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Almohad Caliphate

January 01, 1970

The Almohad Caliphate (IPA: /ˈælməhæd/; Arabic: خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or دَوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or ٱلدَّوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِيَّةُ from Arabic: ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, romanized: al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit. 'those who profess the unity of God'[7][8]) 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).[9][10][11]

Almohad Caliphate
ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ (Arabic)
al-Muwaḥḥidūn
1121–1269
The Almohad empire at its greatest extent, c. 1180–1212[1][2]
StatusCaliphate (from 1147)
Capital

In Al-Andalus:

Common languagesBerber languages, Arabic, Mozarabic
Religion
Islam (Almohadism)
Mahdi 
• 1121–1130
Ibn Tumart
Caliph 
• 1130–1163 (first)
Abd al-Mu'min
• 1266–1269 (last)
Idris al-Wathiq
History 
• Established
1121
• Almoravids overthrown
1147
1212
• Marinid suzerainty
1248
• Disestablished
1269
Area
1150 est.[4]2,300,000 km2 (890,000 sq mi)
1200 est.[5]2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi)
CurrencyDinar[6]

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,[12][13][14] were founded after his death by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi.[15][16][17][18] Around 1121, Ibn Tumart was recognized by his followers as the Mahdi, and shortly afterwards he established his base at Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains.[19] 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 was under Almohad rule by 1172.[20]

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 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; the Marinids seized Marrakesh, ending the Almohad domination of the Western Maghreb.

History edit

Origins edit

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 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 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 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 in 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 area, 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 emir decided merely to expel him from the city.

 
Approximate locations of the main Masmuda tribes that adhered to the Almohads

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 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 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.[citation needed] Sometime around 1124, Ibn Tumart established his base at Tinmel, a highly defensible position in the valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas.[21][22][23] 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.[22][23]

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 Tasghîmût that protected the approach to Aghmat, which was conquered by the Almohads in 1132),[24] 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, 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 (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 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 the regular army (jund), then the religious corps – the muezzins, the hafidh and the hizb – followed by the archers, the conscripts, and the slaves.[25] 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 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 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.[26]

Caliphate and expansion edit

 
Phases of the expansion of the Almohad state

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 the skills of his successor, Abd al-Mu'min.[27] 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.[27] Although a Zenata Berber from Tagra (Algeria),[28] 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. Three years after Ibn Tumart's death he was officially proclaimed "Caliph".[29]

After 1133, Abd al-Mu'min quickly expanded Almohad control across the Maghreb, while the embattled Almoravids retained their capital in Marrakesh.[30] Various other tribes rallied to the Almohads or to the Almoravids as the war between them continued.[31] Initially, Almohad operations were limited to the Atlas mountains. In 1139, they expanded to the Rif mountains in the north.[30] One of their early bases beyond the mountains was Taza,[32] where Abd al-Mu"min founded a citadel (ribat) and a Great Mosque circa 1142.[33]

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 the Almohad camp, along with some of the previously Almoravid-aligned leaders of the Masufa tribe.[31] 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.[34][31][29] The Almohads pursued the defeated Almoravid army west to Fez, which they captured in 1146 after a nine-month siege.[31][34] They finally captured Marrakesh in 1147, after an eleven-month siege. The last Almoravid ruler, Ishaq ibn Ali, was killed.[34]

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.[35] The Arab tribes of 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.[36][37] 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 the Almohad armies.[38][36] These moves also had the corollary effect of advancing the Arabisation of future Morocco.[39]

Abd al-Mu'min spent the mid-1150s organizing the Almohad state and arranging for power to be passed on through his family line.[36][40] In 1154, he declared his son Muhammad as his heir.[36][40] 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 the Almohad power structure and from whom he recruited some 40,000 into the army.[41][42][43][44] They would later form the bodyguard of the caliph and his successors.[45] 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.[46]

With his son appointed as his successor, Abd al-Mu'min placed his other children as governors of the provinces of the caliphate.[47] His sons and descendants became known as the sayyids ("nobles").[41][48] 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 sayyids. They became known as the abna' al-muwahhidin or "Sons of the Almohads".[49] Abd al-Mu'min also altered the Almohad structure set up by Ibn Tumart by making 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.[50]

Abd al-Mu'min thus transformed the Almohad movement from a Masmuda aristocracy to a Mu'minid dynastic state.[50][51] 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 the city, defeated the rebels, and had everyone involved executed.[52][36]

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.[53] 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 the Normans two years earlier, recognized Almohad authority right after.[36]

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.[54] In 1189–1190, the Ayyubid sultan Salah ad-Din (Saladin) requested the assistance of an Almohad navy for his fight against the crusaders, which al-Mansur declined.[55]

Expansion into al-Andalus edit

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 a palace there called Al-Muwarak on the site of the modern-day Alcázar of Seville.

 
The Almohads transferred the capital of Al-Andalus to 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 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, 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.[56]

Holding years edit

 
Coin minted during the reign of Abu Yaqub Yusuf

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 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 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 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 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 them.

Decline in al-Andalus edit

In 1225, Abd Allah 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 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 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 hand them 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 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 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 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 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 the Abbasid Caliph, albeit taking up for himself a quasi-caliphal title, 'al-Mutawwakil'.

 
Almohads after 1212

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 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 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 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 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 edit

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. 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 al-Wathiq, was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269.[citation needed]

Culture edit

Language edit

The use of Berber language was important in Almohad doctrine. Under the Almohads, the khuṭbas (from خطبة, the Friday sermon) were made to be delivered in Arabic and Berber, or as the Andalusi historian Ibn Ṣāḥib aṣ-Ṣalāt [ar] described it: "al-lisān al-gharbī" (اللسان الغربي 'the western tongue').[57] 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.[57]

As the Almohads rejected the status of Dhimma, the Almohad conquest of al-Andalus caused the emigration of Andalusi Christians from southern Iberia to the Christian north,[58] 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.[59]

Literature edit

 
 
An 1183 manuscript of Ibn Tumart's E'az Ma Yutlab written in a Maghrebi script.

The Almohads worked to suppress the influence of Maliki fiqh—even publicly burning copies of Muwatta Imam Malik and Maliki commentaries. They sought to disseminate the doctrine of Ibn Tumart, author of E'az Ma Yutlab (أعز ما يُطلب The Most Noble Calling), Muhadhi al-Muwatta' (محاذي الموطأ Counterpart of the Muwatta'), and Talkhis Sahih Muslim (تلخيص صحيح مسلم Compendium of Sahih Muslim).[60]

Literary production continued despite the devastating effect the Almohad reforms had on cultural life in their domain. Almohad universities continued the knowledge of preceding Andalusi scholars as well as ancient Greco-Roman writers; contemporary literary figures included Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Hafsa bint al-Hajj al-Rukuniyya, Ibn Tufail, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn al-Abbar, Ibn Amira and many more poets, philosophers, and scholars. The abolishment of the dhimmi status further stifled the once flourishing Jewish Andalusi cultural scene; 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.[61]

Theology and philosophy edit

Main article: Almohad doctrine

The Almohad ideology preached by Ibn Tumart is described by Amira Bennison as 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".[8] 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 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.[8] Ibn Tumart saw his movement as a revolutionary reform movement much as early Islam saw itself relative to the Christianity and Judaism which preceded it, with himself as its mahdi and leader.[8]

In terms of Muslim jurisprudence, the state gave recognition to the Zahiri (ظاهري) school of thought,[62] 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.[63] 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;[64] when Abu Yaqub's son Abu Yusuf took the throne, he ordered Ibn Maḍāʾ to undertake the actual burning of such books.[65]

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.[66][67] Some authors occasionally describe Almohads as heavily influenced by Mu'tazilism.[68] Scholar Madeline Fletcher argues that while one of Ibn Tumart's original teachings, the murshidas (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, the 'aqida (which was likely edited by others after him), demonstrates a much clearer Ash'arite position on a number of issues.[69]

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 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.[69][70] 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 the traditional Maliki ulema, with whom the Almohads were already at odds.[71] After the decline of Almohadism, Maliki Sunnism ultimately became the dominant official religious doctrine of the region.[72] 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.[71]

Emblem edit

 
Almohad soldiers in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, depicted on the right under white banners[73]

Most historical records indicate that the Almohads were recognized for their use of white banners, which were supposed to evoke their "purity of purpose".[74] This began a long tradition of using white as main dynastic color in what is now Morocco for the later Marinids and Saadian sultanates.[75] Whether these white banners contained any specific motifs or inscriptions is not certain.[76] Historian Ḥasan 'Ali Ḥasan writes:[77]

As for the flags of 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 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.[78][79] Egyptian historiographer Al-Qalqashandi (d. 1418) mentioned white flags in two places, the first being when he spoke about 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)".[80] By the end of the Almohad reign, dissident movements would adopt black in recognition of the Abbasid caliphate and in rejection of the Almohad authority.[81]

The Libro del Conoscimiento de Todos los Reinos, written by a Franciscan friar in the 14th century (well after the end of the Almohad period), describes the flag of Marrakesh as being red with a black-and-white checkerboard motif at its center. Some authors have assumed this flag to be the former flag of the Almohads.[76]

In modern times, Islamic al-Andalus in Andalusian collective memory allowed more awareness of the colors of the Andalusian flag, chosen in 1918 by Blas Infante, a founding figure of Andalusia. Infante has explained the design of its flag by indicating that green was the color of the Umayyads and white that of the Almohads, the caliphates which represented periods of "greatness and power" in this region.[82]

