Editing Abd al-Mu'min (section)

== Political life ==

Some time around 1117, Abd al-Mu'min became a follower of [[Ibn Tumart]],<ref name="EB">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|title='Abd al-Mu'min|edition=15th|year=2010|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|volume=I: A-Ak - Bayes|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=978-1-59339-837-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/15 15–16]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/15}}</ref> leader of the [[Masmudas]] (a [[Berbers|Berber]] tribe of present-day western Morocco<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/ehrafe/cultureDescription.do?owc=MW11 | title=EHRAF World Cultures }}</ref>), a religious and military leader of renowned piety who had founded the [[Almohads]] as a religious order with the goal of restoring purity in Islam.  His group had long been at odds with the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]] and had been forced into exile in the mountains. Abd al-Mu'min stayed with Ibn Tumart as he journeyed slowly towards [[Marrakech|Marrakesh]]. It was there that his mentor declared himself the ''[[Mahdi]]'' (divinely guided one) and that he was opposed to the [[Almoravid dynasty]].<ref name="EB" /> After this pronouncement, the group moved to the [[Atlas Mountains]] and gathered followers there. In time they created a small Almohad state. During an attack on Marrakesh, al-Bashir the second in command, was killed and Abd al-Mu'min was named to take his place.<ref name="EB" />

When Ibn Tumart died in 1130 at his [[ribat]] in [[Tinmel]],<ref name="EI2" /><ref name=":23" /> after suffering a severe defeat at the hands of the Almoravids, Abd al-Mu'min and the council of ten kept the death of Ibn Tumart secret for 3 years,<ref name="Ibn Khaldun3">{{cite book |title= تاريخ ابن خلدون: ديوان المبتدأ و الخبر في تاريخ العرب و البربر و من عاصرهم من ذوي الشأن الأكبر | last= Ibn Khaldun |first=Abderahman |author-link=Ibn Khaldun |year=1377 |publisher= دار الفكر | volume= 6 |pages=305–306 }}</ref> since the Almohads were going through a difficult time in their fight against the Almoravids. Abd al-Mu'min also feared that the Masmuda (the Berber tribe of Ibn Tumart) would not accept him as their leader since he was an outsider. He did eventually lead the Almohads when a family relationship was arranged between him and Cheikh Abu Hafs, the leader of the Masmuda.<ref name="Ibn Khaldun2" /> He then came forward as the lieutenant of Ibn Tumart, became the leader of the movement, and forged it into a powerful military force. He proclaimed himself Caliph, with the titles of {{Transliteration|ar|Khalifat al-Mahdi}} ('Representative of the Mahdi') and later – probably after the [[Almohad conquest of Marrakesh (1147)|conquest of Marrakesh]] – of ''[[Amir al-Mu'minin]]'' ('Prince/Commander of the Believers').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fierro |first=Maribel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bMbEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 |title='Abd al-Mu'min: Mahdism and Caliphate in the Islamic West |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-86154-192-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="EI2" /> He eventually adopted an Arab [[Qays]]i genealogy that included the prophet [[Muhammad]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bowering |first1=Gerhard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1I0pcrFFSUC&q=qaysi+genealogy&pg=PA34 |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |last2=Crone |first2=Patricia |last3=Kadi |first3=Wadad |last4=Mirza |first4=Mahan |last5=Stewart |first5=Devin J. |last6=Zaman |first6=Muhammad Qasim |date=2013 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-13484-0 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fierro |first=Maribel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bMbEAAAQBAJ&q=Qaysi+Arabs%2C+the+tribe+form+which&pg=PT140 |title='Abd al-Mu'min: Mahdism and Caliphate in the Islamic West |date=2021-11-04 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-86154-192-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Meri |first=Josef W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFZsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 |title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia |date=2005-10-31 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45603-0 |pages=38 |language=en}}</ref> Under him, the Almohads swept down from the mountains, eventually destroying the power of the faltering Almoravid dynasty by 1147.

