‘Abd al-Mu'min

Berber founder of the Almohad Dynasty (r. 1130-1163)

• Born: 1094
• Birthplace: Tagra, Algeria
• Died: May 2, 1163
• Place of death: Rabat, Morocco

Through military prowess and administrative skill, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min founded the Almohad Empire in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, initiating a period of thriving commerce and artistic creativity.

Early Life

Born ՙAbd al-Mu՚min ibn-ՙAlī ibn Makhlūf ibn Yuՙla ibn Marwān in Tagra in 1094, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min (ab-dool-MOO-mihn) was the son of Alī, a humble potter and member of the Koumiya, an Arabized section of the Berber Zanata tribe. Legends arose concerning marvelous happenings in his youth: Swarms of bees were said to have alighted on him without stinging, and a holy man prophesied that the boy would conquer countries at the four cardinal points.

Alā decided that his son must have an education. Thus, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min studied at the school in Tagra and then at the mosque in the important Algerian city of Tlemcen. One historian noted his intelligence: “In the time it takes a man to grasp one question, he understood ten.” To further his knowledge, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min, accompanied by uncle Yaՙlu, determined to go to the East. In 1117, that plan was scrapped at Mallala, Algeria, because of ՙAbd al-Mu՚min's momentous meeting with Ibn Tūmart.

Ibn Tūmart, a Masmuda Berber of southern Morocco, founded the Almohad movement, the name being a corruption of the Arabic al-muwaḥḥidūn, meaning “the movement of the unitarians.” Ibn Tūmart placed special stress on the oneness of God and introduced into North Africa the Shīՙite notion of an infallible mahdī (divinely guided one). It was as he was returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca that Ibn Tūmart met ՙAbd al-Mu՚min at Mallala. According to tradition, Ibn Tūmart had prophesied their meeting.

ՙAbd al-Mu՚min became Ibn Tūmart's first disciple, accompanying him to Morocco. In 1121, Ibn Tūmart established headquarters at his native village, Igliz, moving to Tinmel three years later. In 1125, Ibn Tūmart proclaimed himself the mahdī, the imam known and infallible. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min served as Ibn Tūmart's trusted lieutenant, spreading his doctrine, helping to organize Almohad society, and fighting against the Almoravid regime. In May, 1130, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min suffered wounds in the Almohad defeat by the Almoravids at the Battle of al-Buhaira. On August 13, 1130, Ibn Tūmart died, having designated ՙAbd al-Mu՚min as the Almohad leader. For three years, Ibn Tūmart's death was concealed because certain Almohads disputed ՙAbd al-Mu՚min's succession, arguing that he was an outsider. By 1133, however, his supporters had managed to establish his leadership.

Life's Work

ՙAbd al-Mu՚min determined to conquer the entire Maghreb for the Almohad cause. For several years, he prepared meticulously, gaining adherents to the Almohad message and attracting mountaineers to his army in Tinmel. Then, systematically employing guerrilla tactics against the Almoravid Dynasty, he conquered the western mountain ranges of North Africa one after another: the High Atlas, the Middle Atlas, the Rif, and the range south of Tlemcen. Emboldened, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min moved from the mountains. In 1144, he defeated the Almoravid ally Reverter and his Christian militia. A year later, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min crushed the Almoravid monarch Tashfin ibn Alī ibn Yusuf and took Oran and Tétouan. Next, after a nine-month siege, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min captured Fez, and, in 1147, following an eleven-month siege, Marrakech, where he executed the last Almoravid ruler. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min made Marrakech the Almohad capital and proceeded to massacre the Lemtuna Berbers.

Thereupon, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min turned his attention to the Iberian Peninsula, where the Christians had been recovering territory because of the Almoravid decline. Because of their rigid doctrine, the Almohads encountered resistance from Iberian Muslims and Christians alike. As a result, by 1148, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min's authority extended to only the southwestern part of the Andalus. Regarding the Iberian Peninsula as a diversion from the task of consolidating Almohad rule in the Maghreb, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min pushed no farther into Europe.

After conquering Morocco, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min focused attention on the central Maghreb. Here the Ḥammādid kingdom existed in decline under Yaḥyā. In 1151, by forced marches and in secrecy, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min and his army reached Algiers and then Bougie, the Ḥammādid capital, which surrendered. Next, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min's son took and sacked Qalՙa. In 1152, the Hilalians, Arab Bedouins of the region, joined the attempt to push the Almohads to the far west. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min, who had been returning to Morocco, hurried back and met the enemy at Sétif, where he triumphed after a four-day battle. In this case, however, he treated the vanquished leniently.