Art edit

Calligraphy and manuscripts edit

The Almohad dynasty embraced a style of cursive Maghrebi script known today as "Maghrebi thuluth" as an official style used in manuscripts, coinage, documents, and architecture.[60] However, the more angular Kufic script was still used, albeit in a reworked form in Qur'an epigraphy, and was seen detailed in silver in some colophons.[83][84] The Maghrebi thuluth script, frequently written in gold, was used to give emphasis when standard writing, written in rounded Maghrebi mabsūt script, was considered insufficient.[60] Maghrebi mabsūt of the al-Andalus region during the 12th to 14th centuries was characterized by elongated lines, stretched out curves, and the use of multiple colors for vocalizations, as derived from the people of Medina.[84]

Scribes and calligraphers of the Almohad period also started to illuminate words and phrases in manuscripts for emphasis, using gold leaf and lapis lazuli.[85][60] While much of the script was written in black or brown ink, the use of polychromy for diacritical text and vocalizations also marked a departure from previous caliphates' calligraphic styles.[84] Blue dots were used to indicate elif, orange dots denoted hamza, and yellow semicircles to marked shaddah.[84] Separate sets of verses were denoted by various medallions, with distinctive designs for each set. For example, sets of five verses were ended with bud-like medallions while sets of ten were marked by circular medallions, all of which were typically painted in gold.[85] Manuscripts attributed to this caliphate were characterized by interlacing geometric or recti-curvilinear illuminations, and abstract vegetal artwork and large medallions were often present in the margins and as thumbnails.[85] Composite floral finials were also frequently used in decorating the margins and corners of the page.[85] Color schemes focused on primarily using gold, white, and blue, with accentuating elements in red or pink.[85]

During the Almohad dynasty, the act of bookbinding itself took on great importance, with a notable instance of the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min bringing in artisans for a celebration of the binding of a Qur'an imported from Cordoba.[86] Books were most frequently bound in goatskin leather and decorated with polygonal interlacing, goffering, and stamping. The primary materials used for the pages were goat or sheep vellum.[86] However, the Almohad dynasty also saw industrial advancements in the spread of paper mills in Seville and Marrakesh, leading to the introduction of paper for Qur'an manuscripts, illuminated doctrine books, and official documents.[60][87] Most Qur'anic manuscripts were close to square-shaped, though other religious texts were typically vertically oriented. With the exception of a few large-scale Qur'ans, most were modestly sized, ranging from 11 centimenters to 22 centimeters on each side, with 19 to 27 lines of script each page.[87] In contrast, large-sized Qur'ans were typically approximately 60 centimeters by 53 centimeters and had an average of five to nine lines of script to a page, typically in Maghrebi thuluth.[87]

Hadith Bayāḍ wa Riyāḍ, the love story of Bayad and Riyad, is one of the few remaining illustrated manuscripts dated to 13th century Almohad caliphate.[86] Its use of miniatures displays a clear connection with previous illustrated tradition from the eastern Islamic world. However, it deviates in its depictions of the frontispiece, interior, and teaching scenes, which show similarities to scientific manuscripts from the central Islamic world, typically considered to have consisted of the Arabian peninsula, northeast modern Iran, and the Fertile Crescent.[88] Depictions of architecture specific to the Almohad caliphate are also evident in several places in the manuscript.[88]

 
A copy of the Qur'an personally transcribed by Caliph al-Murtada, circa 1266

The penultimate Almohad caliph, Abu Hafs al-Murtada, was a notable calligrapher in his own right and composed poems and copied Qur'ans. A known bibliophile, he frequently endowed books to madrasas and mosques and established the first public manuscript transcription center in Marrakesh.[60] One of the large Qur'ans that he copied has been preserved in Marrakesh and is the oldest surviving example in the western Islamic world of a Qur'an personally produced by a sovereign ruler. The 10-volume tome is written on parchment and bound with a leather cover decorated with a geometric motif, exhibiting the first dated use of gold tooling on a manuscript binding.[89] The verses are written in Maghrebi mabsūt script and the end of each verse is marked by a gold circle divided into eight uniform segments. Using large Maghrebi script, there are five to 10 lines to a page, with relatively few words to each line. There is lavish use of gold, and this Qur'an, as with other Qur'ans of this size, was likely intended for court use.[90]

Textiles edit

 
The "Las Navas de Tolosa banner", an Almohad banner captured by Ferdinand III in the 13th century

The Almohads initially eschewed the production of luxury textiles and silks, but eventually they too engaged in this production. Almohad textiles, like earlier Almoravid examples, were often decorated with a grid of roundels filled with ornamental designs or Arabic epigraphy. However, textiles produced by Almohad workshops used progressively less figural decoration than previous Almoravid textiles, in favour of interlacing geometric and vegetal motifs.[91]

One of the best-known textiles traditionally attributed to the Almohads is the "Las Navas de Tolosa Banner", so-called because it was once thought to be a spoil won by Alfonso VIII at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. More recent studies have proposed that it was actually a spoil won some years later by Ferdinand III.[92] The banner was then donated to the Monastery of Santa Maria la Real de Huelgas in Burgos, where it remains today. The banner is richly designed and features blue Arabic inscriptions and white decorative patterns on a red background. The central motif features an eight-pointed star framed by a circle inside a larger square, with smaller motifs filling the bands of the frame and the corner spaces. This central design is surrounded on four sides by Arabic inscriptions in Naskhi script featuring Qur'anic verses (Surah 61: 10–12), and another horizontal inscription in the banner's upper part which praises God and Muhammad. Recent studies have argued that the banner is of 14th century origin rather than of Almohad origin, due to its similarities with captured Marinid banners kept at the Cathedral of Toledo and to its similarities with Nasrid motifs. It remains uncertain whether it was crafted either in Fez under the Marinids or in Granada under the Nasrids.[93][94]

Metalwork edit

 
The Monzón Lion, a bronze fountain from Al-Andalus dating from the 12th-13th century

The French historian Henri Terrasse described al-Qarawiyyin's bronze grand chandelier, commissioned by Caliph Muhammad al-Nasir, as "the largest and most beautiful chandelier in the Islamic world."[95][96][97] The chandelier consists of a 12-sided copula on top of which is mounted a large cone crowned around its sides with nine levels of candlesticks. The visible surfaces of the chandelier are carved and pierced with intricate floral arabesque motifs as well as Kufic Arabic inscriptions. The chandelier is now the oldest surviving chandelier in the western Islamic world, and it likely served as a model for the later and nearly equally famous Marinid chandelier in the Great Mosque of Taza.[98]

Another important piece, the so-called Monzón Lion, also dates from the Almohad period during the 12 or 13th century and is held in the Louvre Museum today. It is an example of figural bronze sculpture from al-Andalus that continues in the tradition of earlier objects such as the 11th-century Pisa Griffin (kept at the Cathedral Museum of Pisa) and the 10th-century Stag of Córdoba[99] made in Madinat al-Zahra (now kept at the Archeological Museum of Córdoba). It was found in Monzón, near Palencia, but it is not known where exactly in the Iberian Peninsula it was made. As Palencia was outside the Almohad realm, it may have been made by Andalusi craftsman for a Christian patron. The lion, which served as a fountainhead, is sculpted in a highly stylized manner and its articulated tail is adjustable. Its surface is covered in incised decoration consisting of tapestry-like motifs, and a broad Kufic inscription on its side features well-wishes for its owner.[100][101][102]

Other surviving metalwork objects from the Almohad period include a series of braziers and lamps discovered in Córdoba and now kept at the Archeological Museum of Córdoba. One of them, a hexagonal brazier, features both incised and pierced decoration. Along with prominent decorative Kufic inscriptions, it has an architectural motif of merlons resembling the decorative sawtooth-shaped merlons found along the tops of Moorish and Moroccan buildings of the same period.[103][104]

Ceramics and tilework edit

 
Fragment of Kufic inscription on cuerda seca tiles formerly around the minaret of the Kasbah Mosque

Jonathan Bloom cites the white and green glazed tiles on the minaret of the Kutubiyya Mosque, dating from the mid-12th century in the early Almohad period, as the earliest reliably-dated example of zellij in Morocco.[105] The tiles currently installed on the minaret are modern reproductions of the original decoration, but some of the original tiles were preserved in a collection kept at the Badi Palace.[106] The same collection has also preserved fragments of the original tile decoration on the minaret of the Kasbah Mosque, including fragments of a Kufic inscription which is no longer present on the minaret today. These latter fragments are also the earliest surviving example of cuerda seca tilework (a technique originating in al-Andalus) being used in an architectural context.[107]

Painted decoration edit

The Kutubiyya Mosque's minaret in Marrakesh originally had polychrome painted decoration around the windows and blind arches on its exterior façades, featuring a mix of geometric and vegetal arabesque motifs.[108] In Seville, some Almohad-era houses have been excavated in various locations in the city, particularly on the site of the present-day cathedral. At least one of these excavations have revealed the remains of mural decoration featuring interlacing geometric decoration.[109] Decorations of a hammam dating back to the Almohad period were uncovered in a bar in Seville during renovations in 2020.[110] The decorations feature red ochre paintings of concave hexadecagons and eightfold rosettes on engraved white lime mortar in a pattern that fits the hammam's geometric skylight holes.[110]

