Abstract

This paper aims to rediscover, contextualize and call attention to a work of maghāzī commissioned by the Almohad caliph al-Murtaḍā, found in manuscript 296 of the Qarawiyyīn library, and hitherto unnoticed by the vast majority of researchers. This work should be seen and read in the framework of the Almohad historical context in which it was written. I will also highlight the intellectual project and the legitimizing interests shown by the caliph al-Murtaḍā who, in the context of the crisis of the Almohad Empire, encouraged the revival of the Unitary movement through a new reading of the remembrance of the early days of Islam and of the Almohad movement, and of jihād. I will include the paleographic edition of the introduction to the manuscript as an annex. In this introduction one may already observe examples of some of the interesting points of this text.