Editing Almohad Caliphate (section)

===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>