The Almohad Caliphate: Ibn Tumart's Berber Revolution and the Mahdi of the Atlas

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the ideological roots of the Almohad movement that reshaped Morocco and Iberia. They focus on the figure of Muhammad Ibn Tumart, the Berber scholar from the Masmuda tribe who proclaimed himself the Mahdi and challenged the Almoravid Empire's Maliki orthodoxy. The conversation covers his early life, his studies in Cordoba and Baghdad, his encounter with the theologian al-Ghazali, his return to the Atlas mountains, and the founding of the Almohad doctrine of tawhid (strict monotheism). They discuss the Battle of al-Buhayra near Marrakech in 1130, where the Almohads suffered a devastating defeat, and the strategic role of Ibn Tumart's successor, Abd al-Mu'min, who actually conquered the Almoravid capital eighteen years later. The episode also delves into the social and tribal dynamics among the Masmuda, the symbolism of the Mahdi's physical description, and the long-term impact of Almohad ideology on Islamic scholarship and architecture, including the Koutoubia Mosque. #Almohad #IbnTumart #Mahdi #Masmuda #Almoravid #Marrakech #Koutoubia #tawhid #alGhazali #BattleOfAlBuhayra #AbdAlMumin #Berber #Morocco #History #FexingoHistory #IslamicHistory #NorthAfrica #AtlasMountains Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo