Editing Abu Bakr ibn Umar

{{more citations needed|date=November 2024}}
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{{Infobox royalty
| name         = أبو بكر بن عمر<br>Abu Bakr ibn Umar
| title        = Amir Al-Muslimin
| image        = Abu Bakr ibn Omar.jpg
| caption      = Coin minted under Abu Bakr ibn Umar
| succession   = [[Emir|Amir]] of the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]]
| reign        = 1056 – 1087
| predecessor  = [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni|Yahya ibn Umar]]
| regent       = 1072 – 1087
| reg-type     = Partitioned rule
| successor    = [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]]
| birth_date   = Unknown
| death_date   = 1087
| death_place  = [[Tagant Region|Tagant]]
| spouse       = [[Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah]] (m. 1068; div. 1071)<br /> Fâtimata Sal (c.1086)
| issue        = Amadou ben Boubakar
| full name    = Abu Bakr ben Umar ben Ibrahim ben Turgut al-Lamtuni
| father       = Umar ben Ibrahim al-Lamtuni
| mother       = Safiya al-Djedaliya<ref>{{Cite book |last1=al-Fāsī |first1=ʻAlī ibn ʻAbd Allāh Ibn Abī Zarʻ |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eqtODKlq1cC&q=m%C3%A8re |title=Roudh el-Kartas: Histoire des souverains du Maghreb (Espagne et Maroc) et annales de la ville de Fès |last2=al-Gharnāṭī |first2=Ṣāliḥ ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm |date=1860 |publisher=Impr. impériale |pages=185 |language=fr |quote=The Emir Abou Beker ben Omar... had as mother Safiya, free woman, of the Djedala}}</ref>
| religion     = [[Islam]]
| successor2   = 
| reg-type2    = Co-ruler
| regent2      = [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] (1072 - 1087)
}}
'''Abu Bakr ibn Umar ibn Ibrahim ibn Turgut''', sometimes suffixed '''al-Sanhaji''' or '''al-Lamtuni'''<ref>Full patronymic record varies in the sources. Collating various sources, his full name was probably Abu Bakr ibn Umar ibn Talagagin (''alias'' Ibrahim) ibn Turgut (or Turgit or Waraggut) ibn Wartantaq.  See N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins, 200'0, editors, ''Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History'', University of Ghana, p.409.</ref> (died  1087; {{langx|ar|أبو بكر بن عمر اللمتوني|Abū Bakr ibn 'Umar al Lamtūnī
}}) was a chieftain of the [[Lamtuna]] Berber Tribe and [[Emir|Amir]] of the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid]]s from 1056 until his death. He is credited to have founded the Moroccan city of [[Marrakesh]], and under his rule the [[Heretics|heretic]] [[Barghawata]]s were destroyed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=trans. from Arabic by A. Graulle & G. S. Colin|first=Ahmed ben Khâled Ennâsiri|title=Kitâb Elistiqsâ li-Akhbâri doual Elmâgrib Elaqsâ ["Le livre de la recherche approfondie des événements des dynasties de l'extrême Magrib"], vol. XXXI : Histoire du Maroc|publisher=[[Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner]]|year=1925|pages=136|language=fr|quote=his first act, ..., was to march against the [[Barghawata|Baraghwata]], firmly determined to fight them, after having taken God as his agent in the holy war he was about to wage against them. He slew many of them and made captives a large number of them,... The survivors converted again to [[Islam]]; Abu Bakr ibn Umar wiped out their heresy from the Maghrib.}}</ref> His campaigns may have included attacking the [[Ghana Empire]], although the Almoravid impact on and relationship with sub-Saharan states is disputed amongst historians. In November of 1087, Abu Bakr died of a poisoned arrow in what is now [[Mauritania]].

==Background==
Abu Bakr ibn Umar was a member of the [[Banu Turgut]], a clan of the [[Lamtuna]] Berbers. His uncle, [[Yahya Ibn Ibrahim]] was the chieftain of the Lamtuna who, together with the [[Maliki]] scholar [[Abdallah ibn Yasin]], launched the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid]] (''murabitūn'') movement in the early 1040s.
[[File:Camel Rider 1413 Mecia Viladestes map.jpg|thumb|left|Possible depiction of Abu Bakr ibn Umar (labelled "Rex Bubecar"), in the 1413 [[portolan chart]] of [[Mecia de Viladestes]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=de la Roncière |first=Charles |title=La découverte de l'Afrique au Moyen Age, cartographes et explorateurs |publisher=Sociéte royale de géographie d'Égypte |year=1925 |location=Cairo |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cortesão |first=Jaime |title=Os Descobrimentos portugueses |publisher=Livros Horizonte |year=1975 |volume=2 |pages=339 |language=pt}}</ref>]]