Architecture edit

 
The Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh, founded by Abd al-Mu'min in 1147
 
The ceremonial main gate of the Kasbah of the Udayas (in Rabat), added to the fortress by Ya'qub al-Mansur in the late 1190s
Main article: Almohad architecture

Along with the Almoravid period preceding it, the Almohad period is considered one of the most formative stages of Moroccan and Moorish architecture, establishing many of the forms and motifs that were refined in subsequent centuries.[111][108][112][113] The main sites of Almohad architecture and art include Fes, Marrakesh, Rabat and Seville.[114] In general, Almohad architecture was built mostly in rammed earth and brick rather than stone. These two materials were relatively cheap, readily available at most sites, and already widely used in the preceding centuries.[115] Almohad architects refined both the manufacturing process of these materials and their on-site assembly, making the execution of numerous and ambitious construction projects possible. According to scholar Felix Arnold, during the Almohad period "construction became an industry on a scale not seen since Roman times."[116]

Compared to the earlier Almoravid period and the Taifas or Caliphal period in al-Andalus, early Almohad architecture was much more restrained in its ornamentation, focusing its attention on overall architectural forms rather than on detailed surface decoration.[117][116] In addition to continuing the integration of Moroccan and Andalusi artistic traditions, some currents in Almohad architecture may also reflect influences from Algeria and Tunisia (Ifriqiya). Some Almohad elements, such as polylobed arches, have their earliest precedents in Fatimid architecture in Ifriqiya and Egypt and had also appeared in Andalusi architecture such as the Aljaferia palace. In the Almohad period, this type of arch was further refined for decorative functions while horseshoe arches continued to be standard elsewhere.[118] The decoration around mihrab arches inside mosques also evolved into richer and more monumental forms in the great ceremonial stone gates of Almohad architecture such as Bab Agnaou in Marrakesh and Bab Oudaia and Bab er-Rouah in Rabat. These gates employed varying decorative motifs arranged in concentric semi-circles around the arch of the gate, all of which was in turn framed inside an outer rectangular band with other motifs.[119][108] This style remained evident in Marinid gateways (e.g. the main gate of Chellah) and in later Moroccan gateways.[120]

The Almohad Kutubiyya and Tinmal mosques are often considered the prototypes of later Moroccan and Andalusi mosques,[108][121] although the Great Mosque of Taza (later modified by the Marinids) is the oldest surviving Almohad mosque (begun in 1142).[33] Like earlier mosques in the region, Almohad mosques have interiors consisting of large hypostyle halls divided by rows of arches that create a repetitive visual effect. However, the aisle or "nave" leading towards the mihrab (niche symbolizing the qibla in the southern/southeastern wall) and the aisle running along the qibla wall itself were usually wider than the others and were highlighted with distinctive arches and greater decoration. This layout, already present in Almoravid mosques, is often referred to as the "T-plan" by art historians (because the aisle running parallel to the qibla wall and the aisle leading to the mihrab, perpendicular to it, form a "T" shape), and became standard in mosques of the region for centuries.[122] The minarets of Almohad mosques also established the standard form and style of subsequent minarets in the region, with a square base and two-tiered shaft covered in polylobed arch and darj wa ktaf motifs. The minaret of the Kasbah Mosque of Marrakesh was particularly influential and set a style that was repeated, with minor elaborations, in the following Marinid period.[123][124][108] The most famous minarets of this time, however, are the minarets of the Kutubiyya Mosque (begun in 1147 by Abd al-Mu'min but subsequently rebuilt before 1195[123]), the Giralda of Seville (part of a Great Mosque begun in 1171 by Abu Ya'qub Yusuf), and the unfinished "Hassan Tower" of Rabat (part of a huge mosque begun by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur in 1191 but never completed).[124][108][125][126]

The Almohads were also prolific builders of fortifications and forts across their realm. They were responsible for building (or rebuilding) the city walls of Cordoba, Seville, Fes, and Taza, as well as many smaller forts and castles across Morocco and southern Spain and Portugal.[127] In Rabat, Abd al-Mu'min built most of the current Kasbah of the Udayas in 1150–1151 (after having destroyed an earlier Almoravid ribat there), while Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur embarked on the construction of a vast new capital and citadel on its south side called Ribat al-Fath (for which the enormous unfinished mosque of the Hassan Tower was also intended). While never finished, this project created the current outer walls of the historic center of Rabat, along with multiple gates such as Bab er-Rouah and the ceremonial main gate of the Kasbah of the Udayas.[128] Al-Mansur also created the Kasbah of Marrakesh, a large royal citadel and palace complex to house the caliph's family and administration. The main public entrance of this kasbah was the ornamental gate of Bab Agnaou.[129] In Seville, the Almohads built the Torre del Oro, a defensive tower on the shores of the Guadalquivir River which dates from 1220 to 1221 and remains a landmark of the city today.[130] Likewise, the Calahorra Tower in Cordoba is believed to be an originally Almohad structure designed to defend the river and the city's old bridge.[131]

The Almohad caliphs also constructed multiple country estates just outside the main cities where they resided, continuing a tradition that existed under the Almoravids.[132] The best-known examples of these estates were centered around large water basins or reservoirs that sustained orchards of fruit trees and other plants. Some of them are referred to as al-Buḥayra ("little sea") in Arabic sources, likely in reference to these artificial lakes. Small palaces or pleasure pavilions were built on the edge of the reservoirs. In Marrakesh, the present-day Agdal and Menara gardens both developed from such Almohad creations. In Seville, the remains of the al-Buḥayra garden, founded in 1171, were excavated and partly restored in the 1970s. A similar garden estate was also created in Rabat but has not been found by archaeologists.[132] The Alcázar Genil (originally called al-Qaṣr as-Sayyid) in Granada, created in the late Almohad period and later remodeled by the Nasrids, stood next to an enormous pool on the outskirts of the city.[133][134] A small ribat, consisting of a square hall covered by a sixteen-sided dome on squinches, was built nearby at the same time and has been preserved today as a Christian hermitage.[135] Sunken gardens were also part of Almohad palace architecture. In some cases the gardens were divided symmetrically into four parts, much like a riyad garden. Examples of these have been found in several courtyards in the Alcázar of Seville, where former Almohad palaces once stood.[136][137]

Status of Non-Muslims edit

See also: History of the Jews under Muslim rule, Muslim persecution of Christians, and Persecution of Jews
 
Almohad social pyramid according to Ibn al-Qattan

The Almohads had taken control of the Almoravid Maghribi and Andalusian territories by 1147.[138] The Almohads rejected the mainstream Islamic doctrine that established the status of dhimmi, a Non-Muslim resident of a Muslim country who was allowed to practice his religion on condition of submission to Muslim rule and payment of jizya.[139][140]

The treatment and persecution of Jews under Almohad rule was a drastic change.[141] Prior to Almohad rule during the Caliphate of Córdoba, 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", and that the Jewish dhimmis living under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in Christian Europe.[142] Many Jews migrated to al-Andalus, where they were not just tolerated but allowed to practice their faith openly. Christians had also practiced their religion openly in Córdoba, and both Jews and Christians lived openly in Morocco as well.

The first Almohad ruler, Abd al-Mumin, allowed an initial seven-month grace period.[143] Then he forced most of the urban dhimmi population in Morocco, both Jewish and Christian, to convert to Islam.[139] In 1198, the Almohad emir Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur decreed that Jews must wear a dark blue garb, with very large sleeves and a grotesquely oversized hat;[144] his son altered the colour to yellow, a change that may have influenced Catholic ordinances some time later.[144] Those who converted had to wear clothing that identified them as Jews since they were not regarded as sincere Muslims.[139] Cases of mass martyrdom of Jews who refused to convert to Islam are recorded.[143] The treatment and persecution of Christians under Almohad rule was a drastic change as well.[145]

Many of the conversions were superficial. Maimonides urged Jews to choose the superficial conversion over martyrdom and argued, "Muslims know very well that we do not mean what we say, and that what we say is only to escape the ruler's punishment and to satisfy him with this simple confession."[141][139] 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.[141][146] 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.[147] However, a few Jewish traders still working in North Africa are recorded.[143]

Idris al-Ma'mun, a late Almohad pretender (ruled 1229–1232 in parts of Morocco), renounced much Almohad doctrine, including the identification of Ibn Tumart as the Mahdi, and the denial of dhimmi status. He allowed Jews to practice their religion openly in Marrakesh and even allowed a Christian church there as part of his alliance with Castile.[139] In Iberia, Almohad rule collapsed in the 1200s and was succeeded by several "Taifa" kingdoms, which allowed Jews to practice their religion openly.[139]

