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90-522: Boumediene , Boumeddiene , Boumeddienne , Boumedienne , Boumedien , Boumeddien , or Boummedienne is an Arab surname. It can refer to: People [ edit ] Abu Madyan (c. 1126 – 1198), also known as "Bou Medine" or "Boumediene", Andalusian mystic and Sufi master Houari Boumediène (1932–1978, the President of Algeria from 1967 to 1978 Lakhdar Boumediene (born 1966), Bosnian prisoner held in

180-409: A habeas motion by Lakhdar Boumediene Houari Boumediene Airport – airport serving Algiers, the capital of Algeria Sidi Boumedienne – municipality in northwest Algeria Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Boumediene . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to

270-539: A rationalist intellectualism in Almohad religious thought. Al-Mansur's father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf , had also shown some favour towards philosophy and kept the philosopher Ibn Tufayl as his confidant. Ibn Tufayl in turn introduced Ibn Rush (Averroes) to the Almohad court, to whom Al-Mansur gave patronage and protection. Although Ibn Rushd (who was also an Islamic judge ) saw rationalism and philosophy as complementary to religion and revelation, his views failed to convince

360-441: A "sophisticated hybrid form of Islam that wove together strands from Hadith science, Zahiri and Shafi'i fiqh , Ghazalian social actions ( hisba ), and spiritual engagement with Shi'i notions of the imam and mahdi ". This contrasted with the highly orthodox or traditionalist Maliki school ( maddhab ) of Sunni Islam which predominated in the region up to that point. Central to his philosophy, Ibn Tumart preached

450-568: A complicated blend of literalist jurisprudence and esoteric dogmatics. Some authors occasionally describe Almohads as heavily influenced by Mu'tazilism . Scholar Madeline Fletcher argues that while one of Ibn Tumart's original teachings, the murshida s (a collection of sayings memorized by his followers), holds positions on the attributes of God which might be construed as moderately Mu'tazilite (and which were criticized as such by Ibn Taimiyya ), identifying him with Mu'tazilites would be an exaggeration. She points out that another of his main texts,

540-464: A fundamentalist or radical version of tawhid – referring to a strict monotheism or to the "oneness of God". This notion gave the movement its name: al - Muwaḥḥidūn ( Arabic : المُوَحِّدون ), meaning roughly "those who advocate tawhid ", which was adapted to "Almohads" in European writings. Ibn Tumart saw his movement as a revolutionary reform movement much as early Islam saw itself relative to

630-721: A good number of them still well preserved, were built in his honor next to his tomb by the Marinid kings, who controlled Tlemcen in the 14th century. One such monument is the Mosque of Madrasa. His tomb became the center of fine architecture and is still a place of pilgrimage for many Sufis today. The basic principles and virtues taught at Madyan’s school in Bejaia were repentance ( tawba ), asceticism ( zuhd ), paying visits to other masters, and service to experienced masters. He emphasized futuwa (youth/chivalry) but only when accompanied by

720-591: A large Castilian army, descended from the hills, besieging cities such as Jaén and Andújar . They raided throughout the regions of Jaén , Cordova and Vega de Granada and, before the end of the year, al-Bayyasi had established himself in the city of Cordova . Sensing a power vacuum, both Alfonso IX of León and Sancho II of Portugal opportunistically ordered raids into Andalusian territory that same year. With Almohad arms, men and cash dispatched to Morocco to help Caliph al-Adil impose himself in Marrakesh, there

810-452: A large garden east of the city). The Almohads were thoroughly routed, with huge losses. Half their leadership was killed in action, and the survivors only just managed to scramble back to the mountains. Ibn Tumart died shortly after, in August 1130. That the Almohad movement did not immediately collapse after such a devastating defeat and the death of their charismatic Mahdi, is likely due to

900-512: A massive advance in the Christian reconquista – the old great Andalusian citadels fell in a grand sweep: Mérida and Badajoz in 1230 (to Leon), Majorca in 1230 (to Aragon), Beja in 1234 (to Portugal), Cordova in 1236 (to Castile), Valencia in 1238 (to Aragon), Niebla - Huelva in 1238 (to Leon), Silves in 1242 (to Portugal), Murcia in 1243 (to Castile), Jaén in 1246 (to Castile), Alicante in 1248 (to Castile), culminating in

990-438: A palace there called Al-Muwarak on the site of the modern-day Alcázar of Seville . The successors of Abd al-Mumin, Abu Yaqub Yusuf (Yusuf I, ruled 1163–1184) and Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (Yaʻqūb I, ruled 1184–1199), were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon . Ultimately they became less fanatical than

