From this moment he assumed the high title of mahdi, and proclaimed himself as the founder of a new people. He instituted a regular government, confiding the administration to Abdul-Mumin, his minister, with nine associates, but reserving the control to himself. Seventy Berbers or Alarabs formed the council of the new government. An army of ten thousand horse and a far greater number of foot was speedily organised, with which he took the road to Agmat just as Ali returned to Morocco from Spain. The Almohads [Unitarians], for such was the name assumed by the followers of Muhammed, defeated the troops of Ali four times.
At length Muhammed resolved to reduce the capital of Morocco. At his voice forty thousand men took the field. The preparations of Ali were immense; one hundred thousand men were ranged round his standard. They were again defeated, were pursued to the very walls of Morocco, and that capital was invested with a vigour which showed that the Almohads were intent on its reduction. But Ali led his troops against the rebels, whom he completely routed. Abdul-Mumin rallied the fugitives, and effected an orderly retreat. But time was necessary to repair the misfortune, especially as some of the savage tribes of the desert withdrew from Muhammed’s banner, on finding that his power was that of a mere mortal.
In 1130 the mahdi commanded all to assemble the following day near the great mosque, to bid adieu to their chief. All wondered at the command, except such as were acquainted with his long hidden disease. He exhorted them to persevere in the doctrine he had taught them; announced his approaching death; and when he saw them dissolved in tears, inculcated the duty of resignation to the divine will. He then retired with his beloved disciple, to whom he presented the book containing the tenets of his faith—a book which he had received from the hands of Al-Gazali. The fourth day he expired. The chiefs of the state were soon afterwards assembled to deliberate on the form of government; a monarchy was chosen; and by their unanimous suffrages Abdul-Mumin was proclaimed imam and almumenin.
For the next three years the new caliph was diligently employed in extending his conquests. The whole country, from the mountains of Darah to Salee, all Fez and Tasa, received his spiritual and temporal yoke. The empire of the Almoravids was now bounded within a narrow sphere. Ali became dejected and unhappy; his troops were everywhere defeated; his towns were rapidly delivered into the power of a savage enemy, who had vowed his destruction; and though, in compliance with the advice of his counsellors, he associated with him in the empire his son Tashufin, whose exploits in Spain had obtained him much celebrity, that prince was too busily occupied with the Christians and his discontented subjects of Andalusia to prop the declining empire in Africa.
[1143-1145 A.D.]
Tashufin ben Ali succeeded in 1143 to his father, who died at Morocco—more from grief at the declining state of affairs than from any other cause. His first object was to assemble an army to strike another blow for the defence of his empire. At first he was successful. Abdul-Mumin was compelled to fall back on his mountain; but in a second action Tashufin was defeated; in a third he was also compelled to retreat. Ali saw that his only hope of safety lay in an escape to Spain. One night he resolved to make a desperate effort to gain the port where his vessels were still riding at anchor. Unfortunately either he mistook his way or his mule was terrified by the roaring of the waves, for the next morning his mangled corpse was found at the foot of a precipice on the beach.
Arab Soldier
But Morocco, Fez, and some other cities were yet in the power of the Almoravids, who raised Ibrahim Abu Ishak, son of Tashufin, to the throne. The vindictive Abdul-Mumin, however, left them little time to breathe. Tlemcen he took by assault, and massacred the inhabitants; Fez he also reduced. The siege of Morocco was prosecuted with vigour. The inhabitants were so fatally repulsed in a sortie that they durst no longer venture outside the walls. Famine soon aided the sword; the number who died of starvation is said to have amounted to three-fourths of the whole population. Such a place could not long hold out; and accordingly it was carried in the first general assault. Ibrahim and the surviving sheikhs were instantly brought before the conqueror. Not only were he and his chiefs led out to instant execution, but a general massacre of the surviving inhabitants was ordered. The few who were spared were sold as slaves; the mosques were destroyed and new ones erected; and the tribes of the desert were called to re-people the now solitary streets.
During these memorable exploits in Africa, the Christians were rapidly increasing their dominions. Coria, Mora, etc., were in the power of Alfonso, styled the emperor; and almost every contest between the two natural enemies had turned to the advantage of the Christians. So long, indeed, as the walis were eager only to preserve or to extend their authority, independent of each other and of every superior, this success need not surprise us; we may rather be surprised that the Mohammedans were allowed to retain any footing in the peninsula. Probably they would at this time have been driven from it but for the seasonable arrival of the victorious Almohads. Both Christians and Africans now contended for the superiority. While the troops of Alfonso reduced Baeza, and with a Mohammedan ally even Cordova, Malaga and Seville acknowledged Abu Amram. Calatrava and Almeria next fell to the Christian emperor, about the same time that Lisbon and the neighbouring towns received Dom Henry (Henrique), the new sovereign of Portugal. Most of these conquests, however, were subsequently recovered by the Almohads. Being reinforced by a new army from Africa, the latter pursued their successes with greater vigour. They reduced Cordova, which was held by an ally of Alfonso; defeated, and forever paralysed, the expiring efforts of the Almoravids; and proclaimed their emperor Abdul-Mumin as sovereign of all Mohammedan Spain (1146).