List of Almohad rulers edit

Almohad family tree
Ali al-Kumi
Abd al-Mu'min
(1)
MuhammadAbu Yaqub Yusuf I
(2)		Abu al-Hassan AliAbu Zayd Abd al-RahmanAbu Zakariya Abd al-RahmanAbu Abd al-Rahman YaqubAbu Ibrahim IsmailAbu Said UthmanAbu Ali al-HusseinAbu Muhammad Abd AllahAbu Musa IsaAbu Ishaq IbrahimAbu al-Rabi SulaymanAbu Imran MusaAbu Hafs Umar
Abu Yusuf Yaqub 'al-Mansur'
(3)		Abu al-Ula Idris
the Old		Abu YahyaAbu Ishaq IbrahimAbu Hafs Umar 'al-Rashid'Abu Zayd MuhammadAbu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu'
(6)		Abu Ibrahim Ishaq
'al-Tahir'		Abu Zayd Abd al-RahmanAbu Zakariya YahyaAbu al-Hassan AliAbu Yusuf YaqubAbu al-Rabi SulaymanAbu Abd Allah Muhammad
Muhammad al-Nasir
(4)		Abdallah al-Adil
(7)		Abu Muhammad SaidAbu MusaIbrahimAbu SaidAbu al-Ala Idris I 'al-Ma'mun'
(9)		Abu Hafs Umar 'al-Murtada'
(12)		Abu ZaydAbu IshaqAbu Dabbus Idris II 'al-Wathiq'
(13)		Abu AliAbd Allah 'al-Bayyansi'Abu Zayd
Yahya 'al'Mutasim'
(8)		MusaZakariyaAliYusuf II 'al'Mustansir'
(5)		Abu al-Hassan Ali 'al-Said'
(11)		Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid II 'al-Rashid'
(10)

See also edit

References edit

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External links edit

  • Abd al-Mumin life among Masmudas: Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Al-Andalus: the art of Islamic Spain, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Almohad Caliphate (see index)

