Almohads
(al-Muwahiddin)
Anarchy in Ifriqiya (Tunisia) made it a target
for the Norman kingdom in Sicily, which between 1134 and 1148 seized Mahdia,
Gabes, Sfax, and the island of Jerba. The only strong Muslim power then in the
Maghreb was that of the newly emerging Almohads, led by their caliph a Berber
Abd al-Mu'min. He responded with several military counters which by 1160 forced
the Normans to retreat.
The Almohad movement [Arabic al-Muwahhidun,
"the Unitarians"] ruled variously in the Maghrib starting about 1130
until 1269. This movement had been founded by Ibn Tumart (1077-1130), a Masmuda
Berber from the Atlas mountains of Morocco, who became the mahdi. After a
pilgrimage to Mecca followed by study, he had returned inspired by the
teachings of al-Ash'ari and al-Ghazali. A charismatic leader, he preached an
interior awareness of the Unity of God. As a reformer, he gathered a following
among the Berbers in the Atlas, founded a radical community, and eventually
began challenging the current rulers, the Almoravids (1056-1147). These
Almoravids [Arabic al-Murabitum, from Ribat, e.g., "defenders"] had
also been a Berber Islamic movement of the Maghrib, which had run its course
and since become decadent and weak. Although the Almoravids had once ruled from
Mauritania (south of Morocco) to al-Andalus (southern Spain), Almoravid rule
had not reached to Infriqiya.
Ibn Tumart the Almohad founder left writings in
which his theological ideas mix with the political. Therein he claimed that the
leader, the mahdi, is infallable. Ibn Tumart created a hierarchy from among his
followers which persisted long after the Almohad era (e.g., in Tunisia under
the Hafsids), based not only on a specie of ethnic loyalty, such as the
"Council of Fifty", but more significantly based on a formal structure
for an inner circle of governance, namely, (a) his ahl al-dar or "people
of the house", a sort of privy council, (b) the "Ten",
originally composed of his first ten forminable followers, and (c) a variety of
offices. There is lack of certainty about the details, but general agreement
that Ibn Tumart sought to reduce the "influence of the traditional tribal
framework." Later historical developments "were greatly facilitated
by his original reorganization because it made possible collaboration among
tribes" not likely to otherwise coalesce.
Following Ibn Tumart's death, Abd al-Mu'min
(c.1090-1163) became the Almohad caliph, cerca 1130. Abd al-Mu'min had been one
of the original "Ten" followers of Ibn Tumart. He immediately had
attacked the ruling Almoravids and had wrestled Morocco away from them by 1147,
suppressing subsequent revolts there. Then he crossed the straits, occupying
al-Andalus (in Spain). In 1152 he successfully invaded the Hammadids of Bougie
(in Algeria). His armies intervened in Zirid Ifriqiya, removing the Normans by
1160. "Abd al-Mu'min briefly presided over a unified North African
empire--the first and last in its history under indigenous rule". Yet the
revolt in the Balearic Islands by the Banu Ghaniya had spread to Ifriqiya (Tunisia)
by 1184, causing problems for the Almohad regime during the next fifty years.
"Ibn Rushd of Córdoba in detail from
fresco "The School of Athens" by Raphael"
SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT
The mahdi Ibn Tumart had championed the idea of
Islamic law displacing unislamic aspects of Berber customs. Yet because of the
narrow legalism then common among Maliki jurists and because of their influence
in the Almoravid regime, Ibn Tumart did not favor the Malikis; nor did he favor
another of the four recognized madhhabs. Yet in practice the Maliki school of
law survived and by default eventually functioned in an official fashion
(except during the reign of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub who was loyal to Ibn Tumart's
teachings). Finally the caliph al-Ma'mun broke with the mahdi's teachings and
affirmed the reinstitution of the then evolving Malikite rite, cerca 1230.
The Muslim philosophers Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer to
the Latins) of Granada (d.1185), and Ibn Rushd (Averroës) of Córdoba
(1126-1198), who was appointed a Maliki judge, were known to the Almohad court,
which became fixed in Marrakech. The sufi master theologian Ibn 'Arabi was born
in Murcia in 1165. Under the Almohads architechture flourished, the Giralda
being built in Sevilla and the pointed arch being introduced.
"There is no better indication of the
importance of the Almohad empire than the fascination it has exerted on all
subsequent rulers in the Magrib." It was an empire Berber in its
inspiration, and whose imperial fortunes were under the direction of Berber
leaders. The unitarian Almohads had gradually modified the original ambition of
strictly implementing their founder's designs; in this way the Almohads were
similar to the preceding Almoravids (also Berber). Yet their movement probably
worked to deepen the religious awareness of the Muslim people across the
Maghrib. Nonetheless, it could not suppress other traditions and teachings, and
alternative expressions of Islam, including the popular cult of saints, the
sufis, and the Malikis, survived. The Almohad empire (like its predecessor the
Almoravid) eventually dissolved, in Morroco (followed by the Merinids), and in
Ifriqiya or Tunisia (by the Hafsids).
The Almoravids, one of the tribes of Veiled Men
of the south, driven by the usual mixture of religious zeal and lust of booty,
set out to invade the rich black kingdoms north of the Sahara. Thence they
crossed the Atlas under their great chief, Youssef-ben-Tachfin, and founded the
city of Marrakech in 1062. From Marrakech they advanced on Idrissite Fez and
the valley of the Moulouya. Fez rose against her conquerors, and Youssef put
all the male inhabitants to death. By 1084 he was master of Tangier and the
Rif, and his rule stretched as far west as Tlemcen, Oran and finally Algiers.
His ambition drove him across the straits to
Spain, where he conquered one Moslem prince after another and wiped out the
luxurious civilization of Moorish Andalusia. In 1086, at Zallarca, Youssef gave
battle to Alphonso VI of Castile and Leon. The Almoravid army was a strange
rabble of Arabs, Berbers, blacks, wild tribes of the Sahara and Christian
mercenaries. They conquered the Spanish forces, and Youssef left to his
successors an empire extending from the Ebro to Senegal and from the Atlantic
coast of Africa to the borders of Tunisia. But the empire fell to pieces of its
own weight, leaving little record of its brief and stormy existence. While
Youssef was routing the forces of Christianity at Zallarca in Spain, another
schismatic tribe of his own people was detaching Marrakech and the south from
his rule.
