Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad Ibn Tūmart (; ca. 1080– August 1130) was a Muslim religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern present-day Morocco. He founded and served as the spiritual and first military leader of the Almohad movement, a puritanical reform movement launched among the Masmuda Berbers of the Atlas Mountains. Ibn Tumart launched an open revolt against the ruling Almoravids during the 1120s. After his death his followers, the Almohads, went on to conquer much of North Africa and part of Spain. Although the Almohad movement itself was founded by Ibn Tumart, after his death the second ruler Abd al-Mu'min was elected in 1133 by the Masmuda Shaykhs the leading authority of the state the councils of 10 and 50.
Biography
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.A French translation of the relation of the Almohad hagiographer Mohammed al-Baydhaq, can be found in Lévi-Provençal (1928). A Spanish translation of the arguably most reliable Almohad chronicle al-Bayan al-Mughrib of Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi, can be found in Huici Miranda (1951). Ibn Idhari was a principal source for the account, Kitab al-'Ibar, of Ibn Khaldun. Ibn Khallikan's entry on Ibn Tumart can be found in English translation in Biographical Dictionary, 1843 M. de Slane trans., Paris, vol. 3, p.205) Ibn Tumart was born sometime between 1078 and 1082 in the small village of Igiliz (exact location uncertainFromherz (2005: p.177) identifies Igiliz (and Ibn Tumart's nearby cave) with the modern small village of Igli, some 30 km east of Taroudannt in the Sous valley) in the Sous region of southern present-day Morocco.H. Kennedy (1996) 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.
Ibn Tumart came from a humble family, and his father was a lamplighter at the mosque.History of Ibn Khaldun
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.Dramani Issifou (1988) "Islam as a social system in Africa since the seventh century", in M. Elfasi, editor, General History of Africa, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, ch.4, p. 99 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, as many Berber leaders of the era claimed prophetic descent to bolster their religious authority.
Doctrines
At the time, al-Andalus and large parts of what is now Morocco were ruled by the Almoravids, a Sanhaja puritanical movement of the Maliki school, who founded Marrakesh and are credited with spreading Islam to much of West Africa. To pursue his education, ibn Tumart went as a young man (c. 1106) to Córdoba, which was the biggest centre of learning in the Almoravid dominion, where he was a disciple of al-Turtushi. Thereafter, Ibn Tumart went east to deepen his studies, where he came under the influence al-Ghazali's ideas. Almohad historians such as ibn Abd al-Malik al-MarrakushiCornell, Vincent J. "Understanding is the mother of ability: Responsibility and action in the Doctrine of Ibn Tūmart." Studia Islamica (1987): 71-103. 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).Julian, p. 93; Ibn Khallikan, p.206; He met and studied under both Mu'tazili and Ash'ari theologians. De Lacy O'Leary states that, in Baghdad, he attached himself to the Ash'arite theology and Zahiri school of jurisprudence, but with the creed of ibn Hazm, which differed significantly from early Zahirites in its rejection of taqlid and reliance on reason. However, Abdullah Yavuz, argues the following:
It was probably while in Baghdad that ibn Tumart began to develop a system of his own by combining the teachings of his Ash'arite masters with parts of the doctrines of others, with a touch of Sufi mysticism imbibed from al-Ghazali. Almohad hagiographers report that ibn Tumart was in al-Ghazali's presence when news arrived that the Almoravids had proscribed and publicly burned his recent great work, Ihya' Ulum al-Din, upon which al-Ghazali is said to have turned to ibn Tumart and charged him, as a native of those lands, with the mission of setting the Almoravids right.
Ibn Tumart's main principle was a rigid unitarianism (tawhid), which denied the existence of the attributes of God as incompatible with his unity and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented a revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in the Muslim orthodoxy, but he was a rigid predestinarian and a strict observer of the law. He blamed the caliphate's "theological flaws" upon the ruling dynasty of the Almoravids. Ibn Thumart strongly opposed their sponsorship of the Maliki school of jurisprudence, whom he accused of neglecting the Sunnah and hadith (traditions and sayings of Muhammad and his companions) and relying too much on ijma (consensus of jurists) and other sources, an anathema to the stricter Zahirism favored by ibn Tumart. Ibn Tumart condemned the subtle reasoning of Maliki scholars as "innovations" (bid‘ah), obscurantist, perverse and possibly heretical. Ibn Tumart also blamed the Almoravid governance for the latitude he found in Maghrebi society, notably the public sale of wine and pork in the markets, foodstuffs forbidden for Muslims. Another reform was the destruction or hiding of religious art in mosques. His rule and the rule of the Almohads after were full of reforms that attempted to turn the area under his control into a place where his doctrines held sway.
In a powerful display of unity and solidarity, Ibn Tumart's followers took up the name al-Muwwahidun, meaning those who affirm the unitarianism of God. This name was later translated by Spanish authors as Almohades.
Return to the Maghreb After his studies in Baghdad, Ibn Tumart is claimed in one account to have proceeded on pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj), but was so bubbling with the doctrines he had learnt and a one-minded zeal to 'correct' the mores of the people he came across that he quickly made a nuisance of himself and was expelled from the city.Ibn Khallikan, p. 206 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).Wasserstein (2003)
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.Messier (2010: p. 141)
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.
Ibn Tumart proceeded to Aghmat and immediately resumed his old behavior - destroying every jug of wine in sight, haranguing passers-by for impious behavior or dress, engaging locals in controversial debate. The ulama of Aghmat complained to the emir, who changed his mind and decided to have Ibn Tumart arrested after all. He was saved by the timely intervention of Abu Ibrahim Ismail Ibn Yasallali al-Hazraji ("Ismail Igig"), a prominent chieftain of the Hazraja tribe of the Masmuda, who helped him escape the city. Ibn Tumart took the road towards the Sous valley, to hide among his own people, the Haghra.
Cave of Igiliz