The Evil Deeds of the Mujassimun From Kakudam

7/27/2019 The Evil Deeds of the Mujassimun From Kakudam

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Ibn Tmart and the Almoravids: The Evil

Deeds of the mujassimn from Kkudam,

Selected Passages from Ibn Tmarts

Aazz m yulab

H.T. Norris

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

Introduction

Ibn Tmarts Aazz m yulab (The Dearest of All Desires) has been viewed as a

major political and religious manifesto aimed at his Almoravid opponents. While this

is true, it is also more than this, since it displays the theological and ontological gap

between the unitarian Almohad Mahd and his strict, if multi-ethnic, Mlik Saharan

opponents. It underlines the gulf that existed between the religious values of the

desert and the south within Morocco and within the Western Sahara which lay toits south.

It also displays the gulf between fundamentalism and literalism within the Islamic

thought of the age. According to Michael Brett and Werner Foreman, in their The

Moors, Islam in the West, After years spent in the Muslim East, Ibn Tmart had

returned to the Maghrib. Having denounced the immorality of Tunis, attacked Saharan

ladies as they rode barefaced through the capital of Morocco, and disputed the

attributes of God with the scholars of the Almoravid court, he was forced to flee for

his life to his birthplace in the hills. Among his own people, the Berbers of the High

Atlas, his message became personal.1

The following is a translation of selected passages from the Aazz m yulab. The

Arabic text has already been published by Goldziher, in an edition dating to 1903,2

and the excerpts presented here are related to a larger project of translations of Saharan

texts I am undertaking, to be published in the future. This highly subjective and

neglected document by Ibn Tmart, whose birth dates vary between 471/1078 and

473/1081, is a unique document from the age of decadence of the Almoravids. He was

Journal of Quranic Studies 13.2 (2011): 155164

Edinburgh University Press

DOI: 10.3366/jqs.2011.0027

# Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS

www.eupjournals.com/jqs


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from the Mamda branch of the Berbers and his opponents were nomadic Berber

anhja. He lived in an age when opponents attempted to outwit one another in their

Quranic knowledge and learning in Islamic Studies; Ibn Tmart also studied adth

and Mlik fiqh; and his work has the flavour of shubiyya as well as religious

dialectic. As I wrote in The Berbers in Arabic Literature, to Muammad ibn Tmart

the Almoravids were corporealists and anthropomorphists (mujassimn), to whom the

vision of the divine was material and literal to the point of idolatry. Allhs throne was

as tangible and material and literal as their eroded Saharan rocks which they believed

had been shaped into high places and gardens for the jinn.3

Translation

[p. 258] In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

A chapter that will set out [the identity of] the parties of the falsifiers from the people

of the veil and the corporealists, together with their identifying characteristics

(almtihim).

All such signs and characteristics are visibly manifest [that is, clearly to be seen].

Among them are those which were manifest before they came forth from Kkudam,4

and those, likewise, that became apparent after their occupation of the country tookplace, together with those that were to come about from their circumstances

(awlihim) and actions (af lihim).

Those characteristics [or signs] which were apparent before they came forth [from

Kkudam] were five in number: the first of them is that they were barefoot (al-uf);

the second that they are scantily clad (al-ar); third, that they live at the expense of

others [namely, they were in a community where there were dependants (i.e. slaves,

families of related clans and groups)] (al-l); fourth, that they are herders of wild

sheep and cows (ri al-sh wal-bahm);5fifth that they are ignorant of Gods

[authority and] commands.

Those signs or characteristics which appeared after they had seized the land are seven

in number: first, their appearance is a sign of the End of Time; second, they are

kings; third, they bear their heads high within [tall] buildings; fourth, they give birth

by slave women and take numerous concubines; fifth, they are deaf (umm); and sixth,

they are dumb (bukm) in the sense that they are deaf to the Truth and they do not

pay heed to it, they are dumb to the Truth and neither ascribe to it nor command it.

All of the above stem from their ignorance and their departure [in error] from the

Truth. Seventh, they are wholly untrustworthy people, and notfit for undertaking the

command and the rule in Gods name (m hum ahlan lil-amna wal-qiym bi-amr

Allh).