Abd al-Mu'min created his empire by first winning control of the high Atlas Mountains, then the Middle Atlas, into the [[Rif]] region, eventually moving into his homeland north of [[Tlemcen]].<ref name=EB/> In 1145, after the Almoravids lost the leader of their [[Catalonia|Catalan]] mercenaries, [[Reverter de La Guardia|Reveter]], the Almohads defeated them in open battle. From this point the Almohads moved west onto the Atlantic coastal plain. After laying siege to Marrakesh, they finally captured it in 1147.<ref name=EB/> Traditional accounts state that after establishing his capital at Marrakesh, Abd al-Mu'min created a dilemma in that the Almohads considered it a city of heretics. He contented himself with the destruction of their palace and mosques, although it is not clear whether these were actually demolished or merely abandoned.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book|last=Deverdun|first=Gaston|title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912|publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines|year=1959|isbn=|location=Rabat|pages=}}</ref>

The Almohads' involvement in Al-Andalus began as early as 1145, when Ali ibn Isa ibn Maymun, the Almoravid naval commander of [[Cádiz|Cadiz]], defected to 'Abd al-Mu'min.<ref name="EI2" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Hugh|title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus|publisher=Routledge|year=1996|isbn=9781317870418|location=|pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|202}}<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|75}} In the same year, Ibn Qasi, the ruler of [[Silves, Portugal|Silves]], was one of the first Andalusian leaders to appeal for Almohad intervention in Al-Andalus in order to stop the advance of the Christian kingdoms, whom the faltering Almoravids were unable to contain. In 1147 Abd al-Mu'min sent a military force led by another Almoravid defector, Abu Ishaq Barraz, who captured [[Algeciras]] and [[Tarifa]] before moving west to [[Niebla, Spain|Niebla]], [[Badajoz]], and the [[Algarve]]. The Almoravids in [[Seville]] were besieged in 1147 until the city was captured in 1148 with local support.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":23" />{{Rp|74–78}}

Around this time a major rebellion centred in the [[Sous|Sous valley]], led by Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Massi, shook the Almohad Empire and took on religious dimensions, rallying various tribes to counter the Almohads. Some important cities such as [[Ceuta]], [[Salé]], and [[Sijilmasa|Sijilmassa]] overthrew their Almohad governors. An Almoravid, Yahya ibn al-Sahrawiyya, was declared ruler of Ceuta. After initial Almohad setbacks, the rebellion was eventually suppressed thanks to Abd al-Mu'min's lieutenant, Umar al-Hintati, who led a force that killed al-Massi. Abd al-Mu'min is said to have resorted to more draconian measures afterwards and initiated a purge of people he thought might be disloyal among the subject Berber tribes, allegedly resulting in around 30,000 executions.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|203}}<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|72–73}}

The rebellion had taxed Almohad resources and resulted in temporary reversals in Al-Andalus too, but the Almohads soon went on the offensive again. Responding to local appeals from Muslim officials, they took control of [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]] in 1149, saving the city from the forces of Alfonso VII.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|204}} The remaining Almoravids in Al-Andalus, led by [[Yahya ibn Ghaniya]], were by then confined to [[Granada]]. In 1150 or 1151 Abd al-Mu'min summoned the leaders and notables of Al-Andalus under his control to Ribat al-Fath ([[Rabat]]), where he made them pledge loyalty to him, apparently as a political demonstration of his power.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":0" /> The Almoravids in Granada were defeated in 1155 and retreated to the Balearic Islands, where they held out for several decades.<ref name=":23" />

For much of the 1150s, however, Abd al-Mu'min concentrated his efforts on expanding eastwards across North Africa to Ifriqiya.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":0" /> By 1151, he had reached [[Constantine, Algeria|Constantine]] where he confronted a coalition of Arab tribes that had been marching through Berber lands. Rather than destroying these tribes, he utilised them for his campaigns in al-Andalus and they also helped to quell any internal opposition from the family of Ibn Tumart.<ref name="EB" /> Abd al-Mu'min led his forces to conquer Tunis in 1159, going on to progressively establish control over Ifriqiya by [[Almohad conquest of Norman Africa|conquering]] the cities of [[Mahdia]] (then held by [[Roger II of Sicily|Roger II]] of [[Sicily]]), [[Kairouan]], and other coastal cities as far as [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] (in modern-day [[Libya]]). He then returned to Marrakesh and left for an expedition to Al-Andalus in 1161. Abd al-Mu'min had ordered the construction of a new citadel at Gibraltar, where he based himself during his stay in Al-Andalus.<ref name="EI2" /><ref name=":23" />