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Abd al-Mu'min (1094-1163) (Template:Lang-ar) was the first Amir of the Almohad Empire.

Abd al-Mu'min was born near of Nedroma, in modern day Algeria. He married the daughter of a prominent Masmuda of Tinmel, Almohad stronghold, giving legitimacy to his descendant, Abu Yacub Youcef, in the Almohads

His group had long been at odds with the Almoravid who then ruled part of Maghreb and had been forced into exile in the mountains. Some time around 1117 he became a follower of Ibn Tumart, leader of Masmudas (Berber tribs of Morocco), a religious leader of renowned piety who had founded the Almohads as a religious order with the goal of restoring purity in Islam.

When ibn Tumart died in 1130 al-Mu'min became the leader of the movement, he forged it into a powerful military force and under him the Almohads swept down from the mountains destroying the power of the faltering Almoravid dynasty by 1147.

When ‘Abd al-Mu’min conquered Ifriqiya (Tunisia) in 1151, he gave the Jews and Christians there the option of conversion to Islam or death.

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 (Morrish Iberia) first conquering the Muslim kingdoms and then campaigning inconclusively against the Christian states.

See also

• Menara gardens

References

1. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/686/Abd-al-Mumin
2. http://www.memoarts.ma/documentation/almohades.asp
3. My Jewish Learning: Almohads

Books

• Henri Terrasse, History of Morocco (2 vols., 1949-1950; trans., 1 vol., 1952).
• C. Michael Hogan (2007) Chellah, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham,

External links

• Chellah on net
• Abd Al-Munin life: Britannica online

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• 1094 births
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• Sultans of Maghreb
• History of Algeria
• Almohad dynasty
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