Editing Almohad Caliphate (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2020}}

===Origins===
The Almohad movement originated with [[Ibn Tumart]], a member of the [[Masmuda]], an [[Berber people|Amazigh]] tribal confederation of the [[Atlas Mountains]] of southern Morocco. At the time, present-day Morocco, Mauritania, western Algeria and parts of Spain and Portugal ([[al-Andalus]]) were under the rule of the [[Almoravids]], a [[Sanhaja]] Berber dynasty. Early in his life, Ibn Tumart went to Spain to pursue his studies, and thereafter to [[Baghdad]] to deepen them. In Baghdad, Ibn Tumart attached himself to the theological school of [[al-Ash'ari]], and came under the influence of the teacher [[al-Ghazali]]. He soon developed his own system, combining the doctrines of various masters. Ibn Tumart's main principle was a strict unitarianism (''[[tawhid]]''), which denied the independent existence of the [[God in Islam#Other attributes|attributes of God]] as being incompatible with His unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented a revolt against what he perceived as [[anthropomorphism]] in Muslim orthodoxy. His followers would become known as the ''al-Muwaḥḥidūn'' ("Almohads"), meaning those who affirm the unity of God.

After his return to the [[Maghreb]] c.&nbsp;1117, Ibn Tumart spent some time in various [[Ifriqiya]]n cities, preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He laid the blame for the latitude on the ruling dynasty of the Almoravids, whom he accused of obscurantism and impiety. He also opposed their sponsorship of the [[Maliki]] school of jurisprudence, which drew upon consensus (''[[ijma]]'') and other sources beyond the [[Qur'an]] and [[Sunnah]] in their reasoning, an anathema to the stricter [[Zahiri]]sm favored by Ibn Tumart. His antics and fiery preaching led fed-up authorities to move him along from town to town. After being expelled from [[Bejaia]], Ibn Tumart set up camp in Mellala, in the outskirts of the city, where he received his first disciples – notably, al-Bashir (who would become his chief strategist) and [[Abd al-Mu'min]] (a Zenata Berber of the Kumiya tribe who would later become his successor).

In 1120, Ibn Tumart and his small band of followers proceeded to [[Morocco]], stopping first in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], where he briefly engaged the Maliki scholars of the city in debate. He even went so far as to assault the sister<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Messier |first1=Ronald A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iut1BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |title=The Last Civilized Place: Sijilmasa and Its Saharan Destiny |last2=Miller |first2=James A. |date=2015-06-15 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-76665-5 |language=en}}</ref> of the [[Almoravid]] emir [[Ali ibn Yusuf]], in the streets of [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], because she was going about unveiled, after the manner of Berber women. After being expelled from Fez, he went to [[Marrakesh]], where he successfully tracked down the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf at a local mosque, and challenged the emir, and the leading scholars of the area, to a doctrinal debate. After the debate, the scholars concluded that Ibn Tumart's views were blasphemous and the man dangerous, and urged him to be put to death or imprisoned. But the emir decided merely to expel him from the city.

[[Image:Almohad Masmuda tribes.png|thumb|300px|left|Approximate locations of the main Masmuda tribes that adhered to the Almohads]]
Ibn Tumart took refuge among his own people, the Hargha, in his home village of Igiliz (exact location uncertain), in the [[Sous]] valley. He retreated to a nearby cave, and lived out an ascetic lifestyle, coming out only to preach his program of puritan reform, attracting greater and greater crowds. At length, towards the end of [[Ramadan]] in late 1121, after a particularly moving sermon, reviewing his failure to persuade the Almoravids to reform by argument, Ibn Tumart 'revealed' himself as the true [[Mahdi]], a divinely guided judge and lawgiver, and was recognized as such by his audience. This was effectively a declaration of war on the Almoravid state.

