Abstract

The Almohads’ rule over the Islamic West—twelfth–thirteenth centuries, from western Lybia to the Iberian Peninsula—involved the imposition of their founder’s profession of faith stressing God’s unity on the population at large, including not only Jews and Christians who were forced to convert, but also Muslims. The original uncompromising rejection of anthropomorphism underwent changes as Almohad rule evolved from its Messianic origins to the official support of philosophical inquiry. Discussion of Ibn Tūmart’s profession of faith and its links with Ibn Ṭufayl’s and Averroes’ work is complemented by an overview of the Almohad religious and intellectual elites and the development of law, theology and Sufism.