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1080-467: A period of effective regency for the young caliph, with power exercised by an oligarchy of elder family members, palace bureaucrats and leading nobles. The Almohad ministers were careful to negotiate a series of truces with the Christian kingdoms, which remained more-or-less in place for next fifteen years (the loss of Alcácer do Sal to the Kingdom of Portugal in 1217 was an exception). In early 1224,

1170-515: A revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in Muslim orthodoxy. His followers would become known as the al-Muwaḥḥidūn ("Almohads"), meaning those who affirm the unity of God. After his return to the Maghreb c. 1117, Ibn Tumart spent some time in various Ifriqiyan cities, preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He laid

1260-538: A testament ( wasiyya ) and a creed ( akida ). He encouraged the free expression of emotions rather than rigidity, but also made known his support of asceticism complete devotion to God and a minimalist lifestyle. Almohad In Al-Andalus: The Almohad Caliphate ( IPA : / ˈ æ l m ə h æ d / ; Arabic : خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or دَوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or ٱلدَّوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِيَّةُ from Arabic : ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ , romanized :  al-Muwaḥḥidūn , lit.   'those who profess

1350-527: Is no doubt that these flags in their different colors delighted and pleased the people. According to historian Amira Benninson, the caliphs usually left their capital Marrakesh for war in al-Andalus preceded by the white banner of the Almohads, the Quran of 'Uthman and Quran of Ibn Tumart. Egyptian historiographer Al-Qalqashandi (d. 1418) mentioned white flags in two places, the first being when he spoke about

1440-423: The 'aqida (which was likely edited by others after him), demonstrates a much clearer Ash'arite position on a number of issues. Nonetheless, the Almohads, particularly from the reign of Caliph Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur onward, embraced the use of logical reasoning as a method of validating the more central Almohad concept of tawhid . This effectively provided a religious justification for philosophy and for

1530-548: The Abbasid Caliph , albeit taking up for himself a quasi-caliphal title, 'al-Mutawwakil'. The departure of al-Ma'mun in 1228 marked the end of the Almohad era in Spain. Ibn Hud and the other local Andalusian strongmen were unable to stem the rising flood of Christian attacks, launched almost yearly by Sancho II of Portugal , Alfonso IX of León , Ferdinand III of Castile and James I of Aragon . The next twenty years saw

1620-480: The Banu Hud dynasty that had once ruled the old taifa of Saragossa , emerged as the central figure of these rebellions, systematically dislodging Almohad garrisons through central Spain. In October 1228, with Spain practically all lost, al-Ma'mun abandoned Seville, taking what little remained of the Almohad army with him to Morocco. Ibn Hud immediately dispatched emissaries to distant Baghdad to offer recognition to

1710-611: The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa they occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of Castile . The history of their decline differs from that of the Almoravids, whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great religious movement, but lost territories, piecemeal, by the revolt of tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the Banu Marin ( Marinids ) who founded the next dynasty. The last representative of

1800-858: The Hintata , Ibn Tumart abandoned his cave in 1122 and went up into the High Atlas , to organize the Almohad movement among the highland Masmuda tribes. Besides his own tribe, the Hargha, Ibn Tumart secured the adherence of the Ganfisa, the Gadmiwa, the Hintata, the Haskura, and the Hazraja to the Almohad cause. Sometime around 1124, Ibn Tumart established his base at Tinmel , a highly defensible position in

1890-516: The Rif mountains in the north. One of their early bases beyond the mountains was Taza , where Abd al-Mu"min founded a citadel ( ribat ) and a Great Mosque circa 1142. The Almoravid ruler, Ali ibn Yusuf, died in 1143 and was succeeded by his son, Tashfin ibn Ali . The tide turned more definitively in favour of the Almohads from 1144 onwards, when the Zenata tribes in what is now western Algeria joined

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1980-483: The dhimmi status of religious minorities further stifled the once flourishing Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain ; Maimonides went east and many Jews moved to Castillian-controlled Toledo . According to the research of Muhammad al-Manuni , there were 400 paper mills in Fes under the reign of Sultan Yaqub al-Mansur in the 12th century. The Almohad ideology preached by Ibn Tumart is described by Amira Bennison as