A new power was emerging. The Almohades were
Masmoda berbers from the high and the Atlas mountains - their leader, Mohamed
Ibn Toumart, was a man of extroordinary power. The foundation of his doctorine
was absolute unity with God, from which stemmed the name of Mouwahhidine,
meaning unitarian.
The Almohads, 'al-muwayidun' meaning 'those who
proclaim the unity of God', were Zenata and Masmouda Berbers of the Atlas
mountains and were arch-enemies of the Almoravids. Their origins can be traced
to Muhammad ibn Tumart, an Arab reformer, who gathered a large following of
both Arabs and Berbers. He was proclaimed Al Mahdi ('The Rightly Guided') in
1121.
The leader of the new invasion was a Mahdi, one
of the numerous Saviours of the World who have carried death and destruction
throughout Islam. His name was Ibn-Toumert, and he had travelled in Egypt,
Syria and Spain, and made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Preaching the doctrine of a
purified monotheism, he called his followers the Almohads or Unitarians, to
distinguish them from the polytheistic Almoravids, whose heresies he denounced.
He fortified the city of Tinmel in the Souss, and built there a mosque of which
the ruins still exist. When he died, in 1128, he designated as his successor
Abd-el-Moumen, the son of a potter, who had been his disciple.
The founder of the dynasty was Abdel Moumen
(Abd al- Mumin), who succeeded Ibn Tumart, and ruled from 1130 to 1163 as the
first Almohad Caliph. Abd-el-Moumen carried on the campaign against the
Almoravids. He fought them not only in Morocco but in Spain, taking Cadiz,
Cordova, Granada as well as Tlemcen and Fez. In 1152 his African dominion
reached from Tripoli to the Souss, and he had formed a disciplined army in
which Christian mercenaries from France and Spain fought side by side with Berbers
and Soudanese. This great captain was also a great administrator, and under his
rule Africa was surveyed from the Souss to Barka, the country was policed,
agriculture was protected, and the caravans journeyed safely over the
trade-routes.
Abd-el-Moumen died in 1163 and was followed by
his son, who, though he suffered reverses in Spain, was also a great ruler. He
died in 1184, and his son, Yacoub-el-Mansour, avenged his father's ill-success
in Spain by the great victory of Alarcos and the conquest of Madrid. Yacoub Al
Mansour was a great statesman. The whole country prospered at his reign:
spiritually, intellectually, economically and architecturally. Marrakesh was
still the capital. Fez flowered as never before, and the end of the 12C is
generally regarded as an apogée in Morocco's history. Yacoub-el-Mansour was the
greatest of Moroccan Sultans. So far did his fame extend that the illustrious
Saladin sent him presents and asked the help of his fleet. He was a builder as
well as a fighter, and the noblest period of Arab art in Morocco and Spain
coincides with his reign.
After his death, the Almohad empire followed
the downward curve to which all Oriental rule seems destined. In Spain, the
Berber forces were beaten in the great Christian victory of Las-Navasde Tolosa;
and in Morocco itself the first stirrings of the Beni-Merins (a new tribe from
the Sahara) were preparing the way for a new dynasty. The Almohads were
gradually expelled from Spain by 1232. This began the slow disintegration of
the empire over the next thirty years, which broke up into the independent
dynasties of Hafsid (Tunisia from 1236), Ziyanid (in Algeria from 1239) and
Marinid (in Morocco from 1269).
It is a mistake to suppose that hatred of the
Christian has always existed among the North African Moslems. The earlier
dynasties, and especially the great Almohad Sultans, were on friendly terms
with the Catholic powers of Europe, and in the thirteenth century a treaty
assured to Christians in Africa full religious liberty, excepting only the right
to preach their doctrine in public places. There was a Catholic diocese at Fez,
and afterward at Marrakech under Gregory IX, and there is a letter of the Pope
thanking the "Miromilan" (the Emir El Moumenin) for his kindness to
the Bishop and the friars living in his dominions.
The Almohads
Both Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Tumart, the
'Prophet', and his general, Abd al-Mumin ibn Ali al-Goumi, were Berbers, but
they came from the mountains, not the desert. Ibn Tumart came from the northern
side of the Anti-Atlas. In about 1106 he began a pilgrimage
to Mecca but, instead of completing it, studied in Baghdad or Damascus. He
came into contact with both mainstream Sunni theology and Sufism and returned
home with the idea of reforming the religion and the morals of the Maghreb. On
the way, he met Abd al-Mumin and joined him in a mission of reform. He arrived
in Marrakesh, but the Almoravids
disliked his social criticism, and Ibn Tumart fled to Tinmel, high in the High
Atlas where he built a following.
Ibn Tumart's teaching was more spiritual than
the Almoravids': he said God was pure spirit, absolute, and unitary. His
followers called themselves al-Muwahhidun (unitarians, or believers in the
oneness or unity of God), anglicized as 'Almohads'. The Almoravids, he said,
were polytheists because they believed in God's corporeal nature, but like
them, he proposed an austere and moralistic Islam that drew on Shiite ideas of
the hidden imam. Ibn Tumart announced that he was the Mahdi, the eschatological
redeemer who will return before the Day of Judgment. His followers were highly
motivated by the idea of proselytizing for this idea. During the 1120s, Ibn
Tumart extended his authority from Tinmel but could not take Marrakesh before
he died, in 1130. In 1133, Abd al-Mumin took over the leadership, occupying
first the mountains and then the cities on the plain. In the early 1140s, the
Almoravids took northern cities, including Taza, Ceuta, Meknes, and Salé.
Marrakesh fell last, after a long siege, in 1147. Once the city fell, it was plundered,
and Abd al-Mumin declared that all the religious buildings were incorrectly
oriented towards Mecca and
must be replaced.
Once Morocco had been conquered, Muslims in the
Iberian Peninsula turned to them for help against the renewed Christian
advance. In 1145, Abd al-Mumin sent troops to occupy most of Islamic Spain and
began to turn the Christian tide. He also moved east into Algeria and Tunisia.
He died in 1163, preparing to embark another army for Spain. At the end of the
civil war that followed, Abu Yaqub Yusuf (Abd al-Mumin's son) beat off his
rivals and occupied the remaining portions of Muslim Iberia. In 1195, he won a
great victory over the Castilians at Alarcos, in the modern province of Ciudad
Real, and stopped the Reconquista in its tracks.
