Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ALMOHADES (properly Muwahhadis, i.e. ...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 715 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

ALMOHADES (properly Muwahhadis, i.e. " Unitarians," the name being corrupted through the See also:Spanish) , a See also:Mahommedan religious See also:power which founded the fifth Moorish See also:dynasty in the 12th See also:century, and conquered all See also:northern See also:Africa as far as See also:Egypt, together with Moslem See also:Spain. It originated with Mahommed See also:ibn Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, a See also:Berber tribe of the See also:Atlas. Ibn Tumart was the son of a lamplighter in a See also:mosque and had been noted for his piety from his youth; he was small, ugly, and misshapen and lived the See also:life of a devotee-See also:beggar. As a youth he performed the See also:pilgrimage to See also:Mecca, whence he was expelled on See also:account of his severe strictures on the laxity of others, and thence wandered to See also:Bagdad, where he attached himself to the school of the orthodox See also:doctor al Ashari. But he made a See also:system of his own by combining the teaching of his See also:master with parts of the doctrines of others, and with See also:mysticism imbibed from the See also:great teacher Ghazali. His See also:main principle was a rigid See also:unitarianism which denied the See also:independent existence of the attributes of See also:God, as being incompatible with his unity, and therefore a polytheistic See also:idea. Mahommed in fact represented a revolt against the See also:anthropomorphism of See also:commonplace Mahommedan orthodoxy, but he was a rigid predestinarian and a strict obsefver of the See also:law. After his return to See also:Morocco at the See also:age of twenty-eight, he began See also:preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on See also:wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He even went so far as to See also:assault the See also:sister of the Murabti (Almoravide) See also:amir'See also:Ali III., in the streets of See also:Fez, because she was going about unveiled after the manner of Berber See also:women. 'Ali, who was very deferential to any See also:exhibition of piety, allowed him to See also:escape unpunished. Ibn Tumart, who had been driven from several other towns forexhibitions of reforming zeal, now took See also:refuge among his own See also:people, the Masmuda, in the Atlas.

It is highly probable that his See also:

influence would not have outlived him, if he had not found a See also:lieutenant in 'Abd-el-Mumin el Kumi, another Berber, from See also:Algeria, who was undoubtedly a soldier and statesman of a high See also:order. When Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at the monastery or rib¢t which he had founded in the Atlas at Tinmal, after suffering a severe defeat by the Murabtis, `Abd-el-Mumin kept his See also:death See also:secret for two years, till his own influence was established. He then came forward as the lieutenant of the See also:Mandi Ibn Tumart. Between 1130 and his death in 1163, `Abd-el-Mumin not only rooted out the Murabtis, but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Egypt, becoming amir of Morocco in 1149. Mahommedan Spain followed the See also:fate of Africa, and in 1170 the Muwahhadis transferred their See also:capital to See also:Seville, a step followed by the See also:founding of the great mosque, now superseded by the See also:cathedral, the See also:tower of which they erected in 1184 to See also:mark the See also:accession of Ya'kub el Mansur. From the See also:time of Yusef II., however, they governed their co-religionists in Spain and Central See also:North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside Morocco being treated as provinces. When their amirs crossed the Straits it was to See also:lead a jehad against the Christians and to return to their capital, See also:Marrakesh. The Muwahhadi princes had a longer and a more distinguished career than the Murabtis or " See also:Almoravides " (q.v.). Yusef II. or " See also:Abu Ya'kub " (1163-1184), and Ya'kub I. or " El Mansur " (1184-1199), the successors of Abd-el-Mumin, were both able men. They were fanatical, and their tyranny drove See also:numbers of their Jewish and See also:Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of See also:Portugal, See also:Castile and See also:Aragon. But in the end they became less fanatical than the Murabtis, and Ya'kub el Mansur was a highly accomplished See also:man, who wrote a See also:good Arabic See also:style and who protected the philosopher See also:Averroes. His See also:title of El Mansur, " The Victorious," was earned by the defeat he inflicted on See also:Alphonso VIII. of Castile at Alarcos in 1195.

But the Christian states in Spain were becoming too well organized to be overrun by the Mahommedans, and the Muwahhadis made no permanent advance against them. In 1212 Mahommed III., " En-Nasir " (1199-1214), the successor of El Mansur, was utterly defeated by the allied five Christian princes of Spain, See also:

Navarre and Portugal, at See also:Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena. All the Moorish dominions in Spain were lost in the next few years, partly by the Christian See also:conquest of See also:Andalusia, and partly by the revolt of the Mahommedans of See also:Granada, who put themselves under the See also:protection of the Christian See also:kings and became their vassals. The fanaticism of the Muwahhadis did not prevent them from encouraging the See also:establishment of Christians even in Fez, and after the See also:battle of Las Navas de Tolosa they occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of Castile. In Africa they were successful in expelling the garrisons placed in some of the See also:coast towns by the See also:Norman kings of See also:Sicily. The See also:history of their decline differs from that of the Murabtis, whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great religious See also:movement, but destroyed piecemeal by the revolt of tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the Beni Marin (" Merinides ") who founded the next Moroccan dynasty, the See also:sixth. The last representative of the See also:line, Idris IV., " El Wathik," was reduced to the See also:possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269. The amirs of the Muwahhadi Dynasty were as follows:—'Abd-el-Mumin (1145); Yusef II., "Abu Ya'kub" (1163); Ya'kub I., " Abu Yusef el Mansur " (1184); Mahommed III., " En-Nasir " (1199) ; Yusef III., " Abu Ya'kub el Mustansir " (1214); 'Abd-el-Wahid, "El Makhluwi" (1223); 'Abd-See also:Allah IL, " Abu Mahommed " (1224); Yahya V., " El Mu'tasim " (1226); Idris " El See also:Mamun" (1229) ; Rashid I., "'Abd-el-Wahid II." (1232); 'Ali IV., " Es-Sa'id el Mu tadid " (1242); See also:Omar I., " El Mortacla, " (1248); .Idris IV., " El Wathik " (1266-1269). (B. M.*; D.

End of Article: ALMOHADES (properly Muwahhadis, i.e. " Unitarians," the name being corrupted through the Spanish)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ALMOGAVARES (from the Arab, Al-Mugavari, a scout) 		[next]
ALMON, JOHN (1737-1805)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries