"In this year (448 a.h. = 1056 a.d.) was the beginning of the power of the Mulaththamún.793 These were a number of tribes Rise of the Almoravides. descended from Ḥimyar, of which the most considerable were Lamtúna, Jadála, and Lamṭa.... Now in the above-mentioned year a man of Jadála, named Jawhar, set out for Africa794 on his way to the Pilgrimage, for he loved religion and the people thereof. At Qayrawán he fell in with a certain divine—Abú ‘Imrán al-Fásí, as is generally supposed—and a company of persons who were studying theology under him. Jawhar was much pleased with what he saw of their piety, and on his return from Mecca he begged Abú ‘Imrán to send back with him to the desert a teacher who should instruct the ignorant Berbers in the laws of Islam. So Abú ‘Imrán sent with him a man called ‘Abdulláh b. Yásín al-Kuzúlí, who was an excellent divine, and they journeyed together until they came to the tribe of Lamtúna. Then Jawhar dismounted from his camel and took hold of the bridle of ‘Abdulláh b. Yásín's camel, in reverence for the law of Islam; and the men of Lamtúna approached Jawhar and greeted him and questioned him concerning his companion. 'This man,' he replied, 'is the bearer of the Sunna of the Apostle of God: he has come to teach you what is necessary in the religion of Islam.' So they bade them both welcome, and said to ‘Abdulláh, 'Tell us the law of Islam,' and he explained it to them. They answered, 'As to what you have told us of prayer and alms-giving, that is easy; but when you say, "He that kills shall be killed, and he that steals shall have his hand cut off, and he that commits adultery shall be flogged or stoned," that is an ordinance which we will not lay upon ourselves. Begone elsewhere!'... And they came to Jadála, Jawhar's own tribe, and ‘Abdulláh called on them and the neighbouring tribes to fulfil the law, and some consented while others refused. Then, after a time, ‘Abdulláh said to his followers, 'Ye must fight the enemies of the Truth, so appoint a commander over you.' Jawhar answered, 'Thou art our commander,' but ‘Abdulláh declared that he was only a missionary, and on his advice the command was offered to Abú Bakr b. ‘Umar, the chief of Lamtúna, a man of great authority and influence. Having prevailed upon him to act as leader, ‘Abdulláh began to preach a holy war, and gave his adherents the name of Almoravides ( al-Murábitún)."795

The little community rapidly increased in numbers and power. Yúsuf b. Táshifín, who succeeded to the command The Almoravide Empire (1056-1147 a.d.). in 1069 a.d., founded the city of Morocco, and from this centre made new conquests in every direction, so that ere long the Almoravides ruled over the whole of North-West Africa from Senegal to Algeria. We have already seen how Yúsuf was invited by the ‘Abbádids to lead an army into Spain, how he defeated Alphonso VI at Zalláqa and, returning a few years later, this time not as an ally but as a conqueror, took possession of Granada and Seville. The rest of Moslem Spain was subdued without much trouble: laity and clergy alike hailed in the Berber monarch a zealous reformer of the Faith and a mighty bulwark against its Christian enemies. The hopeful prospect was not realised. Spanish civilisation enervated the Berbers, but did not refine them. Under the narrow bigotry of Yúsuf and his successors free thought became impossible, culture and science faded away. Meanwhile the country was afflicted by famine, brigandage, and all the disorders of a feeble and corrupt administration.

The empire of the Almoravides passed into the hands of another African dynasty, the Almohades.796 Their founder, Ibn Túmart. Muḥammad Ibn Túmart, was a native of the mountainous district of Sús which lies to the south-west of Morocco. When a youth he made the Pilgrimage to Mecca (about 1108 a.d.), and also visited Baghdád, where he studied in the Niẓámiyya College and is said to have met the celebrated Ghazálí. He returned home with his head full of theology and ambitious schemes. We need not dwell upon his career from this point until he finally proclaimed himself as the Mahdí (1121 a.d.), nor describe the familiar methods—some of them disreputable enough—by which he induced the Berbers to believe in him. His doctrines, however, may be briefly stated. "In most questions," says one of his biographers,797 "he followed the system of Abu ’l-Ḥasan al-Ash‘arí, but he agreed with the Mu‘tazilites in their denial of the Divine Attributes and in a few matters besides; and he was at heart somewhat inclined to Shí‘ism, although he gave it no countenance in public."798 The gist of his teaching is indicated by the name Muwaḥḥid(Unitarian), which he bestowed on himself, and which his successors adopted as their dynastic title.799 Ibn Túmart emphasised the Unity of God; in other words, he denounced the anthropomorphic ideas which prevailed in Western Islam and strove to replace them by a purely spiritual conception of the Deity. To this main doctrine he added a second, that of the Infallible Imám ( al-Imám al-Ma‘ṣúm), and he naturally asserted that the Imám was Muḥammad Ibn Túmart, a descendant of ‘Alí b. Abí Ṭálib.

On the death of the Mahdí (1130 a.d.) the supreme command devolved upon his trusted lieutenant, ‘Abdu The Almohades (1130-1269 a.d.). ’l-Mu’min, who carried on the holy war against the Almoravides with growing success, until in 1158 a.d. he "united the whole coast from the frontier of Egypt to the Atlantic, together with Moorish Spain, under his sceptre."800 The new dynasty was far more enlightened and favourable to culture than the Almoravides had been. Yúsuf, the son of ‘Abdu ’l-Mu’min, is described as an excellent scholar, whose mind was stored with the battles and traditions and history of the Arabs before and after Islam. But he found his highest pleasure in the study and patronage of philosophy. The great Aristotelian, Ibn Ṭufayl, was his Vizier and court physician; and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) received flattering honours both from him and from his successor, Ya‘qúb al-Manṣúr, who loved to converse with the philosopher on scientific topics, although in a fit of orthodoxy he banished him for a time.801 This curious mixture of liberality and intolerance is characteristic of the Almohades. However they might encourage speculation in its proper place, their law and theology were cut according to the plain Ẓáhirite pattern. "The Koran and the Traditions of the Prophet—or else the sword!" is a saying of the last-mentioned sovereign, who also revived the autos-da-fé, which had been prohibited by his grandfather, of Málikite and other obnoxious books.802 The spirit of the Almohades is admirably reflected in Ibn Ṭufayl's famous philosophical romance, named after its hero, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓán, i.e., 'Alive, son of Awake,'803 of which the following summary is given by Mr. Duncan B. Macdonald in his excellent Muslim Theology(p. 253):—

"In it he conceives two islands, the one inhabited and the other not. On the inhabited island we have conventional people living The story of Ḥayy b. Yaqẓán. conventional lives, and restrained by a conventional religion of rewards and punishments. Two men there, Salámán and Asál,804 have raised themselves to a higher level of self-rule. Salámán adapts himself externally to the popular religion and rules the people; Asál, seeking to perfect himself still further in solitude, goes to the other island. But there he finds a man, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓán, who has lived alone from infancy and has gradually, by the innate and uncorrupted powers of the mind, developed himself to the highest philosophic level and reached the Vision of the Divine. He has passed through all the stages of knowledge until the universe lies clear before him, and now he finds that his philosophy thus reached, without prophet or revelation, and the purified religion of Asál are one and the same. The story told by Asál of the people of the other island sitting in darkness stirs his soul, and he goes forth to them as a missionary. But he soon learns that the method of Muḥammad was the true one for the great masses, and that only by sensuous allegory and concrete things could they be reached and held. He retires to his island again to live the solitary life."