This was the highpoint of the regime's power
and culture. The vigorous intellectual life in Marrakesh attracted
international scholars, such as Muhammad ibn Rushd (known in the West as
Averroës) and Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Tufail, author of a philosophical novel, Hayy
ibn Yaqzan. Almohad architecture was massive, with huge mosques and
impregnable fortifications. The Kutibiyya (Koutoubia) mosque, built on the ruins
of the Almoravids' palace, had a minaret 67.5 metres tall. The minarets at
Seville, the Giralda, and the Tour Hassan in Rabat, begun but never completed,
had even larger square minarets, which became the style in North Africa. Their
Andalusian architects also built huge fortresses, such as the Kasba of the
Udayas at Rabat.
All this building was expensive, but the
Almohads were rich because they developed the economy,
particularly agriculture, the
desert trade was extremely important, and the gold coinage was of such high
quality that it was used on both sides of the Mediterranean. But the economy
was more fragile than it appeared. During the reign of Mohammed al-Nasir
(r.1199-1213) there was war on two fronts, with remnants of the Almoravids and,
in Spain, with the united Christian kings who inflicted a crushing defeat on
al-Nasir's army at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By 1266, the whole peninsula
was in Christian hands, except Granada. The great Almohad army was dismembered,
so taxes could no longer be collected. The dynasty began to squabble amongst
itself, and tribal confederations such as the Banu
Marin challenged its authority, although it struggled
on in Marrakesh until 1269.
Flag
The Almohad Dynasty (Berber: Imweḥḥden,
from Arabic الموحدون al-Muwahhidun, i.e.,
"the monotheists"
or "the Unitarians"), was a Berber, Muslim dynasty
that was founded in the 12th century, which established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas
Mountains of Morocco about 1120[1], then
conquered most of northern Africa as far
as Libya,
together with Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia, now
southern Spain and Portugal).
Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd
al-Mu'min al-Kumi defeated the ruling Almoravids and
extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Libya
becoming Emir of Marrakesh in
1149.
Al-Andalus,
Moorish Iberia, followed the fate of Africa, and in 1170 the Almohads
transferred their capital to Seville.
However, by 1212 Muhammad
III, "al-Nasir" (1199–1214) was defeated by an alliance of the
four Christian princes of Castile, Aragón, Navarre and Portugal, at the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra
Morena. The battle destroyed Almohad dominance.
Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the
great Moorish cities of Córdoba and Seville falling
to 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 their most effective enemies, the Marinids in
1215. The last representative of the line, Idris II, "El Wathiq"' was
reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in
1269.
Today the holy place and the tomb of the
Almohads are present in Morocco, as is the tomb of their rivals and enemies the
Almoravids.
Almohad
dynasty
Date:
1130–1269
From: Encyclopedia of
African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500 to 1500), vol. 2.
Muslim
Berber dynasty that controlled North Africa and al-Andalus (Spain) during the
12th and 13th centuries. The Almohad dynasty began as a movement of religious
and social reform led by Muhammad ibn Tumart (ca. 1080–1130). Under the
leadership of Tumart's successor, Abd al-Mumin (ca. 1094–1163), the Almohads
dismantled the preceding Almoravid dynasty. Tumart's followers were known as
Almohads (Al-muwahhidun), meaning "unitarians," or "those who
believe in the unity of God."
Tumart
was a member of the Masmuda, a Berber confederation of the Atlas Mountain
region, in southern Morocco. After studying Islamic thought, Muhammad ibn
Tumart came to the conclusion that the reigning Almoravid dynasty had strayed
too far from traditional Islamic law. When he failed to win support in the
important city of Marrakech, he returned to the Atlas Mountains in 1120 and
began to gain a following among Arabs and Berbers. He proclaimed himself the
Mahdi ("the one who is divinely guided") and created an advisory council
made up of his 10 oldest followers. Later, ibn Tumart formed an assembly of 50
leaders from various North African groups. In 1125, under his leadership, the
Almohads began to attack the Almoravids in such major Moroccan cities as
Marrakech and Sus.
After
Muhammad ibn Tumart's death in 1130, his successor, Abd al-Mumin, named himself
caliph of the Almohads. Tumart had appointed many of his relatives to powerful
positions and established the Almohad dynasty as a traditional monarchy. By
1147 Abd al-Mumin had successfully defeated the Almoravids, capturing most of
the Maghrib, including Marrakech, the future Almohad capital. By the end of
al-Mumin's reign, the Almohads had gained control of the entire Maghrib in
addition to conquering much of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain and parts of Portugal).
Following
al-Mumin's death in 1163, his son Abu Yaqub Yusuf (r. 1163–1184) and grandson,
Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (r. 1184–1199), controlled the Almohad dynasty during
the height of its power. Under al-Mansur, the Almohads captured Seville and the
rest of Muslim Spain. Then, during Yaqub's reign, the Almohads fought off
Christian crusaders in Spain and put down rebellions in their eastern Arab
provinces. In contradiction of the puritanical Tumart, Yaqub built a number of
richly ornamented monuments. Eventually the Almohads put aside Tumart's
teachings altogether.
By the
early 13th century the strain of fighting both Christian crusaders abroad and
Arab rebels at home proved too much for the Almohads. In 1212 the united forces
of the Spanish kings of Castile, Aragën, and Navarre defeated the Almohad army
in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. By 1232 the Almohads had lost control of
Spain. Another group of Berbers, the Marinids, succeeded the Almohads in North
Africa. The Marinids took the last Almohad stronghold, Marrakech, about 1271.
The Almohad Dynasty (1130 – 1269)
Consult the historical map
The achievements of the Almohad Empire
profoundly marked the history and the art of the Western Muslim world. From
their origins in the mountainous zones of the Anti-Atlas and the High Atlas,
the Almohads managed to found the greatest empire the western part of Dâr
al-Islam had ever known, stretching from Tripolitania to the Atlantic and
including al-Andalus.
The story of the Almohads began with the
preachings of the Berber jurist Ibn Tumart, who originated from the Hargha
tribe. He protested against the Almoravids and particularly against the power
exercised over the sovereign Ali b. Yusuf, by the Malikite jurists (fuqaha’).
Ibn Tumart demanded reform and put forward a new doctrine, the tawid
(Unitarianism). This doctrine proposed a synthesis of different Muslim
movements, particularly Ash’arism and Shia Islam and demanded a return to the
fundamentals of Islamic law (Koran and Sunnah) in order to avoid continual
reference to jurisprudence, a practice typical of the Malikite jurists. Ibn
Tumart then proclaimed himself as Mahdi (Well guided), a notion borrowed from
Shia Islam, which lent his movement a messianic character and legitimised his
efforts by giving them an air of unimpeachablity (‘isma).
