Almohads

Almohads (Arabic al-muwahhid, “those who proclaim the unity of God”), Berber Muslim reform movement and dynasty established in North Africa and Spain during the 12th and 13th centuries. The origin of the movement is traced to Muhammad ibn Tumart, an Arab reformer in Morocco who preached moral reform and the doctrine of the unity of divine being. He gathered a large following of Arabs and Berbers and in 1121 was proclaimed Al Mahdi (“The Rightly Guided”). The founder of the dynasty was the Berber Abd al-Mumin, who succeeded Ibn Tumart and took the title of caliph. He conquered Morocco (1140-1147) and other parts of North Africa, thus putting an end to the previous dynasty of the Almoravids. By 1154 he also ruled Islamic Spain and part of Portugal. Notable among successive Almohad rulers was Yakub al-Mansur, who ruled in Spain from 1184 until his death. He aided the sultan Saladin against the Crusaders and was responsible for the construction of numerous architectural monuments, including the Hassan Tower (a 55-m/180-ft minaret) in Rabat, Morocco. The Almohad dynasty flourished until 1212, when the united kings of Castile, Aragón, and Navarre defeated the Almohad forces in the Battle of Navas de Tolosa. After that defeat, the power of the Almohads declined and finally came to an end in Spain in 1232 and in Africa in 1269.