On the advice of one of his followers, [[Abu Hafs Umar ibn Yahya al-Hintati|Omar Hintati]], a prominent chieftain of the [[Hintata]], Ibn Tumart abandoned his cave in 1122 and went up into the [[High Atlas]], to organize the Almohad movement among the highland [[Masmuda]] tribes. Besides his own tribe, the Hargha, Ibn Tumart secured the adherence of the Ganfisa, the Gadmiwa, the Hintata, the Haskura, and the Hazraja to the Almohad cause.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Sometime around 1124, Ibn Tumart established his base at [[Tinmel]], a highly defensible position in the valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=89}}{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=67}}{{Sfn|Baadj|2015|p=51}} Tinmal would serve both as the spiritual center and military headquarters of the Almohad movement. It became their {{Transliteration|ar|dar al-hijra}} (roughly 'place of retreat'), emulating the story of the ''[[Hijrah|hijra]]'' (journey) of [[Muhammad]]'s to [[Medina]] in the 7th century.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=67}}{{Sfn|Baadj|2015|p=51}}

For the first eight years, the Almohad rebellion was limited to a guerilla war along the peaks and ravines of the High Atlas. Their principal damage was in rendering insecure (or altogether impassable) the roads and mountain passes south of Marrakesh – threatening the route to all-important [[Sijilmassa]], the gateway of the [[trans-Saharan trade]]. Unable to send enough manpower through the narrow passes to dislodge the Almohad rebels from their easily defended mountain strong points, the Almoravid authorities reconciled themselves to setting up strongholds to confine them there (most famously the fortress of [[Tasghîmût]] that protected the approach to [[Aghmat]], which was conquered by the Almohads in 1132),{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=|pp=299–300, 306}} while exploring alternative routes through more easterly passes.

Ibn Tumart organized the Almohads as a commune, with a minutely detailed structure. At the core was the ''Ahl ad-dār'' ("House of the Mahdi"), composed of Ibn Tumart's family. This was supplemented by two councils: an inner [[Council of Ten (Almohad)|Council of Ten]], the Mahdi's privy council, composed of his earliest and closest companions; and the consultative Council of Fifty, composed of the leading ''sheikh''s of the Masmuda tribes. The early preachers and missionaries (''ṭalaba'' and ''huffāẓ'') also had their representatives. Militarily, there was a strict hierarchy of units. The Hargha tribe coming first (although not strictly ethnic; it included many "honorary" or "adopted" tribesmen from other ethnicities, e.g. Abd al-Mu'min himself). This was followed by the men of Tinmel, then the other Masmuda tribes in order, and rounded off by the black fighters, the ''ʻabīd''. Each unit had a strict internal hierarchy, headed by a ''mohtasib'', and divided into two factions: one for the early adherents, another for the late adherents, each headed by a ''mizwar'' (or ''amzwaru''); then came the ''sakkakin'' (treasurers), effectively the money-minters, tax-collectors, and bursars, then came the regular army (''jund''), then the religious corps – the [[muezzin]]s, the ''hafidh'' and the ''hizb'' – followed by the archers, the conscripts, and the slaves.<ref>{{Harvsp|Julien|1970|p=100}}</ref> Ibn Tumart's closest companion and chief strategist, al-Bashir, took upon himself the role of "[[political commissar]]", enforcing doctrinal discipline among the Masmuda tribesmen, often with a heavy hand.

In early 1130, the Almohads finally descended from the mountains for their first sizeable attack in the lowlands. It was a disaster for their opponents. The Almohads swept aside an Almoravid column that had come out to meet them before Aghmat, and then chased their remnant all the way to Marrakesh. They laid siege to Marrakesh for forty days until, in April (or May) 1130, the Almoravids sallied from the city and crushed the Almohads in the bloody [[Battle of al-Buhayra]] (named after a large garden east of the city). The Almohads were thoroughly routed, with huge losses. Half their leadership was killed in action, and the survivors only just managed to scramble back to the mountains.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume 6, Fascicules 107–108 | publisher=Brill | series=The Encyclopaedia of Islam | year=1989 | isbn=978-90-04-09082-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPsUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA592 | access-date=2019-02-01 | page=592}}</ref>