==Amir al-Muslimin==
Upon the death of [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni|Yahya ibn Umar]] in the spring of 1056 at the [[Battle of Tabfarilla]], the spiritual leader Abdallah ibn Yasin appointed Abu Bakr as the new military commander and amir of the Almoravids. That same year, Abu Bakr recaptured [[Sijilmassa]] from the [[Maghrawa]] of the [[Zenata]] confederation. The city had been taken earlier by Yahya, but subsequently lost; Abu Bakr recaptured it definitively for the Almoravids in late 1056.

In order to ensure they did not lose Sijilmassa again, Abu Bakr launched a campaign to secure the roads and valleys of southern [[Morocco]].  He immediately captured the [[Draa]] valley, then moved along the Wadi Nul (along the edge of the [[Anti-Atlas]], picking up the adherence of the [[Sanhaja]] tribes of the [[Lamta]] and the [[Gazzula]] (Jazzula) to the Almoravid movement. Abu Bakr led the conquest of the [[Sous]] valley of southern Morocco, seizing the local capital of [[Taroudannt]] in 1057. By negotiation, Abdallah ibn Yasin secured an alliance with the [[Masmuda]] Berbers of the [[High Atlas]], which allowed the Almoravids to cross the mountain range with little incident and seize the critical Zenata-ruled citadel of [[Aghmat]] in 1058 with little opposition.  Delighted at the apparent ease of their advance, Abdallah ibn Yasin ventured into the lands of the [[Berghwata]] of western Morocco with only a light escort and was promptly killed. Abu Bakr, who was then mopping up the area north of Aghmat, wheeled the Almoravid army around and conquered the Berghwata in a brutal campaign of revenge.

The death of the spiritual leader Abdallah ibn Yasin left the Almoravids under the sole command of Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr continued carrying out the Almoravid program without assuming the pretence of religious authority in himself.  Abu Bakr, like later Almoravid rulers, took up the comparatively modest title of ''amir al-Muslimin'' ("Prince of the Muslims"), rather than the [[caliph]]al ''[[amir al-Mu'minin]]'' ("Commander of the Faithful").

Abu Bakr married the wealthiest woman in [[Aghmat]], [[Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah]], who helped him navigate the complicated politics of southern Morocco. But Abu Bakr, a rustic desert warrior, found crowded Aghmat and its courtly life stifling. In 1060/61, Abu Bakr and his Sanhaja lieutenants left the city and pitched their tents on the pastures along the [[Tensift River]], setting up an encampment for their headquarters, as if they were back in the Sahara desert.  Stone buildings would eventually replace the tents, and the encampment would become the city of [[Marrakesh]], an unusual-seeming city for the time, evocative of desert life with planted palms and an oasis-like feel.

Abu Bakr placed his cousin [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] in charge of Aghmat, and assigned him the responsibility of maintaining the front against the Zenata to the north. In a series of campaigns through the 1060s, while Abu Bakr held court in Marrakesh, Yusuf directed Almoravid armies against northern Morocco, reducing Zenata strongholds one by one. In 1070, the Moroccan capital of [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] finally fell to the Almoravids.  Discontent, however, had arisen in the Almoravid ranks.

==Return to the Desert==

Many among the desert clans back in the Sahara regarded the northern campaigns as expensive and pointless.  The Guddala tribe, who had earlier broken away from the Almoravid coalition, began urging other desert tribes to follow suit.  After the fall of Fez, feeling Morocco was now secure, Abu Bakr decided it was time to return to the Sahara to quell the dissension in the desert homelands. He placed [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] in charge of Morocco in his absence. As was common among the Sanhaja tribes before extended military campaigns, Abu Bakr divorced [[Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat|Zaynab]] before he left, advising her to marry [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin|Yusuf]] if she needed protection.