2070-820: The huffaz or reciters of the Quran into a training school of the Almohad elite. They were no longer described as "memorisers" but as "guardians" who learned riding, swimming, archery, and received a general education of high standards. Abd al-Mu'min thus transformed the Almohad movement from a Masmuda aristocracy to a Mu'minid dynastic state. While most of the Almohad elites accepted this new concentration of power, it nonetheless triggered an uprising by two of Ibn Tumart's half-brothers, 'Abd al-'Aziz and 'Isa. Shortly after Abd al-Mu'min announced his heir, towards 1154–1155, they rebelled in Fez and then marched on Marrakesh, whose governor they killed. Abd al-Mu'min, who had been in Salé, returned to

2160-668: The unity of God ' ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula ( Al-Andalus ) and North Africa (the Maghreb ). The Almohad movement was founded by Ibn Tumart among the Berber Masmuda tribes, but the Almohad caliphate and its ruling dynasty, known as the Mu'minid dynasty , were founded after his death by Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi . Around 1121, Ibn Tumart

2250-614: The Almohad armies. These moves also had the corollary effect of advancing the Arabisation of future Morocco. Abd al-Mu'min spent the mid-1150s organizing the Almohad state and arranging for power to be passed on through his family line. In 1154, he declared his son Muhammad as his heir. In order to neutralise the power of the Masmuda, he relied on his tribe of origin, the Kumiyas (from the central Maghreb), whom he integrated into

2340-638: The Almohad camp, along with some of the previously Almoravid-aligned leaders of the Masufa tribe. This allowed them to defeat Tashfin decisively and capture Tlemcen in 1144. Tashfin fled to Oran, which the Almohads then attacked and captured, and he died in March 1145 while trying to escape. The Almohads pursued the defeated Almoravid army west to Fez, which they captured in 1146 after a nine-month siege. They finally captured Marrakesh in 1147, after an eleven-month siege. The last Almoravid ruler, Ishaq ibn Ali ,

2430-533: The Almohad flag in Tunisia, where he stated that: "It was a white flag called the victorious flag, and it was raised before their sultan when riding for Eid prayers or for the movement of the makhzen slaves (which were the ordinary people of the country and the people of the markets)". By the end of the Almohad reign, dissident movements would adopt black in recognition of the Abbasid caliphate and in rejection of

2520-434: The Almohad governor of Jaén , who took a handful of followers and decamped for the hills around Baeza. He set up a rebel camp and forged an alliance with the hitherto quiet Ferdinand III of Castile . Sensing his greater priority was Marrakesh, where recusant Almohad sheikh s had rallied behind Yahya, another son of al-Nasir, al-Adil paid little attention to them. In 1225, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi's band of rebels, accompanied by

2610-417: The Almohad power structure and from whom he recruited some 40,000 into the army. They would later form the bodyguard of the caliph and his successors. In addition, Abd al-Mu'min relied on Arabs, the great Hilalian families that he had deported to Morocco, to further weaken the influence of the Masmuda sheikhs. With his son appointed as his successor, Abd al-Mu'min placed his other children as governors of

2700-574: The Almohade doctors of that town. The Almohads were disturbed at his increasing reputation and wanted to get rid of him. Eventually, Madyan settled in the town of Béjaïa where he established a mosque-school ( zawiya ). The sheer amount of fame and influence that Abu Madyan evoked raised serious concern from the political powers of the time. The Almohad Caliph Ya’qub al-Mansur summoned Abu Madyan to Marrakech for this reason so he could talk to Abu Madyan himself. Upon his summoning to Marrakech, Abu Madyan

2790-658: The Almohads governed their co-religionists in Iberia and central North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside Morocco being treated as provinces. When Almohad emirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jihad against the Christians and then return to Morocco. In 1212, the Almohad Caliph Muhammad 'al-Nasir' (1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance north,

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2880-407: The Almohads were recognized for their use of white banners, which were supposed to evoke their "purity of purpose". This began a long tradition of using white as main dynastic color in what is now Morocco for the later Marinids and Saadian sultanates. Whether these white banners contained any specific motifs or inscriptions is not certain. Historian Ḥasan 'Ali Ḥasan writes: As for the flags of

2970-557: The Almohads, the main flag was white, and on one side was written during the reign of Ibn Tumart: "The one Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the Mahdi is the successor of Allah", and on the other side: "There is no god but Allah, and my success is only with Allah, and I entrust my affairs to Allah", and the white color continued with the rest of the caliphs, even if they adopted other colored flags, red, yellow and other colors. There

3060-465: The Almoravids, and Ya'qub al-Mansur was a highly accomplished man who wrote a good Arabic style and protected the philosopher Averroes . In 1190–1191, he campaigned in southern Portugal and won back territory lost in 1189. His title of " al-Manṣūr " ("the Victorious") was earned by his victory over Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos (1195). From the time of Yusuf II , however,