=== Caliphate and expansion ===
[[Image:Almohad Expansion.png|thumb|300px|Phases of the expansion of the Almohad state]]
Ibn Tumart died shortly after, in August 1130. That the Almohad movement did not immediately collapse after such a devastating defeat and the death of their charismatic Mahdi, is likely due to the skills of his successor, [[Abd al-Mu'min]].{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=70}} Ibn Tumart's death was kept a secret for three years, a period which Almohad chroniclers described as a ''[[Occultation (Islam)|ghayba]]'' or "occultation". This period likely gave Abd al-Mu'min time to secure his position as successor to the political leadership of the movement.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=70}} Although a [[Zenata]] Berber from Tagra (Algeria),{{sfn|Magill|Aves|1998|p=4}} and thus an alien among the Masmuda of southern Morocco, Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw off his principal rivals and hammered wavering tribes back to the fold. Three years after Ibn Tumart's death he was officially proclaimed "Caliph".<ref name=":05222">{{Cite book |last1=Molins |first1=Viguera |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |last2=Jésus |first2=Maria |publisher=Brill |year=2014 |isbn=9789004269606 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |language=en |chapter=Almohads |issn=1873-9830 |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=Gudrun |editor3-last=Matringe |editor3-first=Denis |editor4-last=Nawas |editor4-first=John |editor5-last=Rowson |editor5-first=Everett}}</ref>

After 1133, Abd al-Mu'min quickly expanded Almohad control across the Maghreb, while the embattled Almoravids retained their capital in Marrakesh.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=90}} Various other tribes rallied to the Almohads or to the Almoravids as the war between them continued.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=71}} Initially, Almohad operations were limited to the Atlas mountains. In 1139, they expanded to the [[Rif]] mountains in the north.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=90}} One of their early bases beyond the mountains was [[Taza]],<ref name=":0523">{{EI2|last=Marçais|first=Georges|title=Tāzā|volume=10|pages=404–405|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2685|author-link=Georges Marçais}}</ref> where Abd al-Mu"min founded a citadel (''ribat'') and a [[Great Mosque of Taza|Great Mosque]] circa 1142.{{Sfn|Bloom|2020|p=121}}

The Almoravid ruler, Ali ibn Yusuf, died in 1143 and was succeeded by his son, [[Tashfin ibn Ali]]. The tide turned more definitively in favour of the Almohads from 1144 onwards, when the Zenata tribes in what is now western Algeria joined the Almohad camp, along with some of the previously Almoravid-aligned leaders of the [[Massufa|Masufa]] tribe.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=71}} This allowed them to defeat Tashfin decisively and capture [[Tlemcen]] in 1144. Tashfin fled to [[Oran]], which the Almohads then attacked and captured, and he died in March 1145 while trying to escape.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=91}}{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=71}}<ref name=":05222" /> The Almohads pursued the defeated Almoravid army west to Fez, which they captured in 1146 after a nine-month siege.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=71}}{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=91}} They finally [[Almohad conquest of Marrakesh (1147)|captured Marrakesh]] in 1147, after an eleven-month siege. The last Almoravid ruler, [[Ishaq ibn Ali]], was killed.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=91}}

In 1151, Abd al-Mu'min launched an expedition to the east. This may have been encouraged by the [[Kingdom of Africa|Norman conquests]] along the coast of Ifriqiya, as fighting the Christian invaders here gave him a pretext for conquering the rest of the region. In August 1152, he captured [[Béjaïa]], the capital of the [[Hammadids]]. The last Hammadid ruler, [[Yahya ibn Abd al-Aziz]], fled by sea.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=|pp=92–93}} The Arab tribes of the region, the [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]], reacted to the Almohad advance by gathering an army against them. The Almohads routed them in the [[Battle of Sétif]] in April 1153.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=93}}{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=79}} Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw value in their military abilities. He persuaded them by various means – including taking some families as hostages to Marrakesh and more generous actions like offering them material and land incentives – to move to present-day Morocco and join the Almohad armies.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=79–80}}{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=93}} These moves also had the corollary effect of advancing the Arabisation of future Morocco.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meynier|first=Gilbert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4s6AQAAIAAJ&q=Pour+soutenir+sa+construction+dynastique+et+contrebalancer+la+menace+de+partis+masm%C3%BBda+rivaux,+le+calife+ordonne+de+d%C3%A9porter+au|title=L'Algérie, coeur du Maghreb classique: de l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (698–1518)|date=2010|publisher=La Découverte|isbn=978-2-7071-5231-2|language=fr}}</ref>

