Almohad Caliphate

Almohad Caliphate
ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ (Arabic)
al-Muwaḥḥidūn
1121–1269
The Almohad empire at its greatest extent, c. 1180–1212[1][2]
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]
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 León
Emirate of Granada

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]

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-Kumi.[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.

  1. ^ "Qantara". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  2. ^ "Qantara". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  3. ^ Le Moyen Âge, XIe–XVe siècle, par Michel Kaplan & Patrick Boucheron. p. 213, Ed. Breal 1994 (ISBN 2-85394-732-7)[1]
  4. ^ Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 475–504. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
  5. ^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2006.369. ISSN 1076-156X.
  6. ^ (in French) P. Buresi, La frontière entre chrétienté et islam dans la péninsule Ibérique, pp. 101–102. Ed. Publibook 2004 (ISBN 978-2-7483-0644-6)
  7. ^ "Definition of ALMOHAD". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  8. ^ Bennison 2016, p. 246.
  9. ^ "Almohads | Berber confederation". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  10. ^ Gerhard Bowering; Patricia Crone; Mahan Mirza; Wadad Kadi; Muhammad Qasim Zaman; Devin J. Stewart (2013). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-691-13484-0.
  11. ^ "Almohads – Islamic Studies". Oxford Bibliographies. 6 Jan 2020. Retrieved 11 Feb 2020.
  12. ^ Naylor, Phillip C. (2015). North Africa, Revised Edition: A History from Antiquity to the Present. University of Texas Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-292-76190-2.
  13. ^ Julien 1970, p. 108
  14. ^ السلاوي, أبي العباس شهاب الدين أحمد/الدرعي (2014). الاستقصا لأخبار دول المغرب الأقصى 1-3 ج1 [Survey of the news of the countries of the Far Maghreb 1-3 Part 1] (in Arabic). Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. p. 243. ISBN 978-2-7451-5495-8.
  15. ^ Abun-Nasr 1987, pp. 87, 94, and others.
  16. ^ Bennison 2016, pp. 58 and after.
  17. ^ Hopkins, J.F.P. (1986) [1971]. "Ibn Tūmart". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Brill. pp. 958–960. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
  18. ^ Lévi-Provençal, Évariste (1986) [1960]. "'Abd al- Mu'min". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Brill. pp. 78–80. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
  19. ^ Bennison 2016, pp. 67, 339.
  20. ^ Buresi, Pascal; El Aallaoui, Hicham (2012). Governing the Empire: Provincial Administration in the Almohad Caliphate (1224–1269). Studies in the History and Society of the Maghrib. Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-23333-1.