3150-531: The Andalusi historian Ibn Ṣāḥib aṣ-Ṣalāt  [ ar ] . For example, the khaṭīb , or sermon-giver, of al-Qarawiyyīn Mosque in Fes, Mahdī b. 'Īsā, was replaced under the Almohads by Abū l-Ḥasan b. 'Aṭiyya khaṭīb because he was fluent in Berber. As the Almohads rejected the status of Dhimma , the Almohad conquest of al-Andalus caused the emigration of Andalusi Christians from southern Iberia to

3240-596: The Castilians to lay a long and difficult siege. The brave defiance of little Capilla, and the spectacle of al-Bayyasi's shipping provisions to the Castilian besiegers, shocked Andalusians and shifted sentiment back towards the Almohad caliph. A popular uprising broke out in Cordova – al-Bayyasi was killed and his head dispatched as a trophy to Marrakesh. But Caliph al-Adil did not rejoice in this victory for long – he

3330-648: The Christian north, which had an impact on the use of Romance within Almohad territory. After the Almohad period, Muslim territories in Iberia were reduced to the Emirate of Granada , in which the percentage of the population that had converted to Islam reached 90% and Arabic-Romance bilingualism seems to have disappeared. The Almohads worked to suppress the influence of the Maliki school of fiqh, even publicly burning copies of Muwatta Imam Malik and Maliki commentaries. They sought to disseminate ibn Tumart's beliefs; he

3420-570: The Christianity and Judaism which preceded it, with himself as its mahdi and leader. In terms of Muslim jurisprudence , the state gave recognition to the Zahiri ( ظاهري ) school of thought, though Shafi'ites were also given a measure of authority at times. While not all Almohad leaders were Zahirites, quite a few of them were not only adherents of the legal school but also well-versed in its tenets. Additionally, all Almohad leaders – both

3510-515: The Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively. The Almohads continued to rule in Africa until the piecemeal loss of territory through the revolt of tribes and districts enabled the rise of their most effective enemies, the Marinids from northern Morocco in 1215. The last representative of the line, Idris al-Wathiq , was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269;

3600-713: The Guantanamo Bay detention camp; plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush Josef Boumedienne (born 1978), Swedish professional hockey player Hayat Boumeddiene (born 1988), fugitive common law wife of Amedy Coulibaly, who perpetrated the Montrouge shooting that was part of the terrorist attacks in France in 2015. Yahya Boumediene (born 1990), Belgian footballer Other [ edit ] Boumediene v. Bush – 2008 United States Supreme Court decision involving

3690-603: The High Atlas. Their principal damage was in rendering insecure (or altogether impassable) the roads and mountain passes south of Marrakesh – threatening the route to all-important Sijilmassa , the gateway of the trans-Saharan trade . Unable to send enough manpower through the narrow passes to dislodge the Almohad rebels from their easily defended mountain strong points, the Almoravid authorities reconciled themselves to setting up strongholds to confine them there (most famously

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3780-485: The Mahdi's privy council, composed of his earliest and closest companions; and the consultative Council of Fifty, composed of the leading sheikh s of the Masmuda tribes. The early preachers and missionaries ( ṭalaba and huffāẓ ) also had their representatives. Militarily, there was a strict hierarchy of units. The Hargha tribe coming first (although not strictly ethnic; it included many "honorary" or "adopted" tribesmen from other ethnicities, e.g. Abd al-Mu'min himself). This

3870-832: The Marinids seized Marrakesh, ending the Almohad domination of the Western Maghreb. The Almohad movement originated with Ibn Tumart , a member of the Masmuda , an Amazigh tribal confederation of the Atlas Mountains of southern Morocco. At the time, Morocco , western Algeria and Spain ( al-Andalus ), were under the rule of the Almoravids , a Sanhaja Berber dynasty. Early in his life, Ibn Tumart went to Spain to pursue his studies, and thereafter to Baghdad to deepen them. In Baghdad, Ibn Tumart attached himself to

3960-602: The Normans two years earlier, recognized Almohad authority right after. In the 1170s and 1180s, Almohad power in the eastern Maghreb was challenged by the Banu Ghaniya and by Qaraqush , an Ayyubid commander. Yaqub al-Mansur eventually defeated both factions and reconquered Ifriqiya in 1187–1188. In 1189–1190, the Ayyubid sultan Salah ad-Din (Saladin) requested the assistance of an Almohad navy for his fight against