Having quelled the discontent back in the Sahara, Abu Bakr returned north to Morocco in 1072. But Yusuf ibn Tashfin had enjoyed his taste of power, and was reluctant to give it up. Pushed by his new wife, Zaynab, Yusuf met Abu Bakr in the plain of Burnoose (between Marrakesh and Aghmat) and with a large outlay of gold, cattle and other gifts persuaded him to leave the northern dominions to him.{{sfn|Burkhalter|1992|p=113}} As a courtesy to his former leader, [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin|Yusuf]] kept Abu-Bakr's name on the Almoravid coinage until his death.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

Abu Bakr returned to the Sahara desert to command the southern wing of the Almoravids, raiding the pagan Sudan and perhaps attacking the [[Ghana Empire]], although opinion among historians is divided over whether the Almoravids ever established dominion over their Sub-Saharan neighbors.{{sfn|Burkhalter|1992}}{{sfn|Conrad|Fisher|1982}} If Ghana was in fact conquered, it was likely done by a son of Abu Bakr, Yahya, in 1076.{{sfn|Burkhalter|1992|p=111}}

==Death==

Mauritanian oral tradition claims Abu Bakr was killed in a clash with the "Gangara" ([[Soninke Wangara]] of the [[Tagant Region]] of southern [[Mauritania]]), relating that he was struck down by a poisoned arrow<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norris |first=H. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRJyAAAAMAAJ&q=died+tagant+almoravid+abu+bakr+ibn+umar |title=The Berbers in Arabic Literature |date=1982 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-78303-4 |pages=131 |language=en |quote=Abū Bakr ibn ' Umar, who is known locally as Ibn ' Āmir, was killed by a poisoned arrow in 1087}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Hama |first1=Boubou |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtAMAQAAIAAJ&q=fl%C3%A8che+empoisonn%C3%A9e+almoravide+abou+bakr+ben+omar |title=Histoire du Niger: l'Afrique, le monde. Cours moyens |last2=Guilhem |first2=Marcel |date=1965 |publisher=Ligel |pages=37 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_pcAAAAMAAJ&q=fl%C3%A8che+empoisonn%C3%A9e+almoravide+abou+bakr+ben+omar |title=Le Colloque senghorien de Dakar |date=1998 |publisher=Presses universitaires de Dakar |pages=216 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwssAQAAIAAJ&q=fl%C3%A8che+empoisonn%C3%A9e+almoravide+abou+bakr+ben+omar |title=Bulletin de l'Institut français d'Afrique noire: Sciences humaines. Série B |date=1955 |publisher=IFAN |pages=184 |language=fr}}</ref> from an old, blind<ref name=":0" /> Gangara chieftain in the pass of Khma (between the Tagant and Assab mountains, en route to Ghana).<ref>P. Semonin (1964) "The Almoravid Movement in the Western Sudan: A review of the evidence" ''Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana'', v.7: p.58</ref><ref>R.A. Messier (2010) ''The Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad'', Sant Barbar: Praeger. p.209</ref> His grave is at Maksam in Tagant region,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mauny |first=Raymond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_1yAAAAMAAJ&q=tombe+almoravide+abou+bakr+ben+omar |title=Tableau géographique de l'Ouest africain au Moyen Age: d'après les sources écrites, la tradition et l'archéologie |date=1961 |publisher=IFAN |pages=49 |language=fr}}</ref> it is 15&nbsp;km from Quddiya<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=من عبق التاريخ {{!}} ميادين |url=https://meyadin.net/node/9402 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=meyadin.net |quote=martyred Prince Abu Bakr bin Amer around 464 AH in Maksam in the Tagant region, 15 km from Quddiya currently known, on the outskirts of Tidjikja}}</ref> on the outskirts<ref name=":1" /> of [[Tidjikja]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVcvAAAAIAAJ&q=tombe+Tagant+almoravide+abou+bakr+ben+omar |title=Initiations et études africaines |date=1966 |publisher=IFAN |pages=26 |language=fr |quote=His grave, with his name but no date, is near [[Tidjikja|Tijikja]]. in [[Tagant Region]] ([[Mauritania]])}}</ref> According to [[Wolof people|Wolof]] oral tradition, a [[Serer people|Serer]] bowman named [[Amar Godomat]] killed him near [[lake Rkiz]] (Godomat's name apparently originates with this death).<ref>"Ce régicide dont l'exploit donna peut-être le signal de l'exode a ainsi pris le surnom de "Amar god o maat, "Amar (qui) sabre (le) roi"" Diouf, Marcel Mahawa, ''Lances mâles : [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]] et les traditions sérères'', Centre d'études linguistiques et historiques par tradition orale, Niamey, 1996, p. 54</ref>

