Ibn Qasi

Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad ibn al-Husain ibn Qasi († 1151 ), mostly only known as Ibn Qasi or Ibn Kasi , was a Moorish Sufi and mystic from Silves in the southwest of al-Andalus , today's Portuguese Algarve .

al-Muridun

Ibn Qasi in front of the Mértola fortress

Ibn Qasi was a student of the Sufi Ibn al-Arif (1088-1141) and together with Abu-l-Walid Muhammad Ibn al-Mundhir , Ibn Qasi was the founder of the religious movement of al-Muridun , who ruled from 1144 in an uprising of the Moroccan-Berber Almoravids . In his name Ibn al-Mundir seized the rule over Silves. Around 1145 Ibn Qasis militias and allies ruled the region around Évora , Beja and Huelva . After the sudden capture of Mértola , some Andalusian governors Ibn Qasi joined them. B. Abu Muhammad Sidray Ibn Wazir from Beja and Yusuf Ibn Ahmad al-Bitruyi from Niebla . They established an independent imamate headed by Ibn Qasi, which quickly extended to Badajoz . Their advance on Seville failed, however, and Sidray then left the Murids. Against the Almoravids and the Portuguese, who were also advancing into the power vacuum, they called on the Almohads for help and supported them in their landing in Andalusia.

The alliance between the religiously intolerant sect of the Almohads and Ibn Qasi's mystic movement, however, was characterized by mutual distrust. After the victory over the Almoravids and the Emir of Badajoz, who was also striving for rule over the Algarve, Ibn Qasi began secret negotiations with Portugal's King Alfons I in 1150 about an alliance against the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu'min . However, his followers found out about this and killed him as a traitor. Ibn al-Mundhir handed Silves, Mértola and the rest of the Algarve over to the Almohads.

literature

• André Clot: Al-Andalus - The Moorish Spain , page 171. Artemis & Winkler Verlag Düsseldorf and Zurich 2002
• Ulrich Haarmann (Ed.): History of the Arab World , page 298.Beck Munich 1994

Web links

Commons : Ibn Qasi  - collection of images, videos and audio files