4050-725: The Orient. During his time in the Orient, he became familiar with the works of Al-Ghazali , one of the most prominent theologians, philosophers, and mystics of Sunni Islam regarded as one of the renewers of the religion. Abu Madyan went to Mecca where he met the great Muslim saint, Jilani , and completed his spiritual training under him. On his return, he went to the town of Béjaïa where he practiced very strict asceticism and acquired an honorable reputation for his knowledge. People would come far to both listen to his public lectures and consult him on certain manners. People believed he could even perform miracles. His beliefs were in opposition to

4140-625: The blame for the latitude on the ruling dynasty of the Almoravids, whom he accused of obscurantism and impiety. He also opposed their sponsorship of the Maliki school of jurisprudence, which drew upon consensus ( ijma ) and other sources beyond the Qur'an and Sunnah in their reasoning, an anathema to the stricter Zahirism favored by Ibn Tumart. His antics and fiery preaching led fed-up authorities to move him along from town to town. After being expelled from Bejaia , Ibn Tumart set up camp in Mellala, in

4230-466: The city, defeated the rebels, and had everyone involved executed. In March 1159, Abd al-Mu'min led a new campaign to the east. He conquered Tunis by force when the local Banu Khurasan leaders refused to surrender. Mahdia was besieged soon after and surrendered in January 1160. The Normans there negotiated their withdrawal and were allowed to leave for Sicily . Tripoli, which had rebelled against

4320-458: The crusaders, which al-Mansur declined. Al-Andalus followed the fate of North Africa. Between 1146 and 1173, the Almohads gradually wrested control from the Almoravids over the Muslim principalities in Iberia. The Almohads transferred the capital of Muslim Iberia from Córdoba to Seville . They founded a great mosque there; its tower, the Giralda , was erected in 1184. The Almohads also built

4410-511: The disasters were promptly blamed on the distractions of Caliph al-Adil and the incompetence and cowardice of his lieutenants, the successes credited to non-Almohad local leaders who rallied defenses. But al-Adil's fortunes were briefly buoyed. In payment for Castilian assistance, al-Bayyasi had given Ferdinand III three strategic frontier fortresses: Baños de la Encina , Salvatierra (the old Order of Calatrava fortress near Ciudad Real ) and Capilla . But Capilla refused to hand them over, forcing

4500-423: The end of Ramadan in late 1121, after a particularly moving sermon, reviewing his failure to persuade the Almoravids to reform by argument, Ibn Tumart 'revealed' himself as the true Mahdi , a divinely guided judge and lawgiver, and was recognized as such by his audience. This was effectively a declaration of war on the Almoravid state. On the advice of one of his followers, Omar Hintati , a prominent chieftain of

4590-554: The end of the Almoravid era or at the beginning of the founding of the Almohad state. There, he studied under Abu Ya’azza al-Hazmiri , ‘Ali Hirzihim , and al-Dakkak. It was al-Dakkak that provided him with the khirka , the cloak passed from Master to student in the study of Sufism. Abu Madyan was particularly fascinated with mysticism by Sidi Ali Ibn Harazem . After finishing his studies with his master Abu Ya'za, he traveled to

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4680-582: The fall of the greatest of Andalusian cities, the ex-Almohad capital of Seville , into Christian hands in 1248. Ferdinand III of Castile entered Seville as a conqueror on December 22, 1248. The Andalusians were helpless before this onslaught. Ibn Hudd had attempted to check the Leonese advance early on, but most of his Andalusian army was destroyed at the battle of Alange in 1230. Ibn Hud scrambled to move remaining arms and men to save threatened or besieged Andalusian citadels, but with so many attacks at once, it

4770-538: The fold. Three years after Ibn Tumart's death he was officially proclaimed "Caliph". After 1133, Abd al-Mu'min quickly expanded Almohad control across the Maghreb, while the embattled Almoravids retained their capital in Marrakesh. Various other tribes rallied to the Almohads or to the Almoravids as the war between them continued. Initially, Almohad operations were limited to the Atlas mountains. In 1139, they expanded to

4860-468: The fortress of Tasghîmût that protected the approach to Aghmat , which was conquered by the Almohads in 1132), while exploring alternative routes through more easterly passes. Ibn Tumart organized the Almohads as a commune, with a minutely detailed structure. At the core was the Ahl ad-dār ("House of the Mahdi"), composed of Ibn Tumart's family. This was supplemented by two councils: an inner Council of Ten,

4950-499: The greater part of the Almohad army in Spain across the straits in 1228 to confront Yahya. That same year, Portuguese and Leonese renewed their raids deep into Muslim territory, basically unchecked. Feeling the Almohads had failed to protect them, popular uprisings took place throughout al-Andalus. City after city deposed their hapless Almohad governors and installed local strongmen in their place. A Murcian strongman, Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Hud al-Judhami , who claimed descendance from