Thanks to the support of certain of the more
powerful Masmuda Berber tribes, Ibn Tumart managed to bring together a group of
followers, who settled in Tinmel in 1124. This group developed a hierarchy
based on Berber community traditions and began their long battle against their
Almoravid rulers. When he died, Ibn Tumart passed on the leadership of the
movement to ‘Abd al-Mu’min, a true strategist and warlord, who was to be the
architect of the Almohad victory over the Almorivids. The end of the Almoravid
dynasty came with the fall of Marrakech in 1147 but this did not quench the
Almohad thirst for conquest. They continued to battle against numerous
insurrections and to expand the empire towards Ifriqiya and al-Andalus. Like
their predecessors, the Almohads continued the fight against the advances of
the Norman Christians in Ifriqiya and the Portuguese and Spanish in al-Andalus.
Their success in battle finally put an end to the Norman attempts to conquer
Ifriqiya and their victory at Alarcos in 1195 put back for a long period the
Iberian Christians’ re-conquest of al-Andalus.
The grandeur of the Almohad Empire was not just
the result of its geographic size. Strengthened by the legitimacy lent to them
by “Almohadism”, the Almohad rulers, starting with ‘Abd al-Mu’min proclaimed
themselves as caliphs and thus broke with the nominal recognition of Abbasid
authority, which had been respected by the Almoravids. The power of the caliphs
was based on a hierarchical system, in which the Sayyid, members of the
Mu’minid clan and the Ashyakh, dignitaries of the different Almohad
tribes occupied the most favoured positions. The Almohad doctrine was spread
through a group of doctors, talaba or huffaz, who task it was to
spread the word amongst the population in the Berber language.
The Almohad coins, with their double dinars and
square dirham, clearly underlines their will to break with past standards.
With their large fleet of warships, the
Almohads developed a number of ports in Tunis, Béjaïa and Ceuta as well as on
the Atlantic coast. Despite the conflicts in al-Andalus, trade continued to
expand with the European Christians and diplomatic contact was maintained with
Pisa and Genoa.
The strength of their political will and their
administrative organisation allowed the Almohads to carry out many urbanisation
projects. In the capital Marrakech, a new palatial complex, the Qasba, was
completed. Their capital in al-Andalus, Seville, also underwent transformations
with the building of the qasr (Alcazar) as well as a new Great Mosque.
Ribat al-Fath (now Rabat) was founded by ‘Abd al-Mu’min and continued by his
successors. Rabat was a gathering point for the Almohad armies en route for
al-Andalus and the construction of the Hassan mosque, which was never completed
under the Almohads but which was the largest mosque of the medieval Muslim
west, was started. Many other towns in the Maghreb and al-Andalus, such as
Taza, Fez, Silves, Mertola, Siyasa and Saltes bear traces of a prosperous urban
life. Two notable aspects of Almohad urbanization were the importance of urban
fortification and the development of gardens on the edges of the towns: bahira
(gardens with water basins) such as at Marrakech, Fez and Seville.
The Almohads also used artistic expression to
spread their ideology. Their religious architecture was particularly sumptuous
and several of the Almohad Great Mosques in the Maghreb and al-Andalus are
considered as masterpieces: in Marrakech the two Kutbiyya (1147 and 1158) and
the Qasaba mosque (around 1197), the Great Mosque of Seville (1172)… The two
cities founded by the Almohads, Taza and Rabat also saw the construction of
great mosques in 1135 and 1196 – 1197. The town of Tinmel, where the Almohads
first gathered was not forgotten and a great mosque was constructed to the
memory of Mahdi Ibn Tumart. These constructions were all part of a coherent
architectural programme: the prayer rooms are all in the form of a T, following
the classic example of Medina, Cordoba or Kairouan. The naves are perpendicular
to the qibla wall, with a wide transversal nave and a principal axial
nave, which is more pronounced than the others. The axial and transversal naves
are set of by a series of cupolas embellished with muquarnas. Cupolas
also mark the intersections between the transversal and longitudinal naves. The
central courtyard (sahn) is delimited by the continuation of the lateral
naves, which integrate it into the construction as a whole and complete the
balance of the structure. Probably the most distinctive aspects of the Almohad
mosques are the minarets. They are decorated with a series of arched windows in
different styles, adorned with a network of patterns consisting of curves and
rectangles and the top of the tower is often embellished with a band of
decorative ceramic tiles. An excellent example is that of the Qasba mosque in
Marrakech.
The monumental city gates are another example
of typical Almohad architecture. They are square in shape, generally stand out
from the buttressed walls themselves and are often flanked by two towers. In
order to pass through the gates, travellers would be obliged to cross a series
of halls and open spaces generally organised in the form of a bottleneck. Some
of these gates (Bâb al-Rwâh and the Udâya gate in Rabat; Bâb Agnâw in
Marrakech) are elaborately decorated, which breaks with the usual sober
tradition. In fact Almohad aesthetics used ornamentation in a particular way.
The decoration is often sober, airy and well balanced. The austerity shown by
the Almohads seems to have been in reaction to the exuberance of Almoravid
decoration.
Decorative art and furnishings also developed
considerably under the Almohads. The tiraz, of which many examples are
conserved in Spain, follow in the footsteps of Andalusian textile production
and in no way reflect the austerity of Almohad architecture. The most
characteristic of the ceramics was probably the esgrafiado (Sgraffito).
The most beautiful specimens have been found in the eastern parts of
al-Andalus.
The Almohad regime eventually fell victim to
internal conflicts and after the disaster of Las Navas de Tolosa (al-‘Uqab
1212) the empire gradually fell into ruin. The Christian conquest of al-Andalus
accelerated and the Muslim cities fell one after the other: Cordoba (1236),
Valencia (1238), Murcia (1243) and Seville (1248). Only one Muslim enclave
survived in the kingdom of Granada under the new Nasrid dynasty. In the
Maghreb, Almohad power was weakened by the abrogation of the dogma of
infallibility of the Mahdi by the caliph al-Ma’mun in 1232. The Almohads were
confronted with the dismantling of their empire, which was divided up between
their three successors, the Hafsids, the Abd al Wadids and the Marinids.
Y.B.
