Early life Many of the details of Ibn Tumart's life were recorded by
hagiographers, whose accounts probably mix legendary elements from the
Almohad doctrine of their founding figure and spiritual leader. Ibn Tumart was born sometime between 1078 and 1082 in the small village of
Igiliz (exact location uncertain) in the
Sous region of southern present-day Morocco. He was a member of the Hargha, a
Berber tribe of the
Anti-Atlas range, part of the
Masmuda (
Berber:
imesmuden) tribal confederation. His name is given alternatively as Muhammad ibn Abdallah or Muhammad ibn Tumart.
Al-Baydhaq reported that "Tumart" was actually his father Abdallah's nickname ("Tumart" or "Tunart" comes from the
Berber language and means "good fortune", "delight" or "happiness", and makes it an equivalent of the Arabic name "
Saad". As it was noted by
Ahmed Toufiq in his research about
Ibn al-Zayyat al-Tadili's famous book
at-Tashawof, many early Sufi saints held this name in present-day Morocco). His father Tumart ibn Nitawas or ibn Titawin belonged to the Hargha and his mother Umm al-Husayn bint Waburkan al-Masakkali to the Masakkala, both of which are divisions of the Masmuda tribal confederation. Muhammad ibn Tumart was notably pious as a child, earning the nickname "ⴰⵙⴰⴼⵓ/Asafu" (Tamazight for "light") for his habit of lighting candles at mosques. Ibn Tumart and his followers asserted he was a descendant of
Idris I (the eighth-century founder of the Idrisid dynasty who had taken refuge in Morocco) and thus from
al-Hasan ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet
Muhammad. This claim, while supported by
Ibn Khaldun, is widely disputed by modern scholars, support that he met and studied under al-Ghazali, but this contradicts what other contemporary historians like
ibn Khallikan have said, and modern historians also maintain that it is unknown whether this encounter happened). He met and studied under both
Mu'tazili and
Ash'ari theologians. He proceeded to
Cairo, and thereon to
Alexandria, where he took a ship back to the
Maghreb in 1117/18. The journey was not without incident - Ibn Tumart took it upon himself to toss the ship's flasks of wine overboard and set about lecturing (or harassing) the sailors to ensure they adhered to correct prayer times and number of genuflections; in some reports, the sailors got fed up and threw Ibn Tumart overboard, only to find him still bobbing a half-day later and fished him back (he is also reported in different chronicles of having either caused or calmed a storm at sea). , Algeria, is the only remaining vestige of the mosque founded by Ibn Toumert between 1117 and 1120. According to some accounts, it is also believed that the historic meeting between Ibn Toumert and Abdelmoumen, the founder of the Almohad dynasty, took place in this mosque. Unfortunately, the mosque itself has completely disappeared and has been replaced by another mosque. Recognizing its cultural significance, the mihrab was classified as a national heritage site on November 3, 1999. After touching at
Tripoli, Ibn Tumart landed in
Mahdia and proceed on to
Tunis and then
Bejaia, preaching a puritan, simplistic Islam along the way. Waving his puritan's staff among crowds of listeners, Ibn Tumart complained of the mixing of sexes in public, the production of wine and music, and the fashion of veiling men unveiling women (a custom among the
Sanhaja Berbers of the
Sahara Desert, that had spread to urban centers with the Almoravids). Setting himself up on the steps of mosques and schools, Ibn Tumart challenged everyone who came close to debate – unwary Maliki jurists and scholars frequently got an earful. His antics and fiery preaching prompted fed-up authorities to hustle him along from town to town. After being expelled from
Bejaia, Ibn Tumart set himself up c.1119 at an encampment in
Mellala (a few miles south of the city), where he began receiving his first followers and adherents. Among these were al-Bashir (a scholar, who would become his chief strategist),
Abd al-Mu'min (a
Zenata Berber who would become his eventual successor) and
Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Baydhaq (who would later write the
Kitab al-Ansab, the chronicle of the Almohads.) It was at Mellala that Ibn Tumart and his close companions began forging a plan of political action. In 1120, Ibn Tumart and his small band of followers headed west into present-day Morocco. He stopped by
Fez, the intellectual capital at the time, and engaged in polemical debates with the leading Malikite scholars of the city. Having exhausted them, the
ulama of Fez decided they had enough and expelled him from the city. He proceeded south, hurried along from town to town like a vagabond (reportedly, he and his companions had to swim across the
Bou Regreg, as they could not afford the ferry passage). Shortly after his arrival in
Marrakesh, Ibn Tumart is said to have successfully sought out the Almoravid ruler
Ali ibn Yusuf at a local mosque. In the famous encounter, when ordered to acknowledge the presence of the emir, Ibn Tumart reportedly replied "Where is the emir? I see only women here!" - an insulting reference to the
tagelmust veil worn by the Almoravid ruling class. Charged with fomenting rebellion, Ibn Tumart defended himself before the emir and his leading advisors. Presenting himself as a mere scholar, a voice for reform, Ibn Tumart set about lecturing the emir and his leading advisors about the dangers of innovations and the centrality of the Sunnah. When the emir's own scholars reminded him the Almoravids too embraced puritanical ideals, and were committed to the Sunnah, Ibn Tumart pointed out that the Almoravids professed puritanism had been clouded and deviated by "obscurantists", drawing attention to the ample evidence of laxity and impiety that prevailed in their dominions. When countered that at least on points of doctrine, there was little difference between them, Ibn Tumart brought out more emphasis on his own peculiar doctrines on the
tawhid and the attributes. After a lengthy examination, the Almoravid jurists of Marrakesh concluded Ibn Tumart, however learned, was blasphemous and dangerous, insinuating he was probably a
Kharijite agitator, and recommended he should be executed or imprisoned. The Almoravid emir, however, decided to merely expel him from the city, after a
flogging of fourteen lashes. Almost immediately, Ibn Tumart set himself up in a nearby mountain cave (a conscious echo of the Muhammad's withdraw to the
cave of Hira). His bizarre retreat, his ascetic lifestyle, probably combined with rumors of his being a
faith healer and small miracle-worker, gave the local people the initial impression that he was a
holy man with supernatural powers (a point de-emphasized by later hagiographers). Towards the end of
Ramadan in late 1121, in a particularly moving sermon, Ibn Tumart reviewed his failure to persuade the Almoravids to reform by argument. After the sermon, having already claimed to be a
descendant of
Muhammad, Ibn Tumart suddenly 'revealed' himself as the true
Mahdi, the expected divinely guided justicer. He was promptly recognized as such by his audience. This was effectively a declaration of war on the Almoravid state. For to reject or resist the Mahdi's interpretations was equivalent to resisting God, and thus punishable with death as
apostasy.