5040-407: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boumediene&oldid=1029670854 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Abu Madyan Some even refer to him as the national figure of Maghreb mysticism as he

5130-482: The line, Idris al-Wathiq , was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh , where he was murdered by a slave in 1269. The use of Berber languages was important in Almohad doctrine . Under the Almohads, the khuṭba (sermon) at Friday prayer was made to be delivered in Arabic and Berber , with the latter referred to as al-lisān al-gharbī (Arabic: اللسان الغربي , lit.   'the western tongue') by

5220-493: The man dangerous, and urged him to be put to death or imprisoned. But the emir decided merely to expel him from the city. Ibn Tumart took refuge among his own people, the Hargha, in his home village of Igiliz (exact location uncertain), in the Sous valley. He retreated to a nearby cave, and lived out an ascetic lifestyle, coming out only to preach his program of puritan reform, attracting greater and greater crowds. At length, towards

5310-487: The mountains for their first sizeable attack in the lowlands. It was a disaster for their opponents. The Almohads swept aside an Almoravid column that had come out to meet them before Aghmat, and then chased their remnant all the way to Marrakesh. They laid siege to Marrakesh for forty days until, in April (or May) 1130, the Almoravids sallied from the city and crushed the Almohads in the bloody Battle of al-Buhayra (named after

5400-437: The obedience of devotees to their master, the avoidance of disagreements between devotees, justice, constancy, nobility of mind, the denunciation of the unjust, and a feeling of satisfaction with the gifts of God. Because of his focus on the acceptance of one’s emotions, Madyan and his followers refused to confine themselves to only asceticism and meditation alone, but instead lived day to day by maintaining close relationships with

5490-508: The outskirts of the city, where he received his first disciples – notably, al-Bashir (who would become his chief strategist) and Abd al-Mu'min (a Zenata Berber, who would later become his successor). In 1120, Ibn Tumart and his small band of followers proceeded to Morocco , stopping first in Fez , where he briefly engaged the Maliki scholars of the city in debate. He even went so far as to assault

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5580-475: The pebble that finally broke al-Andalus. It was the first internal coup among the Almohads. The Almohad clan, despite occasional disagreements, had always remained tightly knit and loyally behind dynastic precedence. Caliph al-Adil's murderous breach of dynastic and constitutional propriety marred his acceptability to other Almohad sheikhs . One of the recusants was his cousin, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi ("the Baezan "),

5670-422: The people around them. Along with sharing his knowledge and ideas with his disciples, Abu Madyan wrote many poems and spoke in proverbs in order to connect with the masses and not just the intellectuals. According to Yahya B. Khaldun, Abu Madyan's teachings may all be summed up in this verse which he often repeated, "Say Allah ! and abandon all that is matter, or is connected with it, if though desirest to attain

5760-445: The provinces of the caliphate. His sons and descendants became known as the sayyid s ("nobles"). To appease the traditional Masmuda elites, he appointed some of them, along with theirs sons and descendants, to act as important advisers, deputies, and commanders under the sayyid s. They became known as the abna' al-muwahhidin or "Sons of the Almohads". Abd al-Mu'min also altered the Almohad structure set up by Ibn Tumart by making

5850-512: The region, the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym , reacted to the Almohad advance by gathering an army against them. The Almohads routed them in the Battle of Sétif in April 1153. Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw value in their military abilities. He persuaded them by various means – including taking some families as hostages to Marrakesh and more generous actions like offering them material and land incentives – to move to present-day Morocco and join

5940-414: The regular army ( jund ), then the religious corps – the muezzins , the hafidh and the hizb – followed by the archers, the conscripts, and the slaves. Ibn Tumart's closest companion and chief strategist, al-Bashir, took upon himself the role of " political commissar ", enforcing doctrinal discipline among the Masmuda tribesmen, often with a heavy hand. In early 1130, the Almohads finally descended from

6030-512: The religiously learned and the laymen – were hostile toward the Malikite school favored by the Almoravids. During the reign of Abu Yaqub, chief judge Ibn Maḍāʾ oversaw the banning of all religious books written by non-Zahirites; when Abu Yaqub's son Abu Yusuf took the throne, he ordered Ibn Maḍāʾ to undertake the actual burning of such books. In terms of Islamic theology , the Almohads were Ash'arites , their Zahirite-Ash'arism giving rise to