===Dating===
Following [[Ibn Abi Zar]], Abu Bakr ibn Umar's death has been commonly dated to 1087.{{sfn|Conrad|Fisher|1982|p=22}} This is supported by numismatic evidence, with coins minted in Sijilmassa in Abu Bakr's name until that date.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hazard |first1=Harry |title=The Numismatic History of Late Medieval North Africa |date=1952 |publisher=American Numismatic Society |page=61-2 |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/213852433/The-numismatic-history-of-late-medieval-North-Africa-by-Harry-W-Hazard |access-date=5 November 2024}}</ref> [[Ibn 'Idhari]], however, records him dying only 3 years after his return to the desert, sometime in 1075 or 1076. The clear exaggerations in Ibn Abi Zar's account are perhaps a reason to view his dates with skepticism,{{sfn|Conrad|Fisher|1982|p=35}} as well as the fact that the campaign against Ghana was possibly led by Abu Bakr's son, Yahya.{{sfn|Burkhalter|1992|p=111}}
<blockquote><p>No historian has yet accounted for the ease with which Almoravid historiography has appropriated Ibn Idhari's chronology—this, at the expense of that passed on by Ibn Abi Zar and Ibn Khaldun—at all junctures except the date he provides Abu Bakr's death.{{sfn|Burkhalter|1992|p=127}}</p></blockquote>

==Legacy==
Although records are sparse, Abu Bakr may have been succeeded as emir of the southern Almoravids by his son, establishing a dynasty that lasted 200 years.<ref name = Ba>{{cite book |last1=Ba |first1=Abdourahmane |editor1-last=Villasante Cervello |editor1-first=Mariella |editor2-last=Taylor |editor2-first=Raymond |title=Histoire et politique dans la vallée du fleuve Sénégal: Mauritanie. Hiérarchies, échanges, colonisation et violences politiques, VIIIe-XXIe siècle |date=2017 |publisher=Harmattan |page=144 |language=French |chapter=Chapitre 1, Le Takrur Historique Et l'Héritage Du Fuuta Tooro}}</ref>

Oral tradition records that at his death Abu Bakr left a pregnant [[Fula people|Fula]] wife, Fâtimata Sal, who gave birth to a son, the legendary Amadou Boubakar ibn Omar, better known as [[Ndiadiane Ndiaye]], who went on to found the Wolof kingdom of [[Waalo]] in the lower Senegal river and the [[Jolof Empire]].<ref>Wade, Amadou ([1941], 1964) "Chronique du Walo sénégalais (1186-1855)", B. Cissé trans., V. Monteil, editor, Bulletin de l'IFAN, Series B, Vol. 26, no. 3/4, 440-98.</ref> The difference in dates between the two, however, make a direct connection impossible. More likely, Ndiaye was a descendant of Abu Bakr's, and one of several leaders who took power upon the dynasty's collapse.<ref name = Ba/>

== See also ==

*[[Islamic empires]]

==References==
<references/>

==Sources==
* {{cite journal |last1=Burkhalter |first1=Sheryl |title=Listening for Silences in Almoravid History: Another Reading of “The Conquest That Never Was.” |journal=History in Africa |date=1992 |volume=19 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171996 |access-date=4 November 2024}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=David |last2=Fisher |first2=Humphrey |title=The Conquest that Never was: Ghana and the Almoravids, 1076. I. The External Arabic Sources |journal=History in Africa |date=1982 |volume=9 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-in-africa/article/abs/conquest-that-never-was-ghana-and-the-almoravids-1076-i-the-external-arabic-sources/4C43B158FD3D74BE744D8634781A4E0A |access-date=4 November 2024}}
* [[Ibn Idhari]], ''[[al-Bayan al-Mughrib|Al-bayan al-mughrib]]'' Part III, annotated Spanish translation by A. Huici Miranda, Valencia, 1963.
* [[Nehemia Levtzion|N. Levtzion]] & J.F.P. Hopkins, ''Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history'', Cambridge University Press, 1981, {{ISBN|0-521-22422-5}} (reprint: Markus Wiener, Princeton, 2000, {{ISBN|1-55876-241-8}}). Contains English translations of extracts from medieval works dealing with the [[Almoravids]]; the selections cover some (but not all) of the information above.

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
|before= [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni|Yahya ibn Umar]] and [[Abdallah ibn Yasin]]
|title=[[Almoravid]] <br />(in the early days with [[Abdallah ibn Yasin]])
|years=1056–1087
|after=[[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar}}
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:1087 deaths]]
[[Category:Almoravid emirs]]
[[Category:11th-century Berber people]]
[[Category:Lamtuna]]
[[Category:Almoravid generals]]