Abd al-Mu'min

Abd al-Mu'min was born in the village of Tagra, Kingdom of the Hammadids,[2] and belonged to the Kumiya tribe, which in turn, was part of the larger Berber Zenata tribe. This tribe settled in the north of what is now the province of Oran, not far from Nedroma.[3] The Almohad biographers traced his descent as Abd al-Mu'min ben Ali ben Makhlouf ben Yali ben Merwan ben Nasr ben Ali ben Amer ben Al-Amir ben Musa ben Abdellah ben Yahya ben Ourigh ben Setfour (ben means son of).[4] Ibn Khaldun, however, argued that this was a fabricated lineage, since Abd al-Mu'min was a Berber from a well known tribe and the names reported were, for the most part, Arab.[4]

While young, Abd al-Mu'min went to Tlemcen to learn the Fiqh. His tutor died before he could complete his study. He then was made aware of a learned and pious Faqih called Feqih Soussi (later known as Ibn Tumart) who was travelling from the east on his way to his native land in Tinmel, Morocco. Abd al-Mu'min and his peers wanted to convince Ibn Tumart to settle in Tlemcen, so he was sent to Ibn Tumart with a letter from the students inviting him to come to their land. The two met at Mellala near Bejaïa.[5] Ibn Tumart turned down the invitation, but Abd al-Mu'min stayed with him and they continued the journey together to Morocco.[5]

Some time around 1117, he became a follower of Ibn Tumart,[6] leader of the Masmudas (a Berber tribe of western Morocco), a religious 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 Almoravids and had been forced into exile in the mountains. He stayed with him as he journeyed slowly towards Marrakesh. It was there that his mentor declared himself the Mahdi (divinely guided one) and that he was opposed to the Almoravid Dynasty.[6] 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 that position.[6]

When Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at his Ribat in Tinmel, 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,[7] since the Almohads were going through a difficult time in their fight against the Almoravids. He 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.[5] He then came forward as the lieutenant of Ibn Tumart, became the leader of the movement, and forged it into a powerful military force. 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.[6] In 1145, after the Almoravids lost the leader of their Catalan mercenaries, 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.[6] After the capture of Marrakesh, to quell any open rebellions, he ordered the elimination of 30,000 Almoravids in a purge.[6]

By establishing his capital at Marrakesh, Abd al-Mu'min created a dilemma in that the Almohads considered that it was a city of heretics. He contented himself with the destruction of their palace and all of their mosques. At this point he decided to concentrate his empire building on North Africa and expanded his empire beyond Morocco eastwards to the border of Egypt. By 1151, he had reached Constantine where he confronted a coalition of Arab tribes that had been marching through Berber lands. Rather than the destruction of these tribes, he utilized them in his next phase, Spain and also to quell any internal opposition from the family of Ibn Tumart.[6] He reached the furthest east by 1158/9 by which time he had conquered Tunisia and Tripolitania.

He asks and gets support from his father-in-law and has to rely on the support of his tribe of origin to protect his power and his quality of caliph. After consolidating his government, he decided to conquer the countries of eastern Maghreb, including Ifriqiya, then a prey to anarchy and part of which is under the yoke of the Normans of Sicily of King William the Evil, Put in difficulty by internal revolts and the rebellion of the governor Omar de Sfax. Abd al-Mumin invaded the territory of present-day Algeria, in 1152-1153, defeated the Arab-Muslim tribes who oppose its passage then defeats the Hammadid prince who reigns in Bejaïa (Kabylie), and annex States. Seven years later, in 1159-1160, he seized Ifriqiya by defeating the Normans. On the 12th of July, 1159, he entered Tunis, while his fleet, of 70 ships, crossed the Gulf of Tunis; A delegation of notables of the city comes to meet the conqueror and solicits the aman; The caliph promised to respect the life and property of the present messengers, but demanded from the other inhabitants half of their property. His empire stretched as far as Tripoli and Andalusia, as far as the valley of the Guadalquivir: Granada, Cordoba and Seville thus fell into his hands. All that remains for him to do is to check the revolt of the Christians of Andalusia led by a certain Muhammad ibn Mardanis. Abd al-Mumin had his son Abu Yaqub Yusuf recognized as his heir and, with the help of the latter, had a fortress built on the left bank of the Bouregreg, opposite the town of Sale, to prepare the fleet destined to invade Spain . This fortress is called the "camp of victory" (Ribat El Fath), the future Rabat. Abd al-Mumin died in 1163 before he was able to complete his enterprise. During his reign he was supported by four principal viziers: Abu Jafar (1146-1157), Abu al-Salam (1157-1158), Abu Hafs (1158-1160) and Abu al-'Ala (1160-1163) .

The last years of Abd al-Mu'min's life were spent campaigning in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia) first conquering the Muslim kingdoms and then campaigning inconclusively against the Christian states.

Abd al-Mu'min was a prodigious builder of monuments and palaces. One of the monuments he caused to be erected was a substantial fortress at Chellah to prepare the site as a base for attacks against Iberia. He established a central government that would control North Africa for more than a half century after he died. He added to the traditional clan organizations of the Berbers the concept of Makhzan, a central administration staffed by Spanish Muslims. To keep the revenue flowing, he created a land registry. Abd al-Mu'min also supported the arts, but in keeping with the founders' wishes when mosques were built he kept them simple and plain.[6] He is considered as a national hero in Algeria.[8]

• Almohad Caliphate
• Abu Yaqub Yusuf, his successor

• Henri Terrasse, History of Morocco (2 vols., 1949–1950; trans., 1 vol., 1952).
• C. Michael Hogan (2007) Chellah, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham.

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Abd al-Mu'min

• Chellah on net
• Abd Al-Munin life: Britannica online