Almohads
Almohads, Arabic
al-Muwaḥḥidūn (“those who affirm the unity of God”) ,
Berber confederation that created an Islamic empire in North Africa and Spain
(1130–1269), founded on the religious teachings of Ibn Tūmart
(died 1130).
A Berber state had arisen in Tinmel in the Atlas
Mountains of Morocco about
1120, inspired by Ibn Tūmart and his demands for puritanical moral reform and a
strict concept of the unity of God (tawḥīd). In 1121 Ibn Tūmart
proclaimed himself the mahdī (a
promised messianic figure), and, as spiritual and military leader, began the
wars against the Almoravids.
Under his successor, ʿAbd
al-Muʾmin, the Almohads brought down the Almoravid state in 1147,
subjugating the Maghrib, and captured Marrakech, which
became the Almohad capital. Almoravid domains in Andalusia, however, were left
virtually intact until the caliph Abū
Yaʿqūb Yūsuf (reigned 1163–84) forced the surrender of Sevilla
(Seville) in 1172; the extension of Almohad rule over the rest of Islamic Spain
followed. During the reign of Abū
Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr (1184–99) serious Arab rebellions devastated the
eastern provinces of the empire, whereas in Spain the Christian threat remained
constant, despite al-Manṣūr’s victory at Alarcos (1195). Then, at the battle
of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), the Almohads were dealt a shattering defeat
by a Christian coalition from Leon, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon. They
retreated to their North African provinces, where soon afterward the Ḥafṣids
seized power at Tunis (1236), the ʿAbd al-Wādids took Tilimsān (Tlemcen; 1239),
and, finally, Marrakech
fell to the Marīnids (1269).
The empire of the Almohads had kept its
original tribal hierarchy as a political and social framework, with the
founders and their descendants forming a ruling aristocracy; however, a Spanish
form of central government was superimposed on this Berber organization. The
original puritanical outlook of Ibn Tūmart was soon lost, and the precedent for
building costly Andalusian monuments of rich ornamentation, in the manner of
the Almoravids, was
set as early as Ibn Tūmart’s successor ʿAbd al-Muʾmin. The Booksellers’ Mosque
(Kutubiyyah)
in Marrakech and the older parts of the mosque of Taza date from his reign.
Neither did the movement for a return to traditionalist Islam
survive; both the mystical movement of the Sufis and the philosophical schools
represented by Ibn Ṭufayl and Averroës (Ibn Rushd) flourished under the Almohad
kings.
Rabat, an important
cultural centre during the Almohad period, was known particularly for its
polychrome pottery.
The wares are colourful and gay, usually painted in yellows, greens, and bright
blues on a buff background. Almohad pottery wares, however, never reached the
artistic level of the work from Syria, Egypt, and
Persia, and most are considered products of “folk” rather than “fine” art.
Almohad Caliphate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Almohad Dynasty (Berber:
Imweḥḥden, from Arabic الموحدون al-Muwaḥḥidun, "the
monotheists" or "the unitarians"), was a
Moroccan[5][6] Berber-Muslim dynasty
founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas
Mountains in roughly 1120.[7]
The movement was started by Ibn
Tumart in the Masmuda tribe,
followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between
1130 and his death in 1163, the Almohads defeated the ruling Almoravids,
extending their power over all of the Maghreb. Al-Andalus
(Islamic Iberia) under the Almoravid
dynasty, followed the fate of Africa.[8]
The Almohad dominance of Iberia continued until
1212, when Muhammad III, "al-Nasir"
(1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra
Morena by an alliance of the Christian princes of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Nearly
all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great
Moorish cities of Cordova and Seville falling
to 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 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; the Marinids seized Marrakesh, ending
the Almohad domination of the Western Maghreb.
History
Origins
The Almohad movement originated with Ibn
Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, a Berber tribal
confederation of the Atlas
Mountains of southern Morocco. At the time, Morocco, and
much of the rest of North Africa (Maghreb) and Spain
(al-Andalus), was
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 the theological school
of al-Ash'ari, and
came under the influence of the great 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 a revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in the
Muslim orthodoxy. His followers would become known as the al-Muwahhidun
("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 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 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 by Fez, where
he briefly engaged the Maliki scholars of the city in debate. He even went so
far as to assault the sister[citation needed] 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 land, to a doctrinal debate. After the debate,
the scholars concluded that Ibn Tumart's views were blasphemous and the man
dangerous, and urged him to be put to death or imprisoned. But the Almoravid
emir decided to merely expel from the city.
Ibn Tumart proceeded to take 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 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 a descendant
of the Prophet and the true Mahdi, a
divinely guided justicer, 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 the Hintata, Ibn Tumart abandoned his cave in
1122 and climbed up 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. Around 1124, Ibn Tumart erected the ribat of Tinmel, in the
valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas, an impregnable fortified complex, which
would serve both as the spiritual center and military headquarters of the Almohad
movement.
For the first eight years, the Almohad
rebellion was limited to a guerilla war along the peaks and ravines of 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 the fortress of Tasghimout that protected the approach to
Aghmat), 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-dar
(house of the Mahdi, composed of Ibn Tumart's family); they were supplemented
two councils, an inner Council of Ten, the Mahdi's privy council, composed of
his earliest and closest companions, and the consultative Council of Fifty,
composed of the leading sheikhs of the Masmuda tribes. The early
preachers and missionaries (talba and huffaz) 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 was followed by the men of Tinmel, then the
other Masmuda tribes in order, and rounded off by the black slave-fighters, the
abid. 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 amswaru); then came
the sakkakin (treasurers), effectively the money-minters, tax-collectors
and pursars, then came the regular army (jund), then the religious corps
– the muezzins, the hafidh
and the hizb – followed by the archers, the conscripts and the slaves.[9] 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 head.
In early 1130, the Almohads finally descended
from the mountains for their first sizeable attack in the lowlands. It was a
disaster. 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 a large garden east of the city).
The Almohads were thoroughly routed, with huge losses, half their leadership
was killed in action, the survivors only just managed to scramble back to the
mountains.[10]
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 a testament to the careful
organization Ibn Tumart had built up at Tinmel. There was probably a struggle
for succession, in which Abd
al-Mu'min prevailed. Although a Zenata Berber
from Targa (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 the fold. In an ostentatious gesture of defiance, in 1132, if
only to remind the emir that the Almohads were not finished, Abd al-Mu'min led
an audacious night operation that seized Tasghimout fortress and dismantled it
thoroughly, carting off its great gates back to Tinmel.