ՙAbd al-Mu՚min devoted the years between 1152 and 1159 to organizing his state. He had taken the title caliph of Ibn Tūmart, imitating Abū Bakr, caliph of Muḥammad. He also became Amir al-Mu՚minin (prince of the faithful), the first non-Arab to be so honored. Members of his family, known as sayyids, formed the elite. In 1154, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min proclaimed his son as successor, displacing Abū Hafs ՙUmar, the first designee. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min sent his other sons to the principal provinces as governors. With each of them, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min sent a leading Almohad sheikh as counselor, thus joining the religious leaders to his family. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min used Abū Hafs ՙUmar as his first vizier and then as a personal adviser; the latter's family ranked next to the sayyids. Ibn Tūmart's Council of the Fifty, a consultative assembly that had representatives from the original tribes of the Almohad movement, was retained. These elements formed the aristocracy of the empire.

Using Ibn Tūmart's teachings, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min aimed to build a unified Muslim community in the Maghreb. The bases for legislation were the Qur՚ān, the tradition of Muḥammad, and the concord of Muḥammad's companions. Practical needs of justice, however, drove ՙAbd al-Mu՚min to tacit toleration of the Malikite system of law. To maintain and enforce Ibn Tūmart's doctrine, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min devised special training for provincial administrators. He personally selected young men from the Masmuda tribes and trained them in Ibn Tūmart's writings, archery, horsemanship, and swimming. The ruler's sons received this education as well.

As an administrator, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min shone in masterminding an immense geographical survey of the Maghreb. According to a Muslim historian, one-third of this area was deducted for mountains, rivers, salt lakes, roads, and deserts, and the remainder was made subject to the land tax (kharaj), with a fixed amount in grain and money to be paid by each tribe a first in Barbary. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min used the survey to ascertain his fiscal resources. The treasury drew revenue from the taxes imposed by the Qur՚ān and from a large part of the kharaj. The latter applied to “unbelievers,” paying the tax as a sort of rent on their former property, its ownership having been taken by the state. The unbelievers comprised all non-Almohad Muslims and also those Almohads who were judged unzealous.

The pragmatic ՙAbd al-Mu՚min did not subject all tribes to the kharaj. He needed the help of nomads for manning his army in the Iberian Peninsula and for keeping order in the Maghreb. These nomads included the Hilalians, who were brought to Morocco from Tunisia, the Zanata Beni ՙAbd al-Wad in the area between Mina and the Moulouya, and another tribe camped in the Bougie district. Members of these tribes enforced the payment of the kharaj on settled tribes.

ՙAbd al-Mu՚min encountered internal opposition to his regime. His restricting the succession to the Almohad leadership to his own family caused a rebellion in 1155. The ringleaders were Ibn Tūmart's brothers, ՙAbd al-ՙAziz and ՙIsa. They besieged Marrakech but were defeated and executed. Along with them, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min executed numerous chiefs of the Hargha tribe who had been suspected of fomenting treason. Sensitive to opposition, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min dealt cautiously with the proud Masmuda tribes, which claimed Ibn Tūmart as their own son. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min allowed only the Masmuda to have the honor of being called Almohads; they were also the sole group permitted to discuss and elaborate Ibn Tūmart's doctrine. Furthermore, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min gave the Masmuda preferential treatment in taxation.

While organizing his government, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min gave thought also to Ifriqiya (Tunisia). Muslims there sought his help against the Norman occupation under King William I of Sicily. In two years of preparation, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min built seventy warships and an army of 200,000. In 1159, he led the army into Ifriqiya, his navy following along the coast. He sent one force to besiege Tunis, whose ruler was a Muslim Sanhaja chief under Norman protection. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min led his main army against heavily fortified Mahdia, the major Norman stronghold. On January 22, 1160, a seven-month siege ended, the Almohad navy having defeated a Norman relieving fleet from Sicily. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min and the Normans negotiated: The Normans evacuated Mahdia, and ՙAbd al-Mu՚min gave them safe passage to Sicily. Thus ended Norman rule in Africa. At this time, the Almohads captured Tunis and the interior of Ifriqiya. Now, moreover, the Muslims of Tripolitana, who had evicted the Normans in 1157, swore allegiance to ՙAbd al-Mu՚min.

ՙAbd al-Mu՚min's achievements extended to still another activity: patronage of architecture . He ordered the construction of a palace and of the impressive Kutubia mosque at Marrakech, as well as the mosque at Taza. To commemorate Ibn Tūmart, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min built a mosque at Tinmel. The design of this structure reveals influences from the surrounding area, the East, and Moorish Spain. Another of his buildings was the fortress of Ribat al-Fath.