January 01, 1970
almohad, caliphate, arabic, اف, ٱل, ين, ٱل, ين, ٱلد, ٱل, from, arabic, ٱل, ون, romanized, muwaḥḥidūn, those, profess, unity, almohad, empire, north, african, berber, muslim, empire, founded, 12th, century, height, controlled, much, iberian, peninsula, andalus,. The Almohad Caliphate IPA ˈ ae l m e h ae d Arabic خ ل اف ة ٱل م و ح د ين or د و ل ة ٱل م و ح د ين or ٱلد و ل ة ٱل م و ح د ي ة from Arabic ٱل م و ح د ون romanized al Muwaḥḥidun lit those who profess the unity of God 7 8 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 9 10 11 Almohad Caliphateٱل م و ح د ون Arabic al Muwaḥḥidun1121 1269The Almohad empire at its greatest extent c 1180 1212 1 2 StatusCaliphate from 1147 CapitalTinmel c 1124 1147 Marrakesh 1147 1269 In Al Andalus Seville 1147 1162 Cordoba 1162 1163 Seville 1163 1248 3 Common languagesBerber languages Arabic MozarabicReligionIslam Almohadism Mahdi 1121 1130Ibn TumartCaliph 1130 1163 first Abd al Mu min 1266 1269 last Idris al WathiqHistory Established1121 Almoravids overthrown1147 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa1212 Marinid suzerainty1248 Disestablished1269Area1150 est 4 2 300 000 km2 890 000 sq mi 1200 est 5 2 000 000 km2 770 000 sq mi CurrencyDinar 6 Preceded by Succeeded by Almoravid dynasty Hammadid kingdom Second Taifas period Kingdom of Africa Khurasanid dynasty Banu Ghaniya Marinid Sultanate Hafsid Sultanate Kingdom of Tlemcen Third Taifas period Kingdom of Castile Kingdom of Aragon Kingdom of Majorca Kingdom of Portugal Kingdom of Leon Emirate of Granada 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 12 13 14 were founded after his death by Abd al Mu min al Gumi 15 16 17 18 Around 1121 Ibn Tumart was recognized by his followers as the Mahdi and shortly afterwards he established his base at Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains 19 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 was under Almohad rule by 1172 20 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 Cordoba 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 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 the Marinids seized Marrakesh ending the Almohad domination of the Western Maghreb Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 Caliphate and expansion 1 3 Expansion into al Andalus 1 4 Holding years 1 5 Decline in al Andalus 1 6 Collapse in the Maghreb 2 Culture 2 1 Language 2 2 Literature 2 3 Theology and philosophy 2 4 Emblem 2 5 Art 2 5 1 Calligraphy and manuscripts 2 5 2 Textiles 2 5 3 Metalwork 2 5 4 Ceramics and tilework 2 5 5 Painted decoration 2 6 Architecture 3 Status of Non Muslims 4 List of Almohad rulers 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 External linksHistory editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed September 2020 Learn how and when to remove this message Origins edit 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 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 a revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in Muslim orthodoxy His followers would become known as the al Muwaḥḥidun 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 in 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 area 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 emir decided merely to expel him from the city nbsp Approximate locations of the main Masmuda tribes that adhered to the Almohads 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 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 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 citation needed Sometime around 1124 Ibn Tumart established his base at Tinmel a highly defensible position in the valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas 21 22 23 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 22 23 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 Tasghimut that protected the approach to Aghmat which was conquered by the Almohads in 1132 24 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 This was supplemented by 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 ṭalaba and huffaẓ 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 fighters the ʻabid 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 the regular army jund then the religious corps the muezzins the hafidh and the hizb followed by the archers the conscripts and the slaves 25 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 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 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 26 Caliphate and expansion edit nbsp Phases of the expansion of the Almohad state 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 the skills of his successor Abd al Mu min 27 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 27 Although a Zenata Berber from Tagra Algeria 28 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 Three years after Ibn Tumart s death he was officially proclaimed Caliph 29 After 1133 Abd al Mu min quickly expanded Almohad control across the Maghreb while the embattled Almoravids retained their capital in Marrakesh 30 Various other tribes rallied to the Almohads or to the Almoravids as the war between them continued 31 Initially Almohad operations were limited to the Atlas mountains In 1139 they expanded to the Rif mountains in the north 30 One of their early bases beyond the mountains was Taza 32 where Abd al Mu min founded a citadel ribat and a Great Mosque circa 1142 33 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 the Almohad camp along with some of the previously Almoravid aligned leaders of the Masufa tribe 31 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 34 31 29 The Almohads pursued the defeated Almoravid army west to Fez which they captured in 1146 after a nine month siege 31 34 They finally captured Marrakesh in 1147 after an eleven month siege The last Almoravid ruler Ishaq ibn Ali was killed 34 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 Bejaia the capital of the Hammadids The last Hammadid ruler Yahya ibn Abd al Aziz fled by sea 35 The Arab tribes of 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 Setif in April 1153 36 37 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 the Almohad armies 38 36 These moves also had the corollary effect of advancing the Arabisation of future Morocco 39 Abd al Mu min spent the mid 1150s organizing the Almohad state and arranging for power to be passed on through his family line 36 40 In 1154 he declared his son Muhammad as his heir 36 40 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 the Almohad power structure and from whom he recruited some 40 000 into the army 41 42 43 44 They would later form the bodyguard of the caliph and his successors 45 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 46 With his son appointed as his successor Abd al Mu min placed his other children as governors of the provinces of the caliphate 47 His sons and descendants became known as the sayyids nobles 41 48 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 sayyids They became known as the abna al muwahhidin or Sons of the Almohads 49 Abd al Mu min also altered the Almohad structure set up by Ibn Tumart by making 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 50 Abd al Mu min thus transformed the Almohad movement from a Masmuda aristocracy to a Mu minid dynastic state 50 51 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 Sale returned to the city defeated the rebels and had everyone involved executed 52 36 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 53 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 the Normans two years earlier recognized Almohad authority right after 36 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 54 In 1189 1190 the Ayyubid sultan Salah ad Din Saladin requested the assistance of an Almohad navy for his fight against the crusaders which al Mansur declined 55 Expansion into al Andalus edit 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 Cordoba to Seville They founded a great mosque there its tower the Giralda was erected in 1184 The Almohads also built a palace there called Al Muwarak on the site of the modern day Alcazar of Seville nbsp The Almohads transferred the capital of Al Andalus to Seville The successors of Abd al Mumin Abu Yaqub Yusuf Yusuf I ruled 1163 1184 and Abu Yusuf Yaqub al Mansur Yaʻqub 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 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 Manṣur 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 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 56 Holding years edit nbsp Coin minted during the reign of Abu Yaqub Yusuf 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 three Christian kings of Castile Aragon 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 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 Alcacer do Sal to the Kingdom of Portugal in 1217 was an exception In early 1224 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 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 Jaen 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 them Decline in al Andalus edit In 1225 Abd Allah al Bayyasi s band of rebels accompanied by a large Castilian army descended from the hills besieging cities such as Jaen and Andujar They raided throughout the regions of Jaen 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 Leon 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 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 Caceres 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 Banos de la Encina Salvatierra the old Order of Calatrava fortress near Ciudad Real and Capilla But Capilla refused to hand them 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 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 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 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 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 the Abbasid Caliph albeit taking up for himself a quasi caliphal title al Mutawwakil nbsp Almohads after 1212 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 Leon 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 Merida 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 Jaen 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 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 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 Banu Naṣr 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 edit 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 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 al Wathiq was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh where he was murdered by a slave in 1269 citation needed Culture editLanguage edit The use of Berber language was important in Almohad doctrine Under the Almohads the khuṭbas from خطبة the Friday sermon were made to be delivered in Arabic and Berber or as the Andalusi historian Ibn Ṣaḥib aṣ Ṣalat ar described it al lisan al gharbi اللسان الغربي the western tongue 57 For example the khaṭib or sermon giver of al Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fes Mahdi b isa was replaced under the Almohads by Abu l Ḥasan b Aṭiyya khaṭib because he was fluent in Berber 57 As the Almohads rejected the status of Dhimma the Almohad conquest of al Andalus caused the emigration of Andalusi Christians from southern Iberia to the Christian north 58 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 59 Literature edit nbsp nbsp An 1183 manuscript of Ibn Tumart s E az Ma Yutlab written in a Maghrebi script The Almohads worked to suppress the influence of Maliki fiqh even publicly burning copies of Muwatta Imam Malik and Maliki commentaries They sought to disseminate the doctrine of Ibn Tumart author of E az Ma Yutlab أعز ما ي طلب The Most Noble Calling Muhadhi al Muwatta محاذي الموطأ Counterpart of the Muwatta and Talkhis Sahih Muslim تلخيص صحيح مسلم Compendium of Sahih Muslim 60 Literary production continued despite the devastating effect the Almohad reforms had on cultural life in their domain Almohad universities continued the knowledge of preceding Andalusi scholars as well as ancient Greco Roman writers contemporary literary figures included Ibn Rushd Averroes Hafsa bint al Hajj al Rukuniyya Ibn Tufail Ibn Zuhr Ibn al Abbar Ibn Amira and many more poets philosophers and scholars The abolishment of the dhimmi status further stifled the once flourishing Jewish Andalusi cultural scene 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 61 Theology and philosophy edit Main article Almohad doctrine The Almohad ideology preached by Ibn Tumart is described by Amira Bennison as 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 8 