Abd al-Mu'min spent the mid-1150s organizing the Almohad state and arranging for power to be passed on through his family line.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=93}}{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=|p=82}} In 1154, he declared his son Muhammad as his heir.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=93}}{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=|p=82}} In order to neutralise the power of the Masmuda, he relied on his tribe of origin, the Kumiyas (from the central Maghreb), whom he integrated into the Almohad power structure and from whom he recruited some 40,000 into the army.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last1=Fage |first1=J. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWjxR61xAe0C&dq=sayyids+almohads&pg=PA344 |title=The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050 |last2=Oliver |first2=Roland Anthony |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-521-20981-6 |pages=344–345 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Laroui |first=Abdallah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvl9BgAAQBAJ&dq=forty+thousand+abd+al+mu'min+almohad&pg=PA183 |title=The History of the Maghrib: An Interpretive Essay |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4008-6998-5 |pages=183 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jMOAQAAMAAJ&q=forty+thousand+abd+al+mu'min+almohad |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2005 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |isbn=978-0-02-865981-7 |pages=4586 |language=en |quote=Abd al-Mu'min, came from western Algeria, and, according to the chroniclers, he brought forty thousand of his countrymen with him to Morocco in order to reinforce his personal power.}}</ref><ref>{{Harvsp|السلاوي|2014|pages=273–274}}</ref> They would later form the bodyguard of the caliph and his successors.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=94}} In addition, Abd al-Mu'min relied on Arabs, the great Hilalian families that he had deported to Morocco, to further weaken the influence of the Masmuda sheikhs.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Larousse|first=Éditions|title=Almohades en arabe al-Muwaḥḥidūn |url=https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/groupe-personnage/Almohades/104942|access-date=2021-08-20|website=www.larousse.fr|language=fr}}</ref>

With his son appointed as his successor, Abd al-Mu'min placed his other children as governors of the provinces of the caliphate.{{sfn|Magill|Aves|1998|p=5}} His sons and descendants became known as the ''sayyid''s ("nobles").<ref name=":16" />{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=|p=354}} To appease the traditional Masmuda elites, he appointed some of them, along with theirs sons and descendants, to act as important advisers, deputies, and commanders under the ''sayyid''s. They became known as the {{Transliteration|ar|abnā' al-muwaḥḥidūn}} or "Sons of the Almohads".{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=|p=83}} Abd al-Mu'min also altered the Almohad structure set up by Ibn Tumart by making the ''huffaz'' or reciters of the Quran into a training school of the Almohad elite. They were no longer described as "memorisers" but as "guardians" who learned riding, swimming, archery, and received a general education of high standards.{{Sfn|Julien|1970|p=109}}

Abd al-Mu'min thus transformed the Almohad movement from a Masmuda aristocracy to a Mu'minid dynastic state.{{Sfn|Julien|1970|p=109}}{{Sfn|Arjomand|2022|p=285}} While most of the Almohad elites accepted this new concentration of power, it nonetheless triggered an uprising by two of Ibn Tumart's half-brothers, 'Abd al-'Aziz and 'Isa. Shortly after Abd al-Mu'min announced his heir, towards 1154–1155, they rebelled in Fez and then marched on Marrakesh, whose governor they killed. Abd al-Mu'min, who had been in Salé, returned to the city, defeated the rebels, and had everyone involved executed.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=83–84, 342}}{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=93}}

In March 1159, Abd al-Mu'min led a new campaign to the east. He conquered [[Tunis]] by force when the local [[Banu Khurasan]] leaders refused to surrender.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=87–88}} [[Mahdia]] was besieged soon after and surrendered in January 1160. The Normans there negotiated their withdrawal and were allowed to leave for [[Sicily]]. Tripoli, which had rebelled against the Normans two years earlier, recognized Almohad authority right after.{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=93}}

