Almohad doctrine

Religious climate before Almohads During its golden age, al-Andalus (in present-day Spain and Portugal) was open to a good deal of religious tolerance. For the most part, the Almoravids let other People of the Book, members of other religions that held the Hebrew Bible as a holy text, practice their religion freely. The Almoravids were more fundamentalist than previous Muslim rulers of Spain, championing a strict adherence to the Maliki school of Islamic law. The golden age for Jews in the Iberian Peninsula is considered to be under the relatively tolerant rule of the Umayyad Caliphate in al-Andalus. It was generally a time when Jews were free to conduct business and practice their religion under the limitations of Dhimmi status. Rise to power The Almohads were led by Ibn Tumart, regarded by historians as a fundamentalist who was convinced that it was his destiny to reform Islam. Ibn Tumart claimed to be the mahdi, a title which elevated him to something similar to a messiah or leader of the redemption of a righteous Islamic order. He was an intelligent and charismatic man; he claimed to be a direct descendant of Muhammad. He had studied in Alexandria, Córdoba, Mecca, and Baghdad, after the Almohads crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 1146. Their rule quickly spread across the Muslim territories of the peninsula (known as al-Andalus). At their height, they were one of the most powerful forces in the western Mediterranean. They were a determined military and economic force, defeating Christian forces primarily composed of Castilians at the Battle of Alarcos. Ibn Tumart himself died in 1130, well before the Almohads' main military successes, and had no spiritual successor. However, the political leadership of his movement passed on to Abd al-Mu'min, who effectively founded the ruling Almohad dynasty. He and his successors had very different personalities from Ibn Tumart but pursued his reforms, culminating in a particularly aggressive push by Ya'qub al-Mansur (who arguably ruled at the apogee of Almohad power in the late 12th century). ==Religious doctrine and ideology==

Tawḥīd 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 (hisbah), and spiritual engagement with Shi'i notions of the imam and mahdi." Abu Yaqub's son Abu Yusuf went even further, actually burning non-Zahirite religious works instead of merely banning them. They trained new judges, who were given schooling in both the religious and military arts. Some authors occasionally describe Almohads as heavily influenced by the Muʿtazila. Scholar Madeline Fletcher argues that while one of Ibn Tumart's original teachings, the murshida (a collection of sayings memorized by his followers), holds positions on the attributes of God that might be construed as moderately Mu'tazilite (and which were criticized as such by Ibn Taymiyyah), 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. Nonetheless, the Almohads, particularly from the reign of Caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub 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 Yaqub Yusuf, had also shown some favour towards philosophy and kept the philosopher Ibn Tufail as his confidant. Ibn Tufayl, in turn, introduced Ibn Rushd (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 ulama, with whom the Almohads were already at odds. 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. == Dissemination ==

Arabic-Berber bilingualism The khuṭbas (from , the Friday sermon) of the Almohads were essential to the dissemination of Almohad doctrine and ideology. One of the most important Almohad innovations in the khuṭba was the imposition of Berber language—or al-lisān al-gharbī ( 'the western tongue') as the Andalusi historian described it—as an official liturgical language; bilingualism became a feature of Almohad preaching in both al-Andalus and the Maghreb. Ibn Tumart was described by an anonymous chronicler of the Almohads as "afṣaḥ an-nāss (the most eloquent of the people) in Arabic and Berber." Under the Almohads, the khaṭīb, or sermon-giver, of al-Qarawiyyīn Mosque in Fes, Mahdī b. ‘Īsā, was replaced by Abū l-Ḥasan b. ‘Aṭiyya because the latter was fluent in Berber. Almohad creed It was obligatory in the khuṭba to repeat the "Almohad creed," with blessings upon the Mahdi Ibn Tumart and affirmation of his claimed hidāya and prophetic lineage. Under Abd al-Mu'min, Ibn Tumart's sermon became institutionalized as what contemporary sources called khuṭbat al-Muwaḥḥidīn (, 'khuṭba of the Almohads') or al-khuṭba l-ma‘lūma (, 'the well-known sermon'). This khuṭba was delivered by every Almohad khaṭīb, and also on the ḥarakas of the sultan and his courts between Marrakesh and Seville. ==Treatment of non-Muslims==

At their peak in the 1170s, the Almohads had firm control over most of Islamic Spain and were not threatened by the Christian forces to the north. argues that Maimonides and his family were converted to Islam for a time under the Almohads before moving to Egypt. In some cases, the threats of violence were carried out locally as a warning to others, even if the authorities did not have the ability actually to follow through on a larger scale. ==Decline==

|alt=In al-Andalus the Almohad caliphate was decisively defeated by the combined Christian forces of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, in 1212. The battle is recognized as one of the most important events in the reconquista movement in Spain. Not only was it a decisive defeat of the Muslim forces, it was also one of the first times the fractured Christian kingdoms of the north came together for the common goal of reclaiming the peninsula. Following 1212 the Almohad Caliphate's power declined and the revolutionary religious dogmatism of Ibn Tumart began to fade as later Almohad dynastic rulers were more preoccupied with the practicalities of maintaining the empire over a wide region whose population largely did not subscribe to Almohadism. This culminated in 1229 when Caliph al-Ma'mun publicly repudiated Ibn Tumart's status as mahdi. By 1270, the Almohads were no longer a force of any significance on the Iberian Peninsula or Morocco. After their fall, the fundamentalist religious doctrine that they supported was relaxed once again. Some scholars consider that Ibn Tumart's overall ideological mission ultimately failed, but that, like the Almoravids, his movement nonetheless played a role in the history of Islamization in the region. The Hafsids of Tunisia, in turn, officially declared themselves the true "Almohads" after their independence from Marrakesh but this identity and ideology lessened in importance over time. The early Hafsid leadership mainly attempted to keep the Almohads as a political elite more than a religious elite in a region that was otherwise predominantly Maliki Sunni in orientation. Eventually, the Almohads were merely one among multiple factions competing for power in their state. After 1311, when Sultan al-Lihyani took power with Aragonese help, Ibn Tumart's name was dropped from the khutba (the main community sermon on Fridays), effectively signaling the end of public support for Almohad doctrine. Over the 14th century the Maliki ulama (scholars) increasingly occupied positions in the state and were the de facto religious authorities. ==References==