6120-463: The sister of the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf , in the streets of Fez , because she was going about unveiled, after the manner of Berber women. After being expelled from Fez, he went to Marrakesh , where he successfully tracked down the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf at a local mosque, and challenged the emir, and the leading scholars of the area, to a doctrinal debate. After the debate, the scholars concluded that Ibn Tumart's views were blasphemous and

6210-503: The skills of his successor, Abd al-Mu'min . Ibn Tumart's death was kept a secret for three years, a period which Almohad chroniclers described as a ghayba or "occultation". This period likely gave Abd al-Mu'min time to secure his position as successor to the political leadership of the movement. Although a Zenata Berber from Tagra (Algeria), and thus an alien among the Masmuda of southern Morocco, Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw off his principal rivals and hammered wavering tribes back to

6300-405: The theological school of al-Ash'ari , and came under the influence of the teacher al-Ghazali . He soon developed his own system, combining the doctrines of various masters. Ibn Tumart's main principle was a strict unitarianism ( tawhid ), which denied the independent existence of the attributes of God as being incompatible with His unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented

6390-472: The time surpassed him in religious and intellectual influence. His school produced hundreds of saints and out of the 46 Sufi saints in the Rif region, 15 were his disciples. People still visit his tomb today for asking God through him, which is called tawassul , they visit him from all around the world. There are very few surviving writings from Abu Madyan, and of those that do still exist, there are mystical poems,

6480-583: The trade of a weaver as it was a popular practice at the time. His insatiable hunger for knowledge, however, piqued his interest in the Qur'an and the study of religion and mysticism . After crossing the Strait of Gibraltar , he worked for a while in Sabta ( Ceuta ) with fishermen. Afterwards, he went to Marrakesh , where he served in the Almoravid army defending the city. Soon after, Abu Madyan traveled to Fez to complete his education. He left for Fez at about

6570-517: The traditional Maliki ulema , with whom the Almohads were already at odds. After the decline of Almohadism, Maliki Sunnism ultimately became the dominant official religious doctrine of the region. By contrast, the teachings of Ibn Rushd and other philosophers like him were far more influential for Jewish philosophers – including Maimonides , his contemporary – and Christian Latin scholars – like Thomas Aquinas – who later promoted his commentaries on Aristotle . Most historical records indicate that

6660-412: The truth goal." Aside from attaining Ghawth status and teaching hundreds and hundreds of disciples, Abu Madyan left his mark in more ways than one. He gained immense popularity because he was relatable, despite his high scholarly status. He had a personality and way of speaking that united people from all walks of life, from the common people to the academics. Even to this day, scholars say that no one of

6750-467: The valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas. Tinmal would serve both as the spiritual center and military headquarters of the Almohad movement. It became their dar al-hijra (roughly 'place of retreat'), emulating the story of the hijra (journey) of Muhammad 's to Medina in the 7th century. For the first eight years, the Almohad rebellion was limited to a guerilla war along the peaks and ravines of

6840-459: The youthful caliph died in an accident, without any heirs. The palace bureaucrats in Marrakesh , led by the wazir Uthman ibn Jam'i, quickly engineered the election of his elderly grand-uncle, Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu' , as the new Almohad caliph. But the rapid appointment upset other branches of the family, notably the brothers of the late al-Nasir, who governed in al-Andalus . The challenge

6930-585: Was a hopeless endeavor. After Ibn Hud's death in 1238, some of the Andalusian cities, in a last-ditch effort to save themselves, offered themselves once again to the Almohads, but to no avail. The Almohads would not return. With the departure of the Almohads, the Nasrid dynasty (" Banū Naṣr ", Arabic : بنو نصر ) rose to power in Granada . After the great Christian advance of 1228–1248, the Emirate of Granada

7020-490: Was a veritable massacre – the Portuguese men-at-arms easily mowed down the throng of poorly armed townsfolk. Thousands, perhaps as much as 20,000, were said to have been slain before the walls of Seville. A similar disaster befell a similar popular levy by Murcians at Aspe that same year. But Christian raiders had been stopped at Cáceres and Requena . Trust in the Almohad leadership was severely shaken by these events –

7110-576: Was assassinated in Marrakesh in October 1227, by the partisans of Yahya, who was promptly acclaimed as the new Almohad caliph Yahya "al-Mu'tasim" . The Andalusian branch of the Almohads refused to accept this turn of events. Al-Adil's brother, then in Seville, proclaimed himself the new Almohad caliph Abd al-Ala Idris I 'al-Ma'mun' . He promptly purchased a truce from Ferdinand III in return for 300,000 maravedis , allowing him to organize and dispatch