In the 1170s and 1180s, Almohad power in the eastern Maghreb was challenged by the [[Banu Ghaniya]] and by [[Sharaf al-Din Qaraqush|Qaraqush]], an [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] commander. [[Yaqub al-Mansur]] eventually defeated both factions and reconquered Ifriqiya in 1187–1188.{{Sfn|Baadj|2015|pp=121–146}} In 1189–1190, the Ayyubid sultan [[Saladin|Salah ad-Din (Saladin)]] requested the assistance of an Almohad navy for his fight against the crusaders, which al-Mansur declined.{{Sfn|Baadj|2015|pp=146–149}}

===Expansion into al-Andalus===
{{Further|Almohad wars in the Iberian Peninsula}}
[[Al-Andalus]] followed the fate of North Africa. Between 1146 and 1173, the Almohads gradually wrested control from the Almoravids over the Muslim principalities in Iberia. The Almohads transferred the capital of Muslim Iberia from [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]] to [[Seville]]. They founded a great mosque there; its tower, the [[Giralda]], was erected in 1184. The Almohads also built a palace there called Al-Muwarak on the site of the modern-day [[Alcázar of Seville]].

[[File:Sevilla Almohade.JPG|thumb|The Almohads transferred the capital of Al-Andalus to [[Seville]].]]

The successors of Abd al-Mumin, [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf]] (Yusuf I, ruled 1163–1184) and [[Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur]] (Yaʻqūb I, ruled 1184–1199), were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile, and [[Aragon]]. Ultimately they became less fanatical than the Almoravids, and Ya'qub al-Mansur was a highly accomplished man who wrote a good [[Arabic language|Arabic]] style and protected the philosopher [[Averroes]]. In 1190–1191, he [[Almohad campaign against Portugal (1190–1191)|campaigned in southern Portugal]] and won back territory lost in 1189. His title of "''al-Manṣūr''" ("the Victorious") was earned by his victory over [[Alfonso VIII of Castile]] in the [[Battle of Alarcos]] (1195).

From the time of [[Yusuf II]], however, the Almohads governed their co-religionists in Iberia and central North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside [[Morocco]] being treated as provinces. When Almohad emirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a [[jihad]] against the Christians and then return to Morocco.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barton|first=Simon|title=A History of Spain|year=2009|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-0-230-20012-8|pages=63–66}}</ref>

===Holding years===
[[File:Abu Yaqub Yusef Coin.png|thumb|300px|Coin minted during the reign of [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf]]]]

In 1212, the Almohad Caliph [[Muhammad an-Nasir|Muhammad 'al-Nasir']] (1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance north, was defeated by an alliance of the three Christian kings of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], [[Aragón]] and [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]] at the [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] in the [[Sierra Morena]]. The battle broke the Almohad advance, but the Christian powers remained too disorganized to profit from it immediately.

Before his death in 1213, al-Nasir appointed his young ten-year-old son as the next [[caliph]] [[Yusuf II, Almohad Caliph|Yusuf II "al-Mustansir"]]. The Almohads passed through a period of effective [[regent|regency]] for the young caliph, with power exercised by an oligarchy of elder family members, palace bureaucrats and leading nobles. The Almohad ministers were careful to negotiate a series of truces with the Christian kingdoms, which remained more-or-less in place for next fifteen years (the [[Siege of Alcácer do Sal|loss of Alcácer do Sal]] to the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] in 1217 was an exception).

In early 1224, the youthful caliph died in an accident, without any heirs. The palace bureaucrats in [[Marrakesh]], led by the ''[[Vizier|wazir]]'' Uthman ibn Jam'i, quickly engineered the election of his elderly grand-uncle, [[Abdul-Wahid I, Almohad Caliph|Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu']], as the new Almohad caliph. But the rapid appointment upset other branches of the family, notably the brothers of the late al-Nasir, who governed in [[al-Andalus]]. The challenge was immediately raised by one of them, then governor in [[Murcia]], who declared himself Caliph [[Abdallah al-Adil]]. With the help of his brothers, he quickly seized control of al-Andalus. His chief advisor, the shadowy Abu Zayd ibn Yujjan, tapped into his contacts in Marrakesh, and secured the [[deposition (politics)|deposition]] and assassination of Abd al-Wahid I, and the expulsion of the al-Jami'i [[clan]].

