuelo returns to Córdoba but his troops abandon him.

He is arrested by the order of al-Mahdi and assassinated on March 3.

The next few years in al-Andalus will see rapid changes of leadership as a result of wars between Berber and Arab armies, as well as of Slavic mercenaries (or enslaved Slavs; sources differ).

Sanchuelo is assassinated in 1009, and in November, the Berbers, aided by Sancho Garces of Castile, overthrow the usurper Muhammad II.

The combined Christian-Muslim forces then plunder Cordoba and install Süleyman as caliph.

With central authority in al-Andalus thus weakened, the caliphate breaks up into small quarreling taifas, or factional states, each with an independent emir or king.

With the Cordoban Caliphate crumbling into civil war, Ramon Borrell sees another opportunity.

He organizes a campaign against the Caliphate with Ermengol I of Urgell and Bernard I of Besalú, and joins forces with the deposed Muhammad II of Córdoba.

Their army destroys the forces of Caliph Sulayman II and sacks Córdoba in May 1010, although Ermengol dies as a result of the battle.

The bishop Arnulf of Vic also dies on this campaign.

Following the withdrawal of the coalition army, Muhammad is assassinated and Hisham regains his throne with the aid of the Slavic troops of the Caliphate under al-Wahdid.

Hisham is now under the influence of al-Wahdid, who is nevertheless unable to gain control of the Berber troops—these still support Sulayman, and the civil war continues.

Ramon participates on the side of the Muslim rebels in the Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr on June 2, 1010, as part of the Andalusian civil wars.