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    Almohads Princeton

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    Hatim El farouki

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    Almohads Princeton

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    Almohads Princeton

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 1

    Almohads (1130–­1269)

    Practice, edited by M. Bernards and J. Nawas, 2005; Idem, “The Under ‘Abd al-­Mu’min’s successors, Abu Ya‘qub Yusuf (r. 1163–­
    Status of Allies in Pre-­Islamic and Early Islamic Arabian Society,” 84) and Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub al-­Mansur (r. 1184–­99), Sufism and
    Islamic Law and Society 13, no. 1 (2006). philosophy flourished as possible developments of the Almohad
    reformulation of Islamic doctrinal and political thought, producing
    E lla L a n d a u - ­T asser o n the important works of Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185), Ibn Rushd (d. 1198),
    and Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240). Sufis and philosophers, however, were
    also subject to charges of heresy, with most Sufis emigrating to the
    Islamic East, as their claims to God’s friendship were seen as a threat
    to Almohad “totalism” (tawḥīd). The use of the Berber language de-
    Almohads (1130–­1269) clined as the original local focus (the Islamic West as a sort of “new
    Hijaz”) was gradually abandoned in favor of more universalistic ten-
    The Almohad (or Mu’minid) dynasty was the first to rule a unified dencies, as shown in Ibn Jubayr’s (d. 1217) Riḥla (Travels).
    Islamic West (North Africa, excluding Egypt and the Iberian Penin- Fights against the Christians in the Iberian Peninsula did not suc-
    sula) from 1130 to 1269. ceed in the permanent recovery of lost territories, and the victory
    The dynasty’s first ruler was ‘Abd al-­Mu’min (r. 1130–­63), at Alarcos (1195) was shortly followed by the defeat at Las Navas
    a Zanata Berber from the area of Tlemcen and the conqueror of de Tolosa (1212) and the loss of Córdoba and Valencia (1236 and
    what are now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, as well as Anda- 1238) and later Jaén and Sevilla (1248). In North Africa, the Al-
    lus (Muslim Spain and Portugal). ‘Abd al-­Mu’min was a pupil moravid Banu Ghaniya posed a constant military threat, while inter-
    of the Masmuda Berber Ibn Tumart (d. 1130), the founder of the nal opponents—­sometimes with Mahdist claims—­had to be fought.
    Almohad (Arabic al-­muwaḥḥid) movement, so-­called because of Internal divisions among the Mu’minids and the Almohad elites
    the insistence on God’s unity (tawḥīd) and the rejection of the eventually led to civil strife and even rejection of Ibn Tumart’s fig-
    anthropomorphist beliefs with which the previous dynasty, the ure and doctrine. The disintegration of the empire manifested itself
    Almoravids, were charged. Characterized as a Mahdi—­meaning in autonomous Hafsid rule in Tunisia and Eastern Algeria (1229)
    a messianic figure whose doctrine guaranteed religious certainty and in the conquest of Marrakesh by the Marinids in 1269, after
    and truth—­and as the inheritor of the station of prophecy and in- their occupation of northern Morocco, while the ‘Abd al-­Wadids
    fallibility (wārith maqām al-­nubuwwa wa-­l-­‘iṣma), Ibn Tumart carved out a kingdom of their own in western Algeria with their
    paved the way for ‘Abd al-­Mu’min’s adoption of the caliphal title capital at Tlemcen.
    of “Commander of the Faithful” (amīr al-­mu’minīn), first adopted See also Almoravids (1056–­1147); Ibn Tumart (ca. 1080–­1130);
    in North Africa by the Fatimids. After defeating the Arab tribes Spain and Portugal (Andalus)
    (Qays ‘Aylan) Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal at Sétif in 1153, ‘Abd
    al-­Mu’min incorporated them into the Almohad army to free him- Further Reading
    self from the original Almohad (mostly Masmuda) tribes whose P. Cressier, M. Fierro, and L. Molina, eds., Los almohades: Problemas
    shaykhs constituted the backbone of the political and military y perspectivas, 2005; H. Ferhat, Le Maghreb aux XIIème et XIIIème
    organization. ‘Abd al-­Mu’min then adopted a Qaysi genealogy siècles: Les siècles de la foi, 1993; J.F.P. Hopkins, Medieval
    that included the Prophet Muhammad and the pre-­Islamic Prophet Muslim Government in Barbary until the Sixth Century of the Hijra,
    Khalid b. Sinan, which—­being a lineage of prophecy—­was also 1958; R. Le Tourneau, The Almohad Movement in North Africa in
    a lineage entitled to the caliphate. In order to rule an extended the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, 1969.
    empire, ‘Abd al-­Mu’min created new political and religious elites,
    the ṭalaba and the ḥuffāẓ, who, after having received religious, M aribel F ierr o
    intellectual, and military training, were sent to all the districts of
    the empire, charged with teaching Ibn Tumart’s creeds and imple-
    menting Almohad policies recorded in official epistles, some of
    which have been preserved. Jews and Christians were forced to
    convert in the same way that Muslims were obliged to adhere to Almoravids (1056–­1147)
    Ibn Tumart’s understanding of true Islam. Changes were intro-
    duced in the direction and architecture of the mosques, new for- The Almoravid dynasty was a Berber (Sanhaja) dynasty that ruled
    mulas were pronounced in the call to prayer, and the square shape over the extreme Maghrib (now Morocco and part of Algeria) and
    came to characterize Almohad coins; all of these signs of the new Andalus (Muslim Spain and Portugal) from the 11th century to the
    era were brought on by the Mahdi. The Almohad anti-­madhhab first half of the 12th century. Their name derives from murābiṭūn,
    stance (i.e., rejection of legal discrepancies and therefore of the “performers of ribāṭ’,” usually interpreted as indicating their links
    existing legal schools) led to a rapprochement to Zahirism and Ibn with a fortified convent on the frontiers of Islam, although most
    Hazm’s legal and doctrinal views. The Almohad caliph’s rule was likely referring to a way of life that united both spiritual and mili-
    assimilated to God’s order (amr Allāh). tary discipline.

    34

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