On May 2, 1163, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min died at Rabat. He was buried near Ibn Tūmart at Tinmel.

Significance

ՙAbd al-Mu՚min created a new chapter in the history of North Africa. Designated by the mahdī, Ibn Tūmart, as his successor in leading the Almohad movement, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min converted that spiritual body into a political regime lasting from 1130 to 1269. Throwing off his deference to Abū Hafs ՙUmar, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min built by war an empire in North Africa and southern Spain which his family, the Mu՚minid, ruled. His long military activity angered some of the original Almohads, who tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him in 1160. The conspirators also hated his magnanimous policy toward the empire's Arabs.

The reigns of ՙAbd al-Mu՚min, his son Abū Yaՙqūb Yūsuf (r. 1163-1184), and his grandson Abū Yūsuf Yaՙqūb al-Manṣūr (r. 1184-1199) marked the golden age of Barbary. They brought a general revival of commerce, for the Almohads had the best fleet in the Mediterranean, and they opened the sea to Christian and Muslim traffic. Urban life continued the development begun under the previous Almoravid rule, with a new burst of creative activity stemming from Ibn Ṭufayl and Averroës.

Art flourished in Morocco and Spain under ՙAbd al-Mu՚min and his dynasty. ՙAbd al-Mu՚min was the founder of a new architectural style the most original and impressive in North Africa. He gave to Andalusian artists a new spirit: an austere and simple style that resulted in a magnificent union of Andalusian subtlety and Moroccan strength.

Nevertheless, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min contributed to the ultimate Almohad decline and fall. The mechanical and official nature of his piety began to loosen the Mu՚minid state from the passionate and radiant zeal of Ibn Tūmart, whose uncompromising stand had created the Almohad movement. Furthermore, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min settled some Arab Bedouin tribes in Morocco, where he wanted to train them to further his realm in Spain. Later, members of these tribes became unruly, causing anarchy in the heart of the Almohad Empire.

Still, ՙAbd al-Mu՚min's great achievement cannot be denied: He led the Berbers in the first unification of North Africa.

Almohad Caliphs (Spain and North Africa)

• Caliph

1130-1163

• ՙAbd al-Mu՚min

1163-1184

• Abū Yaՙqūb Yūsuf

1184-1199

• Abū Yūsuf Yaՙqūb al-Manṣūr

1199-1213

• Muḥammad ibn Yaՙqūb

1212

• Christians defeat Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa

1213-1224

• Yūsuf II Abū Yaqūb

1224

• ՙAbd al-Wāḥid Abū Muḥammad

1224-1227

• ՙAbd Allāh Abū Muḥammad

1227-1235

• Yaḥyā Abū Zakariyyāՙ

1227-1232

• Idrīs I ibn Yaՙqūb

1228-1229

• Retreat from Spain

1232-1242

• ՙAbdul-Wāḥid ibn Idrīs I

1242-1248

• ՙAlī ibn Idrīs I

1248-1266

• ՙUmar ibn Isḥāq

1266-1269

• Idrīs II ibn Muḥammad

1269

• End of Almohad domination in North Africa

Bibliography

Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. A History of the Maghrib. 2d ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1975. This compact account of ՙAbd al-Mu՚min links his creation of a unified Muslim community to Ibn Tūmart’s doctrine. The relationship of the Almohad regime with previous and later dynasties is discussed. Brief bibliography; index, map.

Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1987. A brief but excellent depiction of ՙAbd al-Mu՚min, more scholarly treatment than Abun-Nasr’s book. Unannotated bibliography, index, map.

Falola, Toyin, ed. Africa. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2000. A good history of the continent. Bibliographic references, index.

Hopkins, J. F. P. Medieval Muslim Government in Barbary Until the Sixth Century of the Hijra. London: Luzac, 1958. One section describes the Almohad hierarchy. The entire system may have existed solely on paper. Treatment of the elaborate organization may be of interest only to scholars. One map.

Julien, Charles-André. History of North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco. Translated by John Petrie, edited by C. C. Stewart and Roger Le Tourneau. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970. Very good treatment of the Almohads (forty-seven pages), placing ՙAbd al-Mu՚min on center stage in his varied roles. Apt quotations from sources; one map, fine bibliography.

Ki-Zerbo, Joseph, and Djibril Tamsir Niane, eds. Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Includes several chapters on the Maghreb, including “The Unification of the Maghrib Under the Almohads.” Illustrations, maps.

Le Tourneau, Roger. The Almohad Movement in North Africa in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Excellent in integrating ՙAbd al-Mu՚min into the Almohad movement and showing his strengths and weaknesses. Brief but good treatment of contemporary accounts and historical studies. Helpful index.