محمد بن تومرت المهدي
محمد بن تومرت المهدي
Muhammad ibn Tumart of Hargha, the Mahdi of the Almohads; after travels to the Mashriq — where he was said to have met al-Ghazali — he returned denouncing the Maghrebi jurists, wrote the Murshida on tawhid, held the imamate infallible, was driven from Bougie, rebuked Ali b. Yusuf in Marrakesh and was proclaimed Mahdi in 515, teaching the creed in Berber from his Ikilliz ribat 1.
At a glance
- Era
- Abbasid Fragmentation
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Overview
Muhammad ibn Tumart, imam of the Masmuda and founder of the Almohad state, known as al-Mahdi. He was of Harga origin. 2
In Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun says that he settled in Tlemcen, performed the pilgrimage, entered Iraq and met great scholars. They claimed he met Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, who gave him good news of the state. He then returned and disputed with the scholars of the Maghrib, and wrote al-Murshida on the Oneness of God. His view was the infallibility of the imam. They called him al-Mahdi in 515 AH, and he built a ribat at Igilliz where he taught the Oneness of God in the Berber tongue. 2
In al-Shadharat
Shadharat al-Dhahab says that he was ascetic, brave, eloquent in enjoining good. It considers his claim to be an Alid Hasanid and infallible an empty claim; this is the judgement of the author of Shadharat, not the museum's. He met Abd al-Mu'min ibn Ali at the village of Malala, then entered Marrakesh and advised Ali ibn Yusuf. 3
A description of the Almohads and the position of the Sunni scholars on him needs an additional source; this page presents two accounts only.
Sources
- Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun, p. 1668-1669
- Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun, p.1668-1669
- Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali, p.550-551
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “محمد بن تومرت المهدي”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/muhammad-ibn-tumart/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.