Al-Andalus
Abd al-Mu'min then came forward as the
lieutenant of the Mahdi Ibn Tumart. Between 1130 and his death in 1163,
`Abd-el-Mumin not only rooted out the Murabits, but extended his power over all
northern Africa as far as Egypt,
becoming amir of Marrakesh in
1149.
Al-Andalus
followed the fate of Africa. Between 1146 and 1173, the Almohads gradually
brought the various principalities under Almoravid rule under their control.
The Almohads transferred the capital to from Cordova to Seville, a step
followed by the founding of the great mosque, the tower of which, The Giralda, they
erected in 1184 to mark the accession of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur.
The Almohad princes had a longer and more
distinguished career than the Murabits (or Almoravids). Yusuf
I or Abu Yaqub Yusuf
(1163–1184), and Ya'qub I or Yaqub
al-Mansur (1184-1199), the successors of Abd al-Mumin,
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
the Almoravids, and
Ya'qub al-Mansur was a highly accomplished man who wrote a good Arabic style
and who protected the philosopher Averroes. His
title of "al-Mansur," "The Victorious," was earned by the
defeat he inflicted on Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle
of Alarcos (1195).
From the time of Yusuf II,
however, the Almohads governed their co-religionists in Iberia and Central
North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside Morocco being
treated as provinces. When
their amirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jihad against the Christians
and to return to their capital, Marrakesh.[11]
Holding years
However, the Christian states in Iberia were
becoming too well organized to be overrun by the Muslims, and the Almohads made
no permanent advance against them.
In 1212, the Almohad Caliph Muhammad
'al-Nasir' (1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after
an initially successful advance north, was defeated by an alliance of the four
Christian kings of Castile, Aragón, Navarre, and Portugal, 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 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, the youthful caliph died in
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 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 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"),
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 sheikhs
had rallied behind Yahya, another son of al-Nasir, al-Adil paid little
attention to this little band of misfits.
Reconquista onslaught
In 1225, Abdallah al-Bayyasi's band of rebels,
accompanied by 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 the vacuity, both Alfonso IX of León and Sancho II of Portugal
opportunistically ordered their own 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 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 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 – 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 pass over, forcing 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 finally
broke out in Cordova – al-Bayyasi was killed and his head dispatched as a
trophy to Marrakesh. But Caliph al-Adil did not relish this victory for long –
he 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 the bulk 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 ensued 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 the Banu Hud dynasty
that had once ruled the old taifa of
Saragossa, emerged as the central figure of these
rebellions, systematically dislodging Almohad garrions 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 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. But 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 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 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
the bulk 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 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 Naṣri" (Arabic: بنو نصر)) rose
to power in Granada. After
the great Christian advance of 1228-1248, the Emirate of Granada 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.
Collapse in the Maghreb
In their African holdings, the Almohads
encouraged the establishment of Christians even in Fez, and
after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa they
occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of Castile. They
were successful in expelling the garrisons placed in some of the coast towns by
the Norman kings
of Sicily. 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 the line, Idris II, 'al-Wathiq', was
reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where
he was murdered by a slave in 1269.
Culture
Main article: Almohad
reforms
Almohad universities continued the knowledge of
Greek and Roman ancient writers, while contemporary cultural figures included Averroes and the
Jewish philosopher Maimonides. In
terms of Muslim jurisprudence, the
state gave recognition to the Zahirite school of thought,[12]
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 tenants.[13]
Additionally, all Almohad leaders – both 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;[14]
when Abu Yaqub's son Abu Yusuf took the throne, he ordered Ibn Maḍāʾ to
undertake the actual burning of such books.[15] In
terms of Islamic theology, the
Almohads were Ash'arites, their
Zahirite-Ash'arism giving rise to a complicated blend of literalist jurisprudence
and esoteric dogmatics.[16][17]
The style of Almohad art was essentially an
oriental one, although most of the workers were from al-Andalus. The main sites
of Almohad architecture and art include Fes, Marrakech, Rabat and Seville.[18]
Figurative arts suffered somewhat from the orthdox interpretation of the Quran, which
forbade human representation, and thus the genre of art which flourished mostly
in the Almohad lands was architecture, although it also did not reach peaks of
originality.
The Almohads reduced decorations, and
introduced the use of geometrical holes, following in general the principle of
expressing a certain degree of magnificence. As centuries passed, the buildings
had increasingly oriental appearance and similar structures: mosques with
rectangular plans, divided into naves with pillars, as well as a wide use of
horseshoe-shaped arches. The most common building material was brickwork,
followed by mortar. Foreign influence can be seen in domes of Egyptian origin
and, in the civil sector, the triumphal arches inspired by those in the same
country. The construction of fortifications with towers was also widespread.
The main Almohad structures include the Giralda of the
former mosque of Seville (founded in 1171), the Koutoubia
Mosque and the Kasbah of Marrakech, the Hassan
Tower of Rabat and the Atalaya Castle in
Andalusia.
Status of non-Muslims
The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids'
Maghribi and Andalusian territories by 1147,[19]
treated the dhimmis
(non-Muslims) harshly. Reports from the period describe that, after an initial
7-month grace period, the
Almohads killed or forcefully converted Jewish communities in each new city
they conquered until "there was no Jew left from Silves to Mahdia".[20] Cases
of mass martyrdom of Jews
who refused to convert to Islam are also reported.[21] Abraham
Ibn Ezra (1089–1164), who himself fled the persecutions
of the Almohads, composed an elegy mourning the destruction of many Jewish communities
throughout Spain and the Maghreb under the Almohads.[22] Many
Jews fled from territories ruled by the Almohads to Christian lands, and
others, like the family of Maimonides, fled
east to more tolerant Muslim lands.[23]
However, sources from the beginning of the Almohad period still describe few
Jewish traders working in North-Africa.[20]
The treatment of Jews under Almohad rule was a
drastic change from the more tolerant attitudes towards Jews in earlier times.
During the Caliphate of Cordova Jewish
culture experienced a Golden
Age. María Rosa Menocal, a
specialist in Iberian literature at Yale
University, has argued that "Tolerance was an
inherent aspect of Andalusian society".[24]
Menocal's 2003 book, The Ornament of the World, argues that the Jewish dhimmis living
under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better
off than in other parts of Christian
Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their
way to al-Andalus, where in parallel to Christian sects regarded as
heretical by Catholic Europe, they were not just tolerated, but where
opportunities to practise faith and trade were open without restriction save
for the prohibitions on proselytism.