This [[coup]] has been characterized as the pebble that finally broke al-Andalus. It was the first internal coup among the Almohads. The Almohad clan, despite occasional disagreements, had always remained tightly knit and loyally behind dynastic precedence. Caliph al-Adil's murderous breach of dynastic and constitutional propriety marred his acceptability to other Almohad ''[[sheikh]]s''. One of the recusants was his cousin, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi ("the [[Baeza, Spain|Baeza]]n"), the Almohad governor of [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]], who took a handful of followers and decamped for the hills around Baeza. He set up a rebel camp and forged an alliance with the hitherto quiet [[Ferdinand III of Castile]]. Sensing his greater priority was Marrakesh, where recusant Almohad ''sheikh''s had rallied behind Yahya, another son of al-Nasir, al-Adil paid little attention to them.

=== Decline in al-Andalus ===
In 1225, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi's band of rebels, accompanied by a large Castilian army, descended from the hills, besieging cities such as [[Siege of Jaén (1225)|Jaén]] and [[Siege of Andújar|Andújar]]. They [[raid (military)|raid]]ed throughout the regions of [[Province of Jaén (Spain)|Jaén]], [[Province of Córdoba (Spain)|Cordova]] and [[Vega de Granada]] and, before the end of the year, al-Bayyasi had established himself in the city of [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Cordova]]. Sensing a power vacuum, both [[Alfonso IX of León]] and [[Sancho II of Portugal]] opportunistically ordered raids into Andalusian territory that same year. With Almohad arms, men and cash dispatched to Morocco to help Caliph al-Adil impose himself in Marrakesh, there was little means to stop the sudden onslaught. In late 1225, with surprising ease, the Portuguese raiders reached the environs of [[Seville]]. Knowing they were outnumbered, the Almohad governors of the city refused to confront the Portuguese raiders, prompting the disgusted population of Seville to take matters into their own hands, raise a militia, and go out in the field by themselves. The result was a veritable massacre – the Portuguese men-at-arms easily mowed down the throng of poorly armed townsfolk. Thousands, perhaps as much as 20,000, were said to have been slain before the walls of Seville. A similar disaster befell a similar popular levy by [[Murcia]]ns at [[Aspe]] that same year. But Christian raiders had been stopped at [[Cáceres, Spain|Cáceres]] and [[Requena, Valencia|Requena]]. Trust in the Almohad leadership was severely shaken by these events – the disasters were promptly blamed on the distractions of Caliph al-Adil and the incompetence and cowardice of his lieutenants, the successes credited to non-Almohad local leaders who rallied defenses.

But al-Adil's fortunes were briefly buoyed. In payment for Castilian assistance, al-Bayyasi had given Ferdinand III three strategic frontier fortresses: [[Baños de la Encina]], Salvatierra (the old [[Order of Calatrava]] fortress near [[Ciudad Real]]) and [[Capilla, Badajoz|Capilla]]. But Capilla refused to surrender, forcing the Castilians to lay a long and difficult siege. The brave defiance of little Capilla, and the spectacle of al-Bayyasi's shipping provisions to the Castilian besiegers, shocked Andalusians and shifted sentiment back towards the Almohad caliph. A popular [[uprising]] broke out in Cordova – al-Bayyasi was killed and his head dispatched as a trophy to Marrakesh. But Caliph al-Adil did not rejoice in this victory for long – he was assassinated in Marrakesh in October 1227, by the partisans of Yahya, who was promptly acclaimed as the new Almohad caliph [[Yahya, Almohad Caliph|Yahya "al-Mu'tasim"]].

