Almohad doctrine

Mihrab of the Tinmal Mosque, built in the mid-12th century at the site of the base from which the Almohads launched their attacks on the Almoravids.

Almohad doctrine (Arabic: الدَّعوَة المُوَحِّدِيَّة) or Almohadism was the ideology underpinning the Almohad movement, founded by Ibn Tumart, which created the Almohad Empire during the 12th to 13th centuries.[1][2] Fundamental to Almohadism was Ibn Tumart's radical interpretation of tawḥid—"unity" or "oneness"—from which the Almohads get their name: al-muwaḥḥidūn (المُوَحِّدون).[1][3]: 246 

The literalist ideology and policies of the Almohads involved a series of attempted radical changes to Islamic religious and social doctrine under their rule. These policies affected large parts of the Maghreb and altered the existing religious climate in al-Andalus (Islamic Spain and Portugal) for many decades.[4][5] They marked a major departure from the social policies and attitudes of earlier Muslim governments in the region, including the preceding Almoravid dynasty which had followed its own reformist agenda.[1][2] The teachings of Ibn Tumart were compiled in the book Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab.[1][6]

On the grounds that Ibn Tumart proclaimed himself to be the mehdi, or renewer—not only of Islam, but of "the pure monotheistic message" common to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—the Almohads rejected the status of Dhimma completely.[1]: 171–172  As the Almohad Caliphate expanded, Abd al-Mu'min ordered Jews and Christians in conquered territories—as well as the Kharijites, Maliki Sunnis, and Shi‘is of the Muslim majority—to accept Almohad Islam, depart, or risk death.[1]: 171–172  The Almohad conquest of al-Andalus led to the emigration of Andalusi Christians from southern Iberia to the Christian north, especially to the Tagus valley and Toledo.[1]: 173–174  Andalusi Jews, an urban and visible population, faced intense, often violent Almohad pressure to convert, and many, instead of leaving life as a minority in one place to hazard life as a minority in another, converted at least superficially, though many of these converts continued to face discrimination.[1]: 174–176  After the 13th century collapse of the Almohad Caliphate, an Arabized Jewish population reappeared in the Maghreb, but a Christian one did not.[1]: 176 

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cite error: The named reference :23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "7. Fiqh". Brockelmann in English: The History of the Arabic Written Tradition Online. doi:10.1163/97890043200862542-8098_breo_com_122070. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  4. ^ Pascal Buresi and Hicham El Aallaoui, Governing the Empire: Provincial Administration in the Almohad Caliphate 1224-1269, pg. 170. Volume 3 of Studies in the History and Society of the Maghrib. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2012. ISBN 9789004233331
  5. ^ Dominique Urvoy, The Ulama of al-Andalus, pg. 868. Taken from The Legacy of Muslim Spain, Volume 12 of Handbook of Oriental Studies : The Near and Middle East. Eds. Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Manuela Marín. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1992. ISBN 9789004095991
  6. ^ Ibn Tūmart, Muḥammad (1997) [originally recorded approximately 1130]. Abū al-ʻAzm, ʻAbd al-Ghanī (ed.). Aʻazz mā yuṭlab. Rabat: Muʼassasat al-Ghanī lil-Nashr. ISBN 9981-891-11-8. OCLC 40101950.