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 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 Muwaḥḥidun Arabic الم و ح دون meaning roughly those who advocate tawhid which was adapted to Almohads in European writings 8 Ibn Tumart saw his movement as a revolutionary reform movement much as early Islam saw itself relative to the Christianity and Judaism which preceded it with himself as its mahdi and leader 8 In terms of Muslim jurisprudence the state gave recognition to the Zahiri ظاهري school of thought 62 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 63 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 Maḍaʾ oversaw the banning of all religious books written by non Zahirites 64 when Abu Yaqub s son Abu Yusuf took the throne he ordered Ibn Maḍaʾ to undertake the actual burning of such books 65 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 66 67 Some authors occasionally describe Almohads as heavily influenced by Mu tazilism 68 Scholar Madeline Fletcher argues that while one of Ibn Tumart s original teachings the murshidas 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 the aqida which was likely edited by others after him demonstrates a much clearer Ash arite position on a number of issues 69 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 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 69 70 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 the traditional Maliki ulema with whom the Almohads were already at odds 71 After the decline of Almohadism Maliki Sunnism ultimately became the dominant official religious doctrine of the region 72 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 71 Emblem edit nbsp Almohad soldiers in the Cantigas de Santa Maria depicted on the right under white banners 73 Most historical records indicate that the Almohads were recognized for their use of white banners which were supposed to evoke their purity of purpose 74 This began a long tradition of using white as main dynastic color in what is now Morocco for the later Marinids and Saadian sultanates 75 Whether these white banners contained any specific motifs or inscriptions is not certain 76 Historian Ḥasan Ali Ḥasan writes 77 As for the flags of 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 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 78 79 Egyptian historiographer Al Qalqashandi d 1418 mentioned white flags in two places the first being when he spoke about 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 80 By the end of the Almohad reign dissident movements would adopt black in recognition of the Abbasid caliphate and in rejection of the Almohad authority 81 The Libro del Conoscimiento de Todos los Reinos written by a Franciscan friar in the 14th century well after the end of the Almohad period describes the flag of Marrakesh as being red with a black and white checkerboard motif at its center Some authors have assumed this flag to be the former flag of the Almohads 76 In modern times Islamic al Andalus in Andalusian collective memory allowed more awareness of the colors of the Andalusian flag chosen in 1918 by Blas Infante a founding figure of Andalusia Infante has explained the design of its flag by indicating that green was the color of the Umayyads and white that of the Almohads the caliphates which represented periods of greatness and power in this region 82 Art edit Calligraphy and manuscripts edit The Almohad dynasty embraced a style of cursive Maghrebi script known today as Maghrebi thuluth as an official style used in manuscripts coinage documents and architecture 60 However the more angular Kufic script was still used albeit in a reworked form in Qur an epigraphy and was seen detailed in silver in some colophons 83 84 The Maghrebi thuluth script frequently written in gold was used to give emphasis when standard writing written in rounded Maghrebi mabsut script was considered insufficient 60 Maghrebi mabsut of the al Andalus region during the 12th to 14th centuries was characterized by elongated lines stretched out curves and the use of multiple colors for vocalizations as derived from the people of Medina 84 Scribes and calligraphers of the Almohad period also started to illuminate words and phrases in manuscripts for emphasis using gold leaf and lapis lazuli 85 60 While much of the script was written in black or brown ink the use of polychromy for diacritical text and vocalizations also marked a departure from previous caliphates calligraphic styles 84 Blue dots were used to indicate elif orange dots denoted hamza and yellow semicircles to marked shaddah 84 Separate sets of verses were denoted by various medallions with distinctive designs for each set For example sets of five verses were ended with bud like medallions while sets of ten were marked by circular medallions all of which were typically painted in gold 85 Manuscripts attributed to this caliphate were characterized by interlacing geometric or recti curvilinear illuminations and abstract vegetal artwork and large medallions were often present in the margins and as thumbnails 85 Composite floral finials were also frequently used in decorating the margins and corners of the page 85 Color schemes focused on primarily using gold white and blue with accentuating elements in red or pink 85 During the Almohad dynasty the act of bookbinding itself took on great importance with a notable instance of the Almohad caliph Abd al Mu min bringing in artisans for a celebration of the binding of a Qur an imported from Cordoba 86 Books were most frequently bound in goatskin leather and decorated with polygonal interlacing goffering and stamping The primary materials used for the pages were goat or sheep vellum 86 However the Almohad dynasty also saw industrial advancements in the spread of paper mills in Seville and Marrakesh leading to the introduction of paper for Qur an manuscripts illuminated doctrine books and official documents 60 87 Most Qur anic manuscripts were close to square shaped though other religious texts were typically vertically oriented With the exception of a few large scale Qur ans most were modestly sized ranging from 11 centimenters to 22 centimeters on each side with 19 to 27 lines of script each page 87 In contrast large sized Qur ans were typically approximately 60 centimeters by 53 centimeters and had an average of five to nine lines of script to a page typically in Maghrebi thuluth 87 Hadith Bayaḍ wa Riyaḍ the love story of Bayad and Riyad is one of the few remaining illustrated manuscripts dated to 13th century Almohad caliphate 86 Its use of miniatures displays a clear connection with previous illustrated tradition from the eastern Islamic world However it deviates in its depictions of the frontispiece interior and teaching scenes which show similarities to scientific manuscripts from the central Islamic world typically considered to have consisted of the Arabian peninsula northeast modern Iran and the Fertile Crescent 88 Depictions of architecture specific to the Almohad caliphate are also evident in several places in the manuscript 88 nbsp A copy of the Qur an personally transcribed by Caliph al Murtada circa 1266The penultimate Almohad caliph Abu Hafs al Murtada was a notable calligrapher in his own right and composed poems and copied Qur ans A known bibliophile he frequently endowed books to madrasas and mosques and established the first public manuscript transcription center in Marrakesh 60 One of the large Qur ans that he copied has been preserved in Marrakesh and is the oldest surviving example in the western Islamic world of a Qur an personally produced by a sovereign ruler The 10 volume tome is written on parchment and bound with a leather cover decorated with a geometric motif exhibiting the first dated use of gold tooling on a manuscript binding 89 The verses are written in Maghrebi mabsut script and the end of each verse is marked by a gold circle divided into eight uniform segments Using large Maghrebi script there are five to 10 lines to a page with relatively few words to each line There is lavish use of gold and this Qur an as with other Qur ans of this size was likely intended for court use 90 Textiles edit nbsp The Las Navas de Tolosa banner an Almohad banner captured by Ferdinand III in the 13th century The Almohads initially eschewed the production of luxury textiles and silks but eventually they too engaged in this production Almohad textiles like earlier Almoravid examples were often decorated with a grid of roundels filled with ornamental designs or Arabic epigraphy However textiles produced by Almohad workshops used progressively less figural decoration than previous Almoravid textiles in favour of interlacing geometric and vegetal motifs 91 One of the best known textiles traditionally attributed to the Almohads is the Las Navas de Tolosa Banner so called because it was once thought to be a spoil won by Alfonso VIII at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 More recent studies have proposed that it was actually a spoil won some years later by Ferdinand III 92 The banner was then donated to the Monastery of Santa Maria la Real de Huelgas in Burgos where it remains today The banner is richly designed and features blue Arabic inscriptions and white decorative patterns on a red background The central motif features an eight pointed star framed by a circle inside a larger square with smaller motifs filling the bands of the frame and the corner spaces This central design is surrounded on four sides by Arabic inscriptions in Naskhi script featuring Qur anic verses Surah 61 10 12 and another horizontal inscription in the banner s upper part which praises God and Muhammad Recent studies have argued that the banner is of 14th century origin rather than of Almohad origin due to its similarities with captured Marinid banners kept at the Cathedral of Toledo and to its similarities with Nasrid motifs It remains uncertain whether it was crafted either in Fez under the Marinids or in Granada under the Nasrids 93 94 Metalwork edit nbsp The Monzon Lion a bronze fountain from Al Andalus dating from the 12th 13th century The French historian Henri Terrasse described al Qarawiyyin s bronze grand chandelier commissioned by Caliph Muhammad al Nasir as the largest and most beautiful chandelier in the Islamic world 95 96 97 The chandelier consists of a 12 sided copula on top of which is mounted a large cone crowned around its sides with nine levels of candlesticks The visible surfaces of the chandelier are carved and pierced with intricate floral arabesque motifs as well as Kufic Arabic inscriptions The chandelier is now the oldest surviving chandelier in the western Islamic world and it likely served as a model for the later and nearly equally famous Marinid chandelier in the Great Mosque of Taza 98 Another important piece the so called Monzon Lion also dates from the Almohad period during the 12 or 13th century and is held in the Louvre Museum today It is an example of figural bronze sculpture from al Andalus that continues in the tradition of earlier objects such as the 11th century Pisa Griffin kept at the Cathedral Museum of Pisa and the 10th century Stag of Cordoba 99 made in Madinat al Zahra now kept at the Archeological Museum of Cordoba It was found in Monzon near Palencia but it is not known where exactly in the Iberian Peninsula it was made As Palencia was outside the Almohad realm it may have been made by Andalusi craftsman for a Christian patron The lion which served as a fountainhead is sculpted in a highly stylized manner and its articulated tail is adjustable Its surface is covered in incised decoration consisting of tapestry like motifs and a broad Kufic inscription on its side features well wishes for its owner 100 101 102 Other surviving metalwork objects from the Almohad period include a series of braziers and lamps discovered in Cordoba and now kept at the Archeological Museum of Cordoba One of them a hexagonal brazier features both incised and pierced decoration Along with prominent decorative Kufic inscriptions it has an architectural motif of merlons resembling the decorative sawtooth shaped merlons found along the tops of Moorish and Moroccan buildings of the same period 103 104 Ceramics and tilework edit nbsp Fragment of Kufic inscription on cuerda seca tiles formerly around the minaret of the Kasbah Mosque Jonathan Bloom cites the white and green glazed tiles on the minaret of the Kutubiyya Mosque dating from the mid 12th century in the early Almohad period as the earliest reliably dated example of zellij in Morocco 105 The tiles currently installed on the minaret are modern reproductions of the original decoration