Abd al-Mumin

Abd al-Mumin

(äb'däl-mŭ`mĭn), d. 1163, founder of the empire of the AlmohadsAlmohads
, Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Spain in the 12th and 13th cent. It had its origins in the puritanical sect founded by Ibn Tumart, who stirred up (c.1120) the tribes of the Atlas Mts. area to purify Islam and oust the Almoravids.
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. He was the favorite of the Almohad religious reformer Ibn TumartIbn Tumart
, c.1080–1130, Berber Muslim religious leader, founder of the Almohads. He went to the East in his youth and returned convinced that he was the Mahdi and that he was destined to reform Islam. He was a rigorist and purist in doctrine and morality.
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 and became (1130) his successor. Even before his rise to leadership, he had attacked the AlmoravidsAlmoravids
, Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Muslim Spain in the 11th and 12th cent. The Almoravids may have originated in what is now Mauritania. The real founder was Abd Allah ibn Yasin, who by military force converted a number of Saharan tribes to his own
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. After long campaigns in Morocco and NW Algeria, he was able to destroy (1147) the Almoravid empire. In 1158 he invaded the Muslim states of Tunisia and NE Algeria, which had been weakened from attacks by Arab nomads and Sicilian Normans. By 1160 his rule reached from the Atlantic to Tripoli. The last years of his life were spent fighting the Christians of Spain.