7200-488: Was defeated by an alliance of the three Christian kings of Castile , Aragón and Navarre at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena . The battle broke the Almohad advance, but the Christian powers remained too disorganized to profit from it immediately. Before his death in 1213, al-Nasir appointed his young ten-year-old son as the next caliph Yusuf II "al-Mustansir" . The Almohads passed through

7290-436: Was followed by the men of Tinmel, then the other Masmuda tribes in order, and rounded off by the black fighters, the ʻabīd . Each unit had a strict internal hierarchy, headed by a mohtasib , and divided into two factions: one for the early adherents, another for the late adherents, each headed by a mizwar (or amzwaru ); then came the sakkakin (treasurers), effectively the money-minters, tax-collectors, and bursars, then came

7380-477: Was immediately raised by one of them, then governor in Murcia , who declared himself Caliph Abdallah al-Adil . With the help of his brothers, he quickly seized control of al-Andalus. His chief advisor, the shadowy Abu Zayd ibn Yujjan, tapped into his contacts in Marrakesh, and secured the deposition and assassination of Abd al-Wahid I, and the expulsion of the al-Jami'i clan . This coup has been characterized as

7470-517: Was killed. In 1151, Abd al-Mu'min launched an expedition to the east. This may have been encouraged by the Norman conquests along the coast of Ifriqiya, as fighting the Christian invaders here gave him a pretext for conquering the rest of the region. In August 1152, he captured Béjaïa , the capital of the Hammadids . The last Hammadid ruler, Yahya ibn Abd al-Aziz , fled by sea. The Arab tribes of

7560-400: Was little means to stop the sudden onslaught. In late 1225, with surprising ease, the Portuguese raiders reached the environs of Seville . Knowing they were outnumbered, the Almohad governors of the city refused to confront the Portuguese raiders, prompting the disgusted population of Seville to take matters into their own hands, raise a militia, and go out in the field by themselves. The result

7650-431: Was practically all that remained of old al-Andalus . Some of the captured citadels (e.g. Murcia, Jaen, Niebla) were reorganized as tributary vassals for a few more years, but most were annexed by the 1260s. Granada alone would remain independent for an additional 250 years, flourishing as the new center of al-Andalus. In their African holdings, the Almohads encouraged the establishment of Christians even in Fez , and after

7740-483: Was recognized by his followers as the Mahdi , and shortly afterwards he established his base at Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains . Under Abd al-Mu'min (r. 1130–1163), they succeeded in overthrowing the ruling Almoravid dynasty governing Morocco in 1147, when he conquered Marrakesh and declared himself caliph . They then extended their power over all of the Maghreb by 1159. Al-Andalus followed, and all of Muslim Iberia

7830-580: Was such a forerunner of Sufism in this geographical area. Devoted to the fervent service of God, he helped introduce looking into oneself and harmonizing internal occurrences with the external observances through asceticism. Among his most famous students were Ibn 'Arabi (d. 637/1240) and the historian Ibn Hammad (d. 628/1230). Abu Madyan was born in Cantillana , a small town about 35 km away from Seville , in 1126. He came from an obscure family and his parents were poor. As he grew up, he learned

7920-555: Was taken ill and died before he reached his destination in 594/1198, near the river of Ysser ( يسر ). His last sigh was supposedly "Allah al-Haqq." He was buried in al-‘Ubbad near Tlemcen, Algeria. His funeral was widely commemorated by the people of Tlemcen and he has been considered the patron saint and protector of Tlemcen ever since. A mausoleum was built by the order of the Almohade sovereign, Muhammad al-Nasir, too shortly after his death. Many princes and kings of Tlemcen have contributed to this mausoleum since his demise. Many monuments,

8010-829: Was the author of the Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab , the Counterpart of the Muwatta ( محاذي الموطأ ), and the Compendium of Sahih Muslim ( تلخيص صحيح مسلم ). Literary production continued despite the Almohad reforms's devastating effect on cultural life in their domain. Almohad universities continued the knowledge of preceding Andalusi scholars as well as ancient Greek and Roman writers; contemporary literary figures included Averroes , Hafsa bint al-Hajj al-Rukuniyya , ibn Tufayl , ibn Zuhr , ibn al-Abbar , ibn Amira and many more poets, philosophers, and scholars. The abolishment of

8100-504: Was under Almohad rule by 1172. The turning point of their presence in the Iberian Peninsula came in 1212, when Muhammad al-Nasir (1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena by an alliance of the Christian forces from Castile , Aragon and Navarre . Much of the remaining territories of al-Andalus were lost in the ensuing decades, with the cities of Córdoba and Seville falling to

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