However tolerance dropped under Almohad rule and many Jews were killed, forced
to convert or forced to flee. Those who converted were forced to wear
identifying clothing since they weren't trusted as true adherents of their new
religion. Near the end of Almohad rule Jews returned to openly practising their
religion. Native Christianity in North Africa did not survive the persecution
by the Almohads, however.[25]
List of Almohad caliphs (1121–1269)
Ibn Tumart
1121–1130
Abd al-Mu'min 1130–1163
Abu
Ya'qub Yusuf I
1163–1184
Abu
Yusuf Ya'qub 'al-Mansur' 1184–1199
Muhammad
al-Nasir
1199–1213
Abu
Ya'qub Yusuf II 'al-Mustansir' 1213–1224
Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu' 1224
Abdallah
al-Adil
1224–1227
Yahya
'al-Mutasim'
1227–1229
Abu
al-Ala Idris I al-Ma'mun, 1229–1232
Abu
Muhammad Abd al-Wahid II 'al-Rashid' 1232–1242
Abu
al-Hassan Ali 'al-Said'
1242-1248
Abu
Hafs Umar 'al-Murtada',
1248–1266
Abu
al-Ula (Abu Dabbus) Idris II 'al-Wathiq' 1266–1269
Almohad Dynasty
The Almohad Dynasty (From Arabic الموحدون al-Muwahhidun, i.e.
"the monotheists"
or "the Unitarians"), was a Berber, Muslim dynasty
that was founded in the twelfth century, and conquered all northern Africa as far
as Libya,
together with Al-Andalus (Moorish
Iberia). The Almohad's were Islamic
revivalists who set themselves the task of eradicating laxness and enforcing a
strict and pious observance of Islam's rituals and laws. They chose an
interpretation of the Qur'an that
frowned upon the type of religious tolerance and inter-religious exchange for
which al-Andalus had become renowned, and reversed the policy of previous
rulers who had enabled this, resulting in Christians and Jews
emigrating elsewhere.
Their immediate predecessors, the Almoravids had
already reversed earlier policy, regarding the Muslim princes of Andalusia as
almost infidel since, at times, they entered alliances with Christians
(although towards end of their rule, the Almoravids employed Christians as
well). The Almohad's interpretation of the need for total dissimilitude between
Muslims and non-Muslims was even stricter, similar to the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah. They
became more tolerant, though, towards the end of their rule. Ruling Andalusia
from 1154, they withdrew to Marrakesh after defeat at the Battle of Las Navas
in 1212 by a coalition of Christian princes. Marrakesh, their last stronghold,
fell to the Marinids in 1269.
The strict ideals with which they began did not
survive once they acquired power. Initially, they frowned upon what they saw as
unnecessary material extravagance. Later, they built some highly decorative mosques and
palaces. The lifestyle suited to the rigors of an isolated mountain retreat may
have been less easy to maintain in fertile Andalusia. As the
charismatic leadership of their founder and his deputy gave way to routinized
authority, a more pragmatic polity replaced reformist zeal. At times, they even
entered alliances with Christians, which would have been anathema to the
earlier caliphs.
Origins
The dynasty originated with Ibn
Tumart (1080 - 1130), a member of the Masmuda, a Berber tribe
of the Atlas Mountains. Ibn
Tumart was the son of a lamplighter in a mosque and had been noted for his
piety from his youth although sources trace his ancestry back to Muhammad. He
is said to have been of small stature, possibly with a physical deformity. He
lived the life of a devotee-beggar. Around about 1108 he left to perform the hajj at Mecca (or
"Makkah") and to study in Baghdad at the
school founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'arii. He is reported to have met al-Ghazali while
visiting Damascus[1]. He
soon began to call for a return to the principles of Islam as set forth in the Qur'an and the
traditions of the prophet Muhammad, and to
stress God's Unity. It has been suggested, though, that what he taught was an
eclectic mix of the teachings of his master with parts of the doctrines of
others, and with mysticism imbibed from al-Ghazali. His main principle was a
strict Unitarianism which denied the independent existence of the attributes of
God as being incompatible with his unity, and was therefore a polytheistic
idea. He denounced the Almoravids, whom
his successor would defeat, as "anthropomorphists"[2].
The Dynasty
After his return to Magreb at the age of 28,
Ibn Tumart began preaching and heading attacks on wine-shops and on other
manifestations of immorality. He even went so far as to assault the sister of
the Almoravid (Murabit) Amir `Ali III, in the streets of Fez, because she was
going about unveiled after the manner of Berber women.
Ali III allowed him to escape unpunished. In 1121 he declared himself to be the
Mahdi, openly
claiming that he was sinless[3].
Driven from several towns for exhibitions of
reforming zeal, Ibn Tumart took refuge among his own people, the Masmuda, in
the Atlas around
about 1122. Between then and his death in 1130, he emerged as leader, or Caliph of a
small State based on the town of Tin Mal, in the center of what is now Morocco.
Following his death, he was succeeded by an able lieutenant, Abd al-Mu'min
al-Kumi, another Berber, from Algeria. Some
sources say that Tumart died in 1128 and that his successor kept this a secret
until he was ready to move beyond the mountain retreat. Abd al-Mu'min—styled
both caliph and
deputy of the Mahdi—proved a more than competent soldier, defeating the
Almoravids at Marrakesh in 1147. According one source, Ibn Tumart gave his
deputy clear instructions either reform, or to oppose and defeat the
Almoravids:
March against these heretics and perverters of
religion who call themselves the :al-Murabits, and call them to put away
their evil habits, reform their morals, :renounce their heresy, and
acknowledge the sinless Imam Mahdi. If they respond to your call, then they are
your brothers; what they have will be yours, and :what you owe they will
owe. And if they do not, then fight them, for the Sunna makes it lawful for you[4].
Between 1130 and his death in 1163 al-Mu'min
extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Egypt then
entered Al-Andalus which he controlled by 1154. In 1170, his successor, Yusuf
I, transferred the Almohad capital to Seville, where they built the great mosque (now
replaced by the cathedral). The minaret, known as the Giralda was erected in
1184 to mark the accession of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur as the fourth caliph.
