Editing Almohad Caliphate (section)

==Status of Non-Muslims==
{{See also|History of the Jews under Muslim rule|Muslim persecution of Christians|Persecution of Jews}}
[[File:Almohad social pyramid.svg|thumb|Almohad social pyramid according to [[Ibn al-Qattan]]|331x331px]]
The Almohads had taken control of the Almoravid Maghribi and Andalusian territories by 1147.<ref name=islamicworldeb>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-26925 "Islamic world"] ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''. Retrieved September 2, 2007.</ref> The Almohads rejected the mainstream Islamic doctrine that established the status of ''[[dhimmi]]'', a [[Kafir|Non-Muslim]] resident of a Muslim country who was allowed to practice his religion on condition of submission to Muslim rule and payment of ''[[jizya]]''.<ref name= Viguera>M.J. Viguera, "Almohads". In ''Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World'', Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. First published online: 2010 First print edition: {{ISBN|978-90-04-17678-2}}, 2014</ref>{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=171}}

The treatment and [[Persecution of Jews|persecution]] of [[History of the Jews in Spain|Jews]] under Almohad rule was a drastic change.<ref name="Verskin 2020">{{cite book |author-last=Verskin |author-first=Alan |year=2020 |chapter=Medieval Jewish Perspectives on Almohad Persecutions: Memory, Repression, and Impact |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ph24DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |editor1-last=García-Arenal |editor1-first=Mercedes |editor2-last=Glazer-Eytan |editor2-first=Yonatan |title=Forced Conversion in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: Coercion and Faith in Premodern Iberia and Beyond |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Numen Book Series |volume=164 |pages=155–172 |doi=10.1163/9789004416826_008 |isbn=978-90-04-41681-9 |s2cid=211666012 |issn=0169-8834}}</ref> Prior to Almohad rule during the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]], Jewish culture experienced a [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Golden Age]]. [[María Rosa Menocal]], a specialist in Iberian literature at [[Yale University]], has argued that "tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society", and that the Jewish ''dhimmi''s living under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in [[Christian Europe]].<ref>{{cite book |first=María Rosa |last=Menocal |year=2002 |title=The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=0-316-56688-8 }}</ref> Many Jews migrated to ''al-Andalus'', where they were not just tolerated but allowed to practice their faith openly. Christians had also practiced their religion openly in Córdoba, and both Jews and Christians lived openly in Morocco as well.

The first Almohad ruler, Abd al-Mumin, allowed an initial seven-month [[grace period]].<ref name="ugr">Amira K. Bennison and María Ángeles Gallego. "[http://www.ugr.es/~estsemi/miscelanea/57/3.Gallego.08,33-51.pdf Jewish Trading in Fes On The Eve of the Almohad Conquest]."  MEAH, sección Hebreo 56 (2007), 33–51</ref> Then he [[Forced conversion#Islam|forced]] most of the urban ''dhimmi'' population in Morocco, both Jewish and Christian, to convert to Islam.<ref name=Viguera/> In 1198, the Almohad emir [[Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur]] decreed that Jews must wear a dark blue garb, with very large sleeves and a grotesquely oversized hat;<ref name="Silverman 2013">{{cite book |last=Silverman |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Silverman |year=2013 |chapter=Bitter Bonnets and Badges |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZYdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |title=A Cultural History of Jewish Dress |location=[[London]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |pages=47–48 |isbn=978-1-84520-513-3}}</ref> his son altered the colour to [[Yellow badge|yellow]], a change that may have influenced Catholic ordinances some time later.<ref name="Silverman 2013"/> Those who converted [[Jewish religious clothing|had to wear clothing that identified them as Jews]] since they were not regarded as sincere Muslims.<ref name= Viguera/> Cases of [[Martyrdom in Judaism|mass martyrdom of Jews]] who refused to convert to Islam are recorded.<ref name="ugr"/> The treatment and [[Muslim persecution of Christians|persecution]] of [[Christians]] under Almohad rule was a drastic change as well.<ref name="Wasserstein 2020">{{cite book |author-last=Wasserstein |author-first=David J. |year=2020 |chapter=The Intellectual Genealogy of Almohad Policy towards Christians and Jews |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ph24DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |editor1-last=García-Arenal |editor1-first=Mercedes |editor2-last=Glazer-Eytan |editor2-first=Yonatan |title=Forced Conversion in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: Coercion and Faith in Premodern Iberia and Beyond |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Numen Book Series |volume=164 |pages=133–154 |doi=10.1163/9789004416826_007 |isbn=978-90-04-41681-9 |s2cid=211665760 |issn=0169-8834}}</ref>

Many of the conversions were superficial. [[Maimonides]] urged Jews to choose the superficial conversion over martyrdom and argued, "Muslims know very well that we do not mean what we say, and that what we say is only to escape the ruler's punishment and to satisfy him with this simple confession."<ref name="Verskin 2020"/><ref name=Viguera/> [[Abraham Ibn Ezra]] (1089–1164), who himself fled the persecutions of the Almohads, composed an elegy mourning the destruction of many Jewish communities throughout Spain and the Maghreb under the Almohads.<ref name="Verskin 2020"/><ref>Ross Brann, ''Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain'', Princeton University Press, 2009, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ox7L8lO9YnMC&pg=PA123 pp. 121–122.]</ref> Many Jews fled from territories ruled by the Almohads to Christian lands, and others, like the family of Maimonides, fled east to more tolerant Muslim lands.<ref name=frank>Frank and Leaman, 2003, pp. 137–138.</ref> However, a few Jewish traders still working in North Africa are recorded.<ref name="ugr"/>

[[Idris al-Ma'mun]], a late Almohad pretender (ruled 1229–1232 in parts of Morocco), renounced much Almohad doctrine, including the identification of Ibn Tumart as the Mahdi, and the denial of ''dhimmi'' status. He allowed Jews to practice their religion openly in Marrakesh and even allowed a Christian church there as part of his alliance with Castile.<ref name=Viguera/> In Iberia, Almohad rule collapsed in the 1200s and was succeeded by several "Taifa" kingdoms, which allowed Jews to practice their religion openly.<ref name=Viguera/>