Almohads

Almohads, Berber confederation that created an Islamic empire in North Africa and Spain (1130–1269), founded on the religious teachings of Ibn Tūmart (died 1130).

A Berber state had arisen in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco about 1120, inspired by Ibn Tūmart and his demands for puritanical moral reform and a strict concept of the unity of God (tawḥīd). In 1121 Ibn Tūmart proclaimed himself the mahdī (a promised messianic figure), and, as spiritual and military leader, began the wars against the Almoravids. Under his successor, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin, the Almohads brought down the Almoravid state in 1147, subjugating the Maghrib, and captured Marrakech, which became the Almohad capital. Almoravid domains in Andalusia, however, were left virtually intact until the caliph Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf (reigned 1163–84) forced the surrender of Sevilla (Seville) in 1172; the extension of Almohad rule over the rest of Islamic Spain followed. During the reign of Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr (1184–99) serious Arab rebellions devastated the eastern provinces of the empire, whereas in Spain the Christian threat remained constant, despite al-Manṣūr’s victory at Alarcos (1195). Then, at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), the Almohads were dealt a shattering defeat by a Christian coalition from Leon, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon. They retreated to their North African provinces, where soon afterward the Ḥafṣids seized power at Tunis (1236), the ʿAbd al-Wādids took Tilimsān (Tlemcen; 1239), and, finally, Marrakech fell to the Marīnids (1269).

The empire of the Almohads had kept its original tribal hierarchy as a political and social framework, with the founders and their descendants forming a ruling aristocracy; however, a Spanish form of central government was superimposed on this Berber organization. The original puritanical outlook of Ibn Tūmart was soon lost, and the precedent for building costly Andalusian monuments of rich ornamentation, in the manner of the Almoravids, was set as early as Ibn Tūmart’s successor ʿAbd al-Muʾmin. The Booksellers’ Mosque (Kutubiyyah) in Marrakech and the older parts of the mosque of Taza date from his reign. Neither did the movement for a return to traditionalist Islam survive; both the mystical movement of the Sufis and the philosophical schools represented by Ibn Ṭufayl and Averroës (Ibn Rushd) flourished under the Almohad kings.

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North Africa: The Maghrib under the Almoravids and the Almohads

Rabat, an important cultural centre during the Almohad period, was known particularly for its polychrome pottery. The wares are colourful and gay, usually painted in yellows, greens, and bright blues on a buff background. Almohad pottery wares, however, never reached the artistic level of the work from Syria, Egypt, and Persia, and most are considered products of “folk” rather than “fine” art.