It remains as the Cathedral bell-tower. They had now replaced the Almoravids,
who has themselves entered Spain in 1086 invited by the Muslim princes
to help defend them against the Christians. The Almohads may also have been
invited to aid in the defense of Muslim Spain after the fall of Lisbon (1147).
Clancy-Smith comments that both the Almoravids and the Almohads were
"reluctantly enlisted" by the Muslim princes. Both dynasties,
"entered al-Andalus specifically as defenders of the faith and functioned
as politico-military elites whose position was validated by their ability to
halt the Christian advance and to hold the frontier"[5]. From
the time of Yusuf II (the sixth caliph), they governed Iberia and Central North
Africa through
lieutenants, treating dominions outside Morocco as
provinces. When their emirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jihad
against the Christians before returning to their capital, Marrakech.
The Almohad princes had a longer and a more
distinguished career than the Murabits (or Almoravids). Yusuf
II or Abu Yaqub Yusuf (1163–1184), and Ya'qub I or Yaqub al-Mansur (1184-1199),
the successors of Abd al-Mumin, were both able men. In the end they became less
fanatical than the Almoravids, and Ya'qub al Mansur was a highly accomplished
man, who wrote a good Arabic style and who protected the philosopher Averroes. His
title of al-Mansur, "The Victorious," was earned by the defeat
he inflicted on Alfonso VIII of Castile in the
Battle of Alarcos (1195).
Decline and loss of Iberia
However, the Christian states in Iberia were
becoming too well organized to be overrun by the Muslims, and the Almohads made
no permanent advance against them.
In 1212, Muhammad
III, "al-Nasir"
(1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance
north, was defeated by an alliance of the four Christian princes of Castile,
Aragón, Kingdom of Navarre and Portugal, at the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena. The battle destroyed
Almohad dominance. Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon
after, with the great Moorish cities of Córdoba and Seville falling to the
Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.
After this, all that remained was the Moorish
state of Granada, which after an internal Muslim revolt, survived as a
tributary state of the Christian kingdoms on Iberia's southern periphery. The
Nasrid dynasty or Banu Nazari (Arabic: بنو نصر)
rose to power there after the defeat of the Almohads dynasty in 1212. Twenty
different Muslim kings ruled Granada from the founding of the dynasty in 1232
by Muhammed I ibn Nasr until January 2, 1492, when Sultan Boabdil surrendered
to the Christian Spanish kingdom, which completed the Reconquista. Today,
the most visible evidence of the Nasrids is the Alhambra palace
complex built under their rule.
They were successful in expelling the garrisons
placed in some of the coast towns by the Norman kings of Sicily. The
history of their decline differs from that of the Almoravids, whom
they had displaced. They were not conquered by a great religious movement, but
lost territories, piecemeal, due to revolt by tribes and districts. Their most
effective enemies were the Banu Marin (Marinids, who were related to the Umayyads) who
founded the next dynasty. The last representative of the line, Idris II,
"El Wathiq"' (the fourteenth caliph) was reduced to the possession of
Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269.
Religion
The Almohads far surpassed the Almoravides in fundamentalist
outlook, and imposed restrictions and punitive measures on the dhimmis
(protected communities} removing them from all government posts[6].
Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, most Jews and
Christians emigrated. Others were forcibly "removed to Morocco as
potential fifth columnists in Iberis Some, such as the family of Maimonides, fled
east to more tolerant Muslim lands, while others went northward to settle in
the growing Christian kingdoms.[7] It was
not only non-Muslims who went into exile, or who chose to leave Almohad
territory. Some Muslims also left, among them the Sufi teacher,
Muhyi al-din ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) who left Spain in 1200. Later, however,
their policy changed. In their North African holdings, they encouraged the
settlement of Christians even in Fez, and after the Battle of Las Navas de
Tolosa occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of Castile. The mosque at Tin
Mal is one of only two in Morocco that
non-Muslims are allowed to enter. Most of the Almohads were buried in Tin Mal.
Legacy
The rise and fall of the Almohads fits the
cyclical nature of Islamic history as described by Ibn
Khaldun. He characterized Islamic history as cyclical
in which zealous religious reformists such as the Almohads sweep into the towns
from the desert, where
a puritan lifestyle and strong group feeling are natural, establish rule then
themselves become lax as the "toughness of desert life" is lost. Then
group feeling is weakened to such a degree that the dynasty is "no longer
able to protect itself" and before long it is "swallowed up by other
nations"[8]. Their
Marinide successors, who also ruled parts of Iberia, saw themselves as zealous
reformers; "the Muslim successor states of the Almohads, the Nasrids of
Granada and the Banu Marin of Morocco, both stressed their performance in the
holy war or jihad against Iberian Christian powers to rally supporters
to their cause and bolster their legitimacy"[9].
Clancy-Smith, though, is less convinced that Ibn Khaldun's theory applies to
the initial success of the Almohads over the Almoravids, since according to her
analysis the latter "remained firmly rooted," indeed too rooted,
"in desert civilization" failing to adjust to life in Andalusia, or to
attract a loyal local following[10].
The Almohad's architectural legacy includes
such mosques as the
Koutoubia in Marrakesh and at Tin Mal and the Menara Gardens, with the Atlas in
their background.
Muwahhadi (Almohad) Caliphs, 1121–1269
Ibn
Tumart
1121-1130
Abd
al-Mu'min 1130–1163
Abu
Ya'qub Yusuf I 1163–1184
Abu
Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur 1184–1199
Muhammad
an-Nasir 1199–1213
Abu
Ya'qub Yusuf II 1213–1224
Abd
al-Wahid I 1224
Abdallah
al-Adil 1224–1227
Yahya
1227–1235
Idris
I 1227–1232
Abdul-Wahid
II 1232–1242
Ali,
Almohad 1242–1248
Umar
1248–1266
Idris
II, Almohad 1266–1269
اَلنَّـاسُ ثَلاثَةٌ: فَعَـالِمٌ رَبَّـانِـیٌّ، وَ مُتَعَلِّـمٌ عَلَـی سَبِیلِ نَـجَاةٍ، وَ هَـمَجٌ رَعَـاعٌ أَتبَـاعُ کُلِّ نَاعِـقِ، یَمِیلُونَ مَع کُلِّ رِیح، لَم یَستَضِـیئُوا بِنُورِ العِلمِ، وَ لَم یَلجَأوا إِلَی رُکنٍ وَثِیـقٍ. أمیرالمؤمنین علی بن ابی طالب علیه السلام.