but some of the original tiles were preserved in a collection kept at the Badi Palace 106 The same collection has also preserved fragments of the original tile decoration on the minaret of the Kasbah Mosque including fragments of a Kufic inscription which is no longer present on the minaret today These latter fragments are also the earliest surviving example of cuerda seca tilework a technique originating in al Andalus being used in an architectural context 107 Painted decoration edit The Kutubiyya Mosque s minaret in Marrakesh originally had polychrome painted decoration around the windows and blind arches on its exterior facades featuring a mix of geometric and vegetal arabesque motifs 108 In Seville some Almohad era houses have been excavated in various locations in the city particularly on the site of the present day cathedral At least one of these excavations have revealed the remains of mural decoration featuring interlacing geometric decoration 109 Decorations of a hammam dating back to the Almohad period were uncovered in a bar in Seville during renovations in 2020 110 The decorations feature red ochre paintings of concave hexadecagons and eightfold rosettes on engraved white lime mortar in a pattern that fits the hammam s geometric skylight holes 110 Architecture edit nbsp The Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh founded by Abd al Mu min in 1147 nbsp The ceremonial main gate of the Kasbah of the Udayas in Rabat added to the fortress by Ya qub al Mansur in the late 1190sMain article Almohad architecture Along with the Almoravid period preceding it the Almohad period is considered one of the most formative stages of Moroccan and Moorish architecture establishing many of the forms and motifs that were refined in subsequent centuries 111 108 112 113 The main sites of Almohad architecture and art include Fes Marrakesh Rabat and Seville 114 In general Almohad architecture was built mostly in rammed earth and brick rather than stone These two materials were relatively cheap readily available at most sites and already widely used in the preceding centuries 115 Almohad architects refined both the manufacturing process of these materials and their on site assembly making the execution of numerous and ambitious construction projects possible According to scholar Felix Arnold during the Almohad period construction became an industry on a scale not seen since Roman times 116 Compared to the earlier Almoravid period and the Taifas or Caliphal period in al Andalus early Almohad architecture was much more restrained in its ornamentation focusing its attention on overall architectural forms rather than on detailed surface decoration 117 116 In addition to continuing the integration of Moroccan and Andalusi artistic traditions some currents in Almohad architecture may also reflect influences from Algeria and Tunisia Ifriqiya Some Almohad elements such as polylobed arches have their earliest precedents in Fatimid architecture in Ifriqiya and Egypt and had also appeared in Andalusi architecture such as the Aljaferia palace In the Almohad period this type of arch was further refined for decorative functions while horseshoe arches continued to be standard elsewhere 118 The decoration around mihrab arches inside mosques also evolved into richer and more monumental forms in the great ceremonial stone gates of Almohad architecture such as Bab Agnaou in Marrakesh and Bab Oudaia and Bab er Rouah in Rabat These gates employed varying decorative motifs arranged in concentric semi circles around the arch of the gate all of which was in turn framed inside an outer rectangular band with other motifs 119 108 This style remained evident in Marinid gateways e g the main gate of Chellah and in later Moroccan gateways 120 The Almohad Kutubiyya and Tinmal mosques are often considered the prototypes of later Moroccan and Andalusi mosques 108 121 although the Great Mosque of Taza later modified by the Marinids is the oldest surviving Almohad mosque begun in 1142 33 Like earlier mosques in the region Almohad mosques have interiors consisting of large hypostyle halls divided by rows of arches that create a repetitive visual effect However the aisle or nave leading towards the mihrab niche symbolizing the qibla in the southern southeastern wall and the aisle running along the qibla wall itself were usually wider than the others and were highlighted with distinctive arches and greater decoration This layout already present in Almoravid mosques is often referred to as the T plan by art historians because the aisle running parallel to the qibla wall and the aisle leading to the mihrab perpendicular to it form a T shape and became standard in mosques of the region for centuries 122 The minarets of Almohad mosques also established the standard form and style of subsequent minarets in the region with a square base and two tiered shaft covered in polylobed arch and darj wa ktaf motifs The minaret of the Kasbah Mosque of Marrakesh was particularly influential and set a style that was repeated with minor elaborations in the following Marinid period 123 124 108 The most famous minarets of this time however are the minarets of the Kutubiyya Mosque begun in 1147 by Abd al Mu min but subsequently rebuilt before 1195 123 the Giralda of Seville part of a Great Mosque begun in 1171 by Abu Ya qub Yusuf and the unfinished Hassan Tower of Rabat part of a huge mosque begun by Abu Yusuf Ya qub al Mansur in 1191 but never completed 124 108 125 126 The Almohads were also prolific builders of fortifications and forts across their realm They were responsible for building or rebuilding the city walls of Cordoba Seville Fes and Taza as well as many smaller forts and castles across Morocco and southern Spain and Portugal 127 In Rabat Abd al Mu min built most of the current Kasbah of the Udayas in 1150 1151 after having destroyed an earlier Almoravid ribat there while Abu Yusuf Ya qub al Mansur embarked on the construction of a vast new capital and citadel on its south side called Ribat al Fath for which the enormous unfinished mosque of the Hassan Tower was also intended While never finished this project created the current outer walls of the historic center of Rabat along with multiple gates such as Bab er Rouah and the ceremonial main gate of the Kasbah of the Udayas 128 Al Mansur also created the Kasbah of Marrakesh a large royal citadel and palace complex to house the caliph s family and administration The main public entrance of this kasbah was the ornamental gate of Bab Agnaou 129 In Seville the Almohads built the Torre del Oro a defensive tower on the shores of the Guadalquivir River which dates from 1220 to 1221 and remains a landmark of the city today 130 Likewise the Calahorra Tower in Cordoba is believed to be an originally Almohad structure designed to defend the river and the city s old bridge 131 The Almohad caliphs also constructed multiple country estates just outside the main cities where they resided continuing a tradition that existed under the Almoravids 132 The best known examples of these estates were centered around large water basins or reservoirs that sustained orchards of fruit trees and other plants Some of them are referred to as al Buḥayra little sea in Arabic sources likely in reference to these artificial lakes Small palaces or pleasure pavilions were built on the edge of the reservoirs In Marrakesh the present day Agdal and Menara gardens both developed from such Almohad creations In Seville the remains of the al Buḥayra garden founded in 1171 were excavated and partly restored in the 1970s A similar garden estate was also created in Rabat but has not been found by archaeologists 132 The Alcazar Genil originally called al Qaṣr as Sayyid in Granada created in the late Almohad period and later remodeled by the Nasrids stood next to an enormous pool on the outskirts of the city 133 134 A small ribat consisting of a square hall covered by a sixteen sided dome on squinches was built nearby at the same time and has been preserved today as a Christian hermitage 135 Sunken gardens were also part of Almohad palace architecture In some cases the gardens were divided symmetrically into four parts much like a riyad garden Examples of these have been found in several courtyards in the Alcazar of Seville where former Almohad palaces once stood 136 137 nbsp Mihrab of the Great Mosque of Tinmal nbsp La Giralda the former minaret of the Great Mosque of Seville built during the Almohad period nbsp The south portico of the Patio del Yeso of the Alcazar of Seville built during the Almohad period nbsp Reservoir of the al Buḥayra gardens in Seville with remains of palace structure behind it partly occupied by later building nbsp Hassan Tower in Rabat an incomplete minaret intended for an enormous mosque begun by Ya qub al Mansur in the 1190s nbsp Bab Ruwah Gate of the Winds in Rabat nbsp The minaret of the Kasbah Mosque or Al Mansuriyya Mosque in the Kasbah of Marrakesh nbsp Bab Agnaou the original public entrance to the Kasbah of Marrakesh nbsp The Almohad minaret in Safi nbsp The Torre del Oro in Seville nbsp Calahorra Tower in CordobaStatus of Non Muslims editSee also History of the Jews under Muslim rule Muslim persecution of Christians and Persecution of Jews nbsp Almohad social pyramid according to Ibn al Qattan The Almohads had taken control of the Almoravid Maghribi and Andalusian territories by 1147 138 The Almohads rejected the mainstream Islamic doctrine that established the status of dhimmi a Non Muslim resident of a Muslim country who was allowed to practice his religion on condition of submission to Muslim rule and payment of jizya 139 140 The treatment and persecution of Jews under Almohad rule was a drastic change 141 Prior to Almohad rule during the Caliphate of Cordoba Jewish culture experienced a Golden Age Maria Rosa Menocal a specialist in Iberian literature at Yale University has argued that tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society and that the Jewish dhimmis living under the Caliphate while allowed fewer rights than Muslims were still better off than in Christian Europe 142 Many Jews migrated to al Andalus where they were not just tolerated but allowed to practice their faith openly Christians had also practiced their religion openly in Cordoba and both Jews and Christians lived openly in Morocco as well The first Almohad ruler Abd al Mumin allowed an initial seven month grace period 143 Then he forced most of the urban dhimmi population in Morocco both Jewish and Christian to convert to Islam 139 In 1198 the Almohad emir Abu Yusuf Yaqub al Mansur decreed that Jews must wear a dark blue garb with very large sleeves and a grotesquely oversized hat 144 his son altered the colour to yellow a change that may have influenced Catholic ordinances some time later 144 Those who converted had to wear clothing that identified them as Jews since they were not regarded as sincere Muslims 139 Cases of mass martyrdom of Jews who refused to convert to Islam are recorded 143 The treatment and persecution of Christians under Almohad rule was a drastic change as well 145 Many of the conversions were superficial Maimonides urged Jews to choose the superficial conversion over martyrdom and argued Muslims know very well that we do not mean what we say and that what we say is only to escape the ruler s punishment and to satisfy him with this simple confession 141 139 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 141 146 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 147 However a few Jewish traders still working in North Africa are recorded 143 Idris al Ma mun a late Almohad pretender ruled 1229 1232 in parts of Morocco renounced much Almohad doctrine including the identification of Ibn Tumart as the Mahdi and the denial of dhimmi status He allowed Jews to practice their religion openly in Marrakesh and even allowed a Christian church there as part of his alliance with Castile 139 In Iberia Almohad rule collapsed in the 1200s and was succeeded by several Taifa kingdoms which allowed Jews to practice their religion openly 139 List of Almohad rulers editIbn 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 family tree Ali al Kumi Abd al Mu min 1 MuhammadAbu Yaqub Yusuf I 2 Abu al Hassan AliAbu Zayd Abd al RahmanAbu Zakariya Abd al RahmanAbu Abd al Rahman YaqubAbu Ibrahim IsmailAbu Said UthmanAbu Ali al HusseinAbu Muhammad Abd AllahAbu Musa IsaAbu Ishaq IbrahimAbu al Rabi SulaymanAbu Imran MusaAbu Hafs Umar Abu Yusuf Yaqub al Mansur 3 Abu al Ula Idris the OldAbu YahyaAbu Ishaq IbrahimAbu Hafs Umar al Rashid Abu Zayd MuhammadAbu Muhammad Abd al Wahid I al Makhlu 6 Abu Ibrahim Ishaq al Tahir Abu Zayd