Abd al-Mu'min (1094–1163) also known as Abdelmoumen El Goumi (Arabic: عبد المؤمن بن علي or عبد المومن الــكـومي, Tifinagh: ⵄⴰⴱⴷ ⵍⵎⵓⵎⵏ ⵍⴳⵓⵎⵉ) was a Zenata Berber prominent member of the Almohad movement. He became the first Caliph of the Almohad Empire (reigned 1130–63).
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Abd al-Mu'min was born near Tagra, in the Tlemcen area, present day Algeria.[1] He belonged to the Goumia tribe, which in turn, belongs to the larger Berber Zenata tribe. The Goumia originated from Tagraret.[2]
Ibn Khaldun wrote that was fro a noble family (The Banu Abed) of the Zenata. The Almohad biographers traced his descent as Abd al-Mu'min ben Ali ben Makhlouf ben Yali ben Merwan ben Nasr ben Ali ben Amer ben Al-Amir ben Musa ben Abdellah ben Yahya ben Ourigh ben Setfour (ben means son of).[2] Ibn khaldun, however, strongly opposes this as a fabricated lineage, since Abdelmoumen was Berber of a well known tribe and the names reported are, for the most part, Arab.[2]
Abdelmoumen went, as a youngster, to Tlemcen to learn the Fiqh. His tutor died before he could complete his study, at that time he learned about the existence of a well learned and pious Faqih known as Feqih Soussi (later known as Ibn Tumart) coming from the east on his way to his native land in Tinmel. Abdelmoumen and his peers wanted to convince Ibn Tumart to settle in Tlemcen, so he was sent to Ibn Tumart with a letter from the students inviting him to come to their land. The two met at Mellala near Bejaïa.[3] Ibn Tumart turned down this invitation, but Abdelmoumen stayed with him and they continued the journey to Morocco.[3] A strong friendship has grown between the two during this period, Ibn Tumart declared Abdelmoumen his best companion, to the point that he nominated him as his successor in leading the Almohads. Later, Abdelmoumen and the council of ten kept the death of Ibn Tumart secret for 3 years,[4] since the Almohads were going into a difficult time in their fight against the Almoravids, he also feared that the Masmuda (The Berber tribe of Ibn Tumart) wouldn't accept him as their leader since he was an outsider. He will eventually lead the Almohads when an in-law relationship occurred between him and Cheikh Abu Hafs the leader of the Masmuda.[3]
Some time around 1117 he became a follower of Ibn Tumart, leader of Masmudas (Berber tribe of western Morocco), a religious leader of renowned piety who had founded the Almohads as a religious order with the goal of restoring purity in Islam. His group had long been at odds with the Almoravids and had been forced into exile in the mountains. Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min not only defeated the Almoravids, but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Egypt, becoming Caliph of the Almohad Empire in 1149.
When Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at his Ribat in Tinmel, after suffering a severe defeat by the Almoravids, Abd al-Mu'min kept his death secret for two years, until his own influence was established. He then came forward as the lieutenant of Ibn Tumart, became the leader of the movement, and forged it into a powerful military force. Under him the Almohads swept down from the mountains, eventually destroying the power of the faltering Almoravid dynasty by 1147.
Establishing his capital at Marrakech, al-Mu'min expanded his empire beyond Morocco eastwards to the border of Egypt.
He also was a prodigious builder of monuments and palaces. One of the monuments he caused to be erected was a substantial fortress at Chellah to prepare the site as a base for attacks against Iberia. (Hogan, 2007)
The last years of his life were spent campaigning in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia) first conquering the Muslim kingdoms and then campaigning inconclusively against the Christian states.
| Preceded by Ishaq ibn Ali (end of Almoravid dynasty) |
Almohad dynasty 1147–1163 |
Succeeded by Abu Ya'qub Yusuf |