Tinmel and the Almohad rebellion erected in 1148 in honor of Ibn Tumart at
Tinmel, once part of a large fortified complex, the first headquarters of the
Almohads. Ibn Tumart urged his followers to arms in open revolt against the
Almoravids, to fulfill the mission of purifying the Almoravid state. In 1122, or shortly thereafter (c. 1124) he founded a
ribat at
Tinmel (or 'Tin Mal', meaning "(she who is) white"), in a small valley of the Nfis in the middle of the High Atlas. Tinmel was an impregnable fortified complex, which would serve both as spiritual center and military headquarters of the Almohad rebellion. It is during this period that he wrote a series of monographs on various doctrines for the instruction of his men. These disparate works were later collected and compiled in 1183–84, on the order of the Almohad caliph Yusuf ibn Abd al-Ma'mun (later translated in French in 1903, under the title ''Livre d'Ibn Toumert''.) Six principal
Masmuda tribes adhered to the Almohad rebellion: Ibn Tumart's own Hargha tribe (from the
Anti-Atlas) and the Ganfisa, the Gadmiwa, the Hintata, the Haskura and the Hazraja (roughly from west to east, along the
High Atlas range). For the next eight years, the Almohad revolt was largely confined to an irresolute guerilla war through the ravines and peaks of the Atlas range. The principal damage done by the Almohads at this stage was the disruption of Almoravid tax-collection, and rendering insecure (or altogether impassable) the roads and mountain passes south of Marrakesh. The
Sous valley, surrounded on three sides by Almohadist Masmuda mountaineers, was nearly cut off and isolated. Of more particular concern to the Almoravids was their threat to the
Ourika and
Tizi n'Tichka passes, that connected Marrakesh to the
Draa valley on the other side of the High Atlas. These were the principal routes to the all-important city of
Sijilmassa, gateway of the
trans-Saharan trade, by which gold came from west Africa to present-day Morocco. But the Almoravids were unable to send enough manpower through the narrow passes to dislodge the Almohad rebels from their easily defended mountain strongpoints. The Almoravid authorities reconciled themselves to setting up strongpoints to confine them (most famously the fortress of
Tasghimout that protected the approach to
Aghmat), while exploring alternative routes through more easterly passes. Ibn Tumart's closest companion and chief strategist, al-Bashir, took upon himself the role of political commissar, enforcing doctrinal discipline among the Masmuda tribesmen, often with a heavy head. This culminated in an infamous purge (
tamyiz) conducted by al-Bashir in the winter of 1129–30, with mass executions of disloyal partisans, which has been characterized as a brief "reign of terror".
Battle of al-Buhayra In early 1130, the Almohads finally descended from the mountains for their first sizeable attack on the Almoravids in the lowlands. It was a disaster. Al-Bashir (others report Abd al-Mu'min) led the Almohad armies first against
Aghmat. They quickly defeated the Almoravid force that came out to meet them, and then chased their fleeing remnant back to
Marrakesh. The Almohads set up a siege camp before Marrakesh, the first recorded siege of the Almoravid capital, whose walls had only recently been erected. The Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf immediately called upon reinforcements from other parts of present-day Morocco. After forty days of siege, in May (others date 14 April 1130), heartened by news of the approach of a relief column from Sijilmassa, the Almoravids sallied from Marrakesh in force and crushed the Almohads in the bloody
Battle of al-Buhayra (named after a large garden east of the city). The Almohads were routed, suffering huge human losses - 12,000 men from the Hargha alone. Al-Bashir and several other leading figures were killed in action. If not for a sudden torrential rain that broke up the fighting and allowed the remnant to escape back to the mountains, the Almohads might have been finished off then and there. In a bizarre and chilling footnote in the aftermath, it is said that Ibn Tumart returned to the battlefield at night with some of his followers, and ordered them to bury themselves in the field with a small straw to breathe by. Then, to invigorate the rest of the demoralized Almohads, he challenged those who doubted the righteousness of their cause, to go to the battlefield and ask the dead themselves if they were enjoying the blisses of heaven after falling in the fight for God's cause. When they heard the positive reply from the buried men, they were assuaged. To prevent the ruse from being revealed, it is said Ibn Thumart left them buried there, filling their straws so they would suffocate. == Almohads after Ibn Tumart ==