Abd al RahmanAbu Zakariya YahyaAbu al Hassan AliAbu Yusuf YaqubAbu al Rabi SulaymanAbu Abd Allah Muhammad Muhammad al Nasir 4 Abdallah al Adil 7 Abu Muhammad SaidAbu MusaIbrahimAbu SaidAbu al Ala Idris I al Ma mun 9 Abu Hafs Umar al Murtada 12 Abu ZaydAbu IshaqAbu Dabbus Idris II al Wathiq 13 Abu AliAbd Allah al Bayyansi Abu Zayd Yahya al Mutasim 8 MusaZakariyaAliYusuf II al Mustansir 5 Abu al Hassan Ali al Said 11 Abu Muhammad Abd al Wahid II al Rashid 10 See also editList of Mahdi claimants Mahdist WarReferences edit Qantara Archived from the original on 2016 06 11 Retrieved 2013 02 21 Qantara Archived from the original on 2016 06 11 Retrieved 2013 02 21 Le Moyen Age XIe XVe siecle par Michel Kaplan amp Patrick Boucheron p 213 Ed Breal 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142 Part of Landmarks in Linguistic Thought series vol 3 New York Routledge 1997 ISBN 978 0 415 15757 5 Shawqi Daif Introduction to Ibn Mada s Refutation of the Grammarians pg 6 Cairo 1947 Nakamura Kojiro 1974 Ibn Mada s Criticism of Arab Grammarians Orient 10 89 113 doi 10 5356 orient1960 10 89 Pascal Buresi and Hicham El Aallaoui Governing the Empire Provincial Administration in the Almohad Caliphate 1224 1269 p 170 Volume 3 of Studies in the History and Society of the Maghrib Leiden Brill Publishers 2012 ISBN 978 90 04 23333 1 Ahmed Nazeer 10 July 2001 Islam in Global History Volume One From the Death of Prophet Muhammed to the First World War Xlibris Corporation ISBN 978 1 4628 3130 2 a b Fletcher Madeleine 1991 The Almohad Tawhid Theology Which Relies on Logic Numen 38 110 127 doi 10 1163 156852791X00060 Bennison 2016 pp 258 262 a b Bennison 2016 p 261 Abun Nasr 1987 pp 98 101 102 117 132 133 Stockstill Abbey 2023 The Red Tent in the Red City The Caliphal Qubba in Almohad Marrakesh In Ekici Didem Blessing Patricia Baudez Basile eds Textile in Architecture From the Middle Ages to Modernism Taylor amp Francis pp 21 22 ISBN 978 1 000 90044 6 Stockstill Abbey 2023 The Red Tent in the Red City The Caliphal Qubba in Almohad Marrakesh In Ekici Didem Blessing Patricia Baudez Basile eds Textile in Architecture From the Middle Ages to Modernism Taylor amp Francis pp 21 22 ISBN 978 1 000 90044 6 العزيز بنعبد الله عبد 1957 مظاهر الحضارة المغربية Aspects of Maghrebi civilization in Arabic دار السلمى p 43 a b Bennison Amira K 2014 Drums Banners and Baraka Symbols of authority during the first century of Marinid rule 1250 1350 In Bennison Amira K ed The Articulation of Power in Medieval Iberia and the Maghrib Oxford University Press pp 194 216 Ḥasan ʻAli Ḥasan 1980 الحضارة الإسلامية في المغرب والأندلس عصر المرابطين والموحدين Islamic civilization in Morocco and Andalusia The era of the Almoravids and Almohads in Arabic مكتبة الخانجي p 424 Bennison 2016 p 101 Bennison 2007 p 88 عاصم محمد رزق 2006 رايات الإسلام من اللواء النبوي الأبيض إلى العلم العثماني الأحمر Banners of Islam from the white Prophet s banner to the red Ottoman flag in Arabic Cairo مكتبة مدبولي p 151 Buresi Pascal Aallaoui Hicham El 2012 Governing the Empire Provincial Administration in the Almohad Caliphate 1224 1269 Critical Edition Translation and Study of Manuscript 4752 of the Ḥasaniyya Library in Rabat Containing 77 Taqadim Appointments Brill p 76 ISBN 978 90 04 23971 5 Civantos Christina 2017 The Afterlife of al Andalus Muslim Iberia in Contemporary Arab and Hispanic Narratives State University of New York Press p 175 ISBN 978 1 4384 6671 2 Streit Jessica 2013 Monumental Austerity The Meanings And Aesthetic Development Of Almohad Friday Mosques PhD Cornell University p 52 hdl 1813 34025 a b c d Bongianino Umberto 18 May 2021 Untold Stories of Maghrebi Qur ans 12th 14th centuries Lecture a b c d e Barrucand Marianne 1995 Remarques sur le decor des manuscrit religeux hispano maghrebin du moyen age Paris Comite des travaux historiques et scientifiques p 240 243 ISBN 2 7355 0241 4 a b c Khemir Sabiha 1992 The Arts of the Book In Dodds Jerrilynn ed Al Andalus The Art of Islamic Spain New York N Y MetPublications p 124 ISBN 978 0 87099 636 8 a b c Barrucand Marianne 2005 Les Enluminares de l Epoque Almohade Frontispices et Unwans Estudios Arabes e Islamicos p 72 74 a b Robinson Cynthia 2007 Contadini A ed Love Localized and Science from Afar Arab Painting Iberian Courtly Culture and the Hadith Bayad wa Riyad Brill pp 104 114 ISBN 978 90 474 2237 2 Bloom Jonathan M Blair Sheila S 2009 Almohad The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 acref 9780195309911 001 0001 acref 9780195309911 e 70 ISBN 978 0 19 530991 1 retrieved 2021 05 04 Blair Sheila 2008 Islamic Calligraphy Edinburgh Edinburgh pp 227 228 ISBN 978 1 4744 6447 5 Partearroyo Cristina 1992 Almoravid and Almohad Textiles In Dodds Jerrilynn D ed Al Andalus The Art of Islamic Spain New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art pp 105 113 ISBN 0 87099 637 1 Dodds 1992 pp 326 327 Ali de Unzaga Miriam 2014 La banniere de Las Huelgas dite de Las Navas de Tolosa In Lintz Yannick Delery Claire Tuil Leonetti Bulle eds Maroc medieval Un empire de l Afrique a l Espagne in French Paris Louvre editions p 98 ISBN 9782350314907 See also Pavon Maldonado Basilio 1985 Arte simbolo y emblemas en la Espana musulmana Al Qantara in Spanish 10 2 448 hdl 10261 26606 ISSN 0211 3589 Ruiz Souza Juan Carlos 2001 Botin de guerra y Tesoro sagrado In Bango Torviso Isidro G ed Maravillas de la Espana medieval Tesoro sagrado y monarquia in Spanish Madrid Junta de Castilla y Leon p 35 Ali de Unzaga Miriam 2007 Quranic inscriptions on the so called Pennon of Las Navas de Tolosa and three Marinid banners In Suleman Fahmida ed Word of God Art of Man The Quran and its Creative Expressions Oxford University Press and the Institute for Ismaili Studies pp 239 270 ISBN 9780199591497 Qantara Large chandelier of the Qarawiyyin Mosque www qantara med org Retrieved 2021 02 21 Terrasse Henri 1968 La Mosquee al Qaraouiyin a Fes avec une etude de Gaston Deverdun sur les inscriptions historiques de la mosquee Paris Librairie C Klincksieck i24NEWS www i24news tv Retrieved 2020 09 11 Lintz Delery amp Tuil Leonetti 2014 p 334 Qantara Spout of a fountain in the form of a stag www qantara med org Retrieved 2021 02 21 Lintz Delery amp Tuil Leonetti 2014 p 390 Dodds 1992 p 270 Qantara Lion with an articulated tail www qantara med org Archived from the original on 2021 04 15 Retrieved 2021 02 21 Lintz Delery amp Tuil Leonetti 2014 p 383 Dodds 1992 p 274 Bloom Jonathan Toufiq Ahmed Carboni Stefano Soultanian Jack Wilmering Antoine M Minor Mark D Zawacki Andrew Hbibi El Mostafa 1998 The Minbar from the Kutubiyya Mosque The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Ediciones El Viso S A Madrid Ministere des Affaires Culturelles Royaume du Maroc p 26 Lintz Delery amp Tuil Leonetti 2014 p 329 Lintz Delery amp Tuil Leonetti 2014 p 332 a b c d e f Salmon Xavier 2018 Maroc Almoravide et Almohade Architecture et decors au temps des conquerants 1055 1269 Paris LienArt Lintz Delery amp Tuil Leonetti 2014 p 327 a b Islamic 12th century bathhouse uncovered in Seville tapas bar The Guardian 2021 02 18 Retrieved 2021 02 18 Marcais 1954 pp 258 260 Bennison 2016 pp 276 and after Basset Henri Terrasse Henri 1932 Sanctuaires et forteresses almohades Paris Larose Le muse De Agostini Novara 1964 Vol I pp 152 153 Bennison 2016 pp 195 196 a b Arnold 2017 p 196 Marcais 1954 pp 228 231 Marcais 1954 pp 232 234 Marcais 1954 pp 243 244 Marcais 1954 pp 319 328 338 347 Marcais 1954 pp 201 and after Bloom 2020 pp 10 128 183 a b Deverdun Gaston 1959 Marrakech Des origines a 1912 Rabat Editions Techniques Nord Africaines a b Marcais 1954 Bennison 2016 pp 312 323 Bloom 2020 p 121 Marcais 1954 pp 220 225 Bennison 2016 pp 309 10 322 25 Bennison 2016 pp 320 324 Bennison 2016 pp 325 326 Bennison 2016 p 326 a b Arnold 2017 pp 196 212 Arnold 2017 pp 239 240 Reklaityte Ieva 2021 The Rumor of Water A Key Element of Moorish Granada In Boloix Gallardo Barbara ed A Companion to Islamic Granada Brill p 461 ISBN 978 90 04 42581 1 Orihuela Antonio 2021 From the Private to the Public Space Domestic and Urban Architecture of Islamic Granada In Boloix Gallardo Barbara ed A Companion to Islamic Granada Brill pp 421 424 ISBN 978 90 04 42581 1 Arnold 2017 pp 199 210 Wilbaux Quentin 2001 La medina de Marrakech Formation des espaces urbains d une ancienne capitale du Maroc in French Paris L Harmattan pp 70 71 ISBN 2 7475 2388 8 Islamic world Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved September 2 2007 a b c d e f M J Viguera Almohads In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Executive Editor Norman A Stillman First published online 2010 First print edition ISBN 978 90 04 17678 2 2014 Bennison 2016 p 171 a b c Verskin Alan 2020 Medieval Jewish Perspectives on Almohad Persecutions Memory Repression and Impact In Garcia Arenal Mercedes Glazer Eytan Yonatan eds Forced Conversion in Christianity Judaism and Islam Coercion and Faith in Premodern Iberia and Beyond Numen Book Series Vol 164 Leiden and Boston Brill Publishers pp 155 172 doi 10 1163 9789004416826 008 ISBN 978 90 04 41681 9 ISSN 0169 8834 S2CID 211666012 Menocal Maria Rosa 2002 The Ornament of the World How Muslims Jews and Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain Little Brown ISBN 0 316 56688 8 a b c Amira K Bennison and Maria Angeles Gallego Jewish Trading in Fes On The Eve of the Almohad Conquest MEAH seccion Hebreo 56 2007 33 51 a b Silverman Eric 2013 Bitter Bonnets and Badges A Cultural History of Jewish Dress London and New York Bloomsbury Academic pp 47 48 ISBN 978 1 84520 513 3 Wasserstein David J 2020 The Intellectual Genealogy of Almohad Policy towards Christians and Jews In Garcia Arenal Mercedes Glazer Eytan Yonatan eds Forced Conversion in Christianity Judaism and Islam Coercion and Faith in Premodern Iberia and Beyond Numen Book Series Vol 164 Leiden and Boston Brill Publishers pp 133 154 doi 10 1163 9789004416826 007 ISBN 978 90 04 41681 9 ISSN 0169 8834 S2CID 211665760 Ross Brann Power in the Portrayal Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh and Twelfth Century Islamic Spain Princeton University Press 2009 pp 121 122 Frank and Leaman 2003 pp 137 138 Sources editAbun Nasr Jamil 1987 A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521337674 Arnold Felix 2017 Islamic Palace Architecture in the Western Mediterranean A History Oxford University Press ISBN 9780190624552 Baadj Amar S 2015 Saladin the Almohads and the Banu Ghaniya The Contest for North Africa 12th and 13th centuries Brill ISBN 978 90 04 29857 6 Bel Alfred 1903 Les Benou Ghanya Derniers Representants de l empire Almoravide et Leur Lutte Contre l empire Almohade Paris E Leroux Bennison Amira K 2007 Cities in the Pre Modern Islamic World The Urban Impact of Religion State and Society Routledge ISBN 978 1 134 09650 3 Bennison Amira K 2016 The Almoravid and Almohad Empires Edinburgh University Press ISBN 9780748646821 Bloom Jonathan M 2020 Architecture of the Islamic West North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula 700 1800 Yale University Press ISBN 9780300218701 Coppee Henry 1881 Conquest of Spain by the Arab Moors Boston Little Brown OCLC 13304630 Dodds Jerrilynn D ed 1992 Al Andalus The Art of Islamic Spain New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art ISBN 0 87099 637 1 Dozy Reinhart 1881 History of the Almohades Second ed Leiden E J Brill OCLC 13648381 Goldziher Ignac 1903 Le livre de Mohammed ibn Toumert Mahdi des Almohades PDF Alger P Fontana Kennedy Hugh N 1996 Muslim Spain and Portugal A Political History of al Andalus New York Longman pp 196 266 ISBN 978 0 582 49515 9 Lintz Yannick Delery Claire Tuil Leonetti Bulle eds 2014 Maroc medieval Un empire de l Afrique a l Espagne in French Paris Louvre editions ISBN 9782350314907 Magill Frank Northen Aves Alison March 25 1998 Dictionary of World Biography The Middle Ages Routledge ISBN 9781579580414 via Google Books Marcais Georges 1954 L architecture musulmane d Occident Paris Arts et metiers graphiques Julien Charles Andre 1970 History of North Africa Tunisia Algeria Morocco from the Arab Conquest to 1830 Routledge amp K Paul ISBN 978 0 7100 6614 5 Popa Marcel D Matei Horia C 1988 Mica Enciclopedie de Istorie Universala Bucharest Editura Politica OCLC 895214574 External links editAbd al Mumin life among Masmudas Encyclopaedia Britannica Al Andalus the art of Islamic Spain an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art fully available online as PDF which contains material on Almohad Caliphate see index Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Almohad Caliphate amp oldid 1222566708, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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