Ibn Tūmart

Abū ʿAbdallāh Muhammad ibn Tūmart ( Arabic أبو عبد الله محمد بن تومرت, DMG Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn Tūmart ; *  1077 ; † 1130 ) was a Berber Islamic reformer who claimed the Mahdi title for himself and founded the Almohad movement .

Life

Ibn Tūmart was born in 1077 as a member of the Hargha tribe ( Masmuda ) in the Anti-Atlas and traveled to Cordoba in 1106 , where he studied for a year. He then traveled from Almería via Alexandria and Mecca to Baghdad , where he stayed for seven years and met with Muslim scholars of various backgrounds. However, he mainly studied with scholars from the Baghdad Nizāmīya University such as Abū Bakr asch-Schāschī (d. 1114) and al-Kiyā al-Harrāsī (d. 1111), through whom he came under the influence of Ashʿaritic theology. Al-Kiyā al-Harrāsī, a student of al-Juwainī , also imparted his legal theory teachings to him. He later also visited Damascus. Allegedly, on his trip, he personally met the Persian theologian al-Ghazālī , whose writings such as the 'Revival of Religious Studies' ( Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn ) were banned by the Almoravids at the time and even publicly burned in 1109. However, this is extremely unlikely.

Already on his return to the Maghreb (1117/1118) Ibn Tumart explained his religious convictions to his fellow travelers. On arrival at home, Ibn Tūmart spread his teachings among the Berbers of the High Atlas and gathered his first followers, including Abd al-Mumin , whom he met in Bejaia , and Abu Hafs Umar . Ibn Tumart emphasized the absolute oneness of God and taught absolute predestination in a hierarchical society. When the attempt to convert the Almoravids under Ali ibn Yusuf to his theology failed, he withdrew in open rebellion with his followers to the Atlas Mountains in 1120 and lived for a while in a cave. When he came out again in 1121, he was proclaimed Mahdi by his ten closest followers . He then spread his teaching among the Masmuda tribes and slowly united the Masmuda tribes to form the Almohad League ( al-Muwaḥḥidun , 'confessor of divine unity' ).

To integrate the tribes into the movement, a council was formed, in which the ten students from Ibn Tumart's time in the cave as well as 40 other delegates from other important tribes were involved and stood by the leader of the Almohads. A strict hierarchy develops. Ibn Tumart had his opponents ruthlessly persecuted, even within his own ranks. The center of the Almohads became in 1124, after Ibn Tumart's "escape" (based on Mohammed's hijra ) from his homeland, Tinmal in the High Atlas , about 100 km south of Marrakech . In 1129, however, an attack by the Almohads on Marrakech failed with a defeat against the Almoravids at al-Buhayra (May 13, 1129).

Ibn Tumart died on August 20, 1130 and was buried in Tinmal. With him, the Almohads lost their spiritual leader, which brought the movement's military and political goals to the fore. He was succeeded by Abd al-Mu'min , who led the Almohads to victory over the Almoravids. However, the death of Ibn Tumart had to be kept secret for three years until his successor Abd al-Moomin had secured his rule.

literature

• William Al Sharif: The Dearest Quest: A Biography of Ibn Tumart . Jerusalem Acad. Publ., Tranent, 2010.
• Ignaz Goldziher : Mohammed Ibn Toumert et la théologie de l'Islam dans le nord de l'Afrique au XIe siècle . Imprimerie Orientale Pierre Fontana, Alger, 1903. Digitized
• JFP Hopkins: Art. Ibn Tūmart. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume III, pp. 958b-960a.
• Ibn Challikān : Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān . English translation by William Mac Guckin de Slane : Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary. Volume III, Paris 1842–1848, pp. 205–217 ( digitized in the Google book search).

supporting documents

1. ↑ See Sharif: The Dearest Quest . 2010, p. 66.
2. ^ Georg Bossong: The Moorish Spain. History and culture . Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55488-9 , pp. 46-48 (original edition).