The Andalusian branch of the Almohads refused to accept this turn of events. Al-Adil's brother, then in Seville, proclaimed himself the new Almohad caliph [[Idris I, Almohad Caliph|Abd al-Ala Idris I 'al-Ma'mun']]. He promptly purchased a [[truce]] from Ferdinand III in return for 300,000 ''[[maravedi]]s'', allowing him to organize and dispatch the greater part of the Almohad army in Spain across the [[Straits of Gibraltar|straits]] in 1228 to confront Yahya.

That same year, Portuguese and [[Leonese Country|Leonese]] renewed their raids deep into Muslim territory, basically unchecked. Feeling the Almohads had failed to protect them, popular uprisings took place throughout al-Andalus. City after city deposed their hapless Almohad governors and installed local strongmen in their place. A Murcian strongman, [[Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Hud al-Judhami]], who claimed descendance from the [[Banu Hud]] dynasty that had once ruled the old [[taifa of Zaragoza|taifa of Saragossa]], emerged as the central figure of these rebellions, systematically dislodging Almohad garrisons through central Spain. In October 1228, with Spain practically all lost, al-Ma'mun abandoned Seville, taking what little remained of the Almohad army with him to Morocco. Ibn Hud immediately dispatched emissaries to distant [[Baghdad]] to offer recognition to the [[Abbasid]] [[Caliph]], albeit taking up for himself a quasi-caliphal title, 'al-Mutawwakil'.

[[File:Almohads after 1212.jpg|thumb|250px|Almohads after 1212]]
The departure of al-Ma'mun in 1228 marked the end of the Almohad era in Spain. Ibn Hud and the other local Andalusian strongmen were unable to stem the rising flood of Christian attacks, launched almost yearly by [[Sancho II of Portugal]], [[Alfonso IX of León]], [[Ferdinand III of Castile]] and [[James I of Aragon]]. The next twenty years saw a massive advance in the Christian [[reconquista]] – the old great Andalusian [[citadel]]s fell in a grand sweep: [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]] and [[Badajoz]] in 1230 (to Leon), [[Mallorca]] in 1230 (to Aragon), [[Beja, Portugal|Beja]] in 1234 (to Portugal), [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in 1236 (to Castile), [[Valencia]] in 1238 (to Aragon), [[Niebla, Spain|Niebla]]-[[Huelva]] in 1238 (to Leon), [[Silves, Portugal|Silves]] in 1242 (to Portugal), [[Murcia]] in 1243 (to Castile), [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]] [[Siege of Jaén (1245-46)|in 1246]] (to Castile), [[Alicante]] in 1248 (to Castile), culminating in the fall of the greatest of Andalusian cities, the ex-Almohad capital of [[Seville]], into Christian hands in 1248. Ferdinand III of Castile entered Seville as a conqueror on December 22, 1248.

The Andalusians were helpless before this onslaught. Ibn Hud had attempted to check the Leonese advance early on, but most of his Andalusian army was destroyed at the [[battle of Alange]] in 1230. Ibn Hud scrambled to move remaining arms and men to save threatened or besieged Andalusian citadels, but with so many attacks at once, it was a hopeless endeavor. After Ibn Hud's death in 1238, some of the Andalusian cities, in a last-ditch effort to save themselves, offered themselves once again to the Almohads, but to no avail. The Almohads would not return.

With the departure of the Almohads, the [[Nasrid dynasty]] ("''Banū Naṣr''", {{langx|ar|بنو نصر}}) rose to power in [[Granada]]. After the great Christian advance of 1228–1248, the [[Emirate of Granada]] was practically all that remained of old [[al-Andalus]]. Some of the captured citadels (e.g. Murcia, Jaen, Niebla) were reorganized as tributary vassals for a few more years, but most were annexed by the 1260s. Granada alone would remain independent for an additional 250 years, flourishing as the new center of al-Andalus.

===Collapse in the Maghreb===
In their African holdings, the Almohads encouraged the establishment of Christians even in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], and after the [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] they occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]]. The history of their decline differs from that of the Almoravids, whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great religious movement, but lost territories, piecemeal, by the revolt of tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the Banu Marin ([[Marinid]]s) who founded the next dynasty. 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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}