156 Journal of Qur anic Studies


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[p. 259] Those signs which appeared later and which emerged from their

circumstances and their deeds were eight in number. The first of these was that

they hold in their hands whips like the knotted tails of cattle;6 the second that they

persecute people, and flog them with these whips; the third is that the hair on the heads

of their womenfolk resembles the humps of Bactrian camels that is to say, that they

gather their plaits above their heads [so that they are firmly fixed on top of their heads]

in that style and fashion; the fourth is that their womenfolk are naked in their attire;

the fifth is that they err from the Truth (milt yan an al-aqq), and from true

guidance; the sixth is that they stray and cause others to stray and be tempted by other

women; the seventh is that they come and go forth in the morning resentful; and the

eighth is that they depart, at a later hour, with a curse and with condemnation.

These are the signs, which total 20 in number; the Messenger of God reported all of

them before they came to pass. All of these signs became manifest, in accordance with

his predictions, and amongst them are those found in aadth ofUmar b. al-Khab

and in the adth that were reported by Ab Hurayra. We shall cite wherever there is

a specific statement to this effect, so that knowledge might be gleaned from it.

So, on the authority of Umar b. al-Khab: Verily, the Messenger of God, may the

blessings and peace of God be upon him, was visited by Gabriel, who said to him,

O Messenger of God, tell me about the Hour of Doomsday? Muammad said, He

who is questioned about it has no more knowledge of it than the one who poses the

question. Gabriel asked, Tell me then about its [signs and tokens and] forewarnings.

Muammad replied, When the slave girl begets her master / mistress, when you see

the unshod (al-uft), the naked (al-urt), those families which marry between social

classes (al-lt), the shepherds of ewes, the other herders, and those who go to excess

in their begetting and in their building. Then Gabriel departed and the Prophet tarried

awhile, then said, O Umar, didst thou know who the questioner was? I said, God

and His Messenger are the best informed. He said, Verily, it was Gabriel, he came to

you to teach you your religion [Islam].

On the authority of Ab Hurayra: The Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace

of God be upon him, was visited by Gabriel, who said O Messenger of God when

will the Hour of Doomsday take place? Muammad said, He who is questioned

about it has no better knowledge of it than the one who asks, but I shall tell you about

its conditions: when the slave girl begets her master, that is one of the conditions,

and when the barefoot and the naked are leaders of the people, that is another of its

conditions, likewise, when those who are shepherds of [black] sheep vye with one

another in the building of [lofty] mansions [p. 260].7 These signs are amongst the five

conditions that are known to God, alone.

Then the Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon

him, recited, knowledge of the Hour [of Resurrection] belongs to God

Ibn Tmart and the Almoravids 157


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alone [Q. 31:34].8 Also, on the authority of Ab Hurayra: Gabriel questioned

the Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him, and said,

O Messenger of God, when will the Hour be established? Muammad replied,

He who is asked knows no more than he who asks. I shall try to tell you about its

conditions. When the slave girl gives birth to her master, this is to be found amongst

its portents. When you behold that the barefoot, the naked, and the deaf and dumb

(al-umm wal-bukm) are kings of the earth, this is one of its portents. When you

behold the shepherds of [black] sheep vying with one another in the building of [lofty]

mansions, this is one of its portents. There are five portents which are only known to

God. Then he recited the verse, Knowledge of the Hour [of Resurrection] belongs to

God alone; it is He who sends down the relieving rain [Q. 31:34]. To quote Ab

Hurayra again: A bedouin Arab asked the Messenger of God, may the blessings and

peace of God be upon him, about the Hour. The Messenger of God, may the blessings

and peace of God be upon him, said, When the trust has been lost ( at al-amna)

then expect the Hours arrival. [The Bedouin] asked How will it be lost? He replied,

When the command (al-amr) has been ascribed to those to whom it does not

rightfully belong (il ghayr ahlihi), then expect the Hour.

A chapter in regard to their characteristics and signs

The Prophet, peace be upon him, pledged for them [that they would suffer in]

Hellfire, [feeling the pain of Gods] wrath, anger and curse. To cite [further], Ab

Hurayra said: The Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon

him, said, There are two kinds of people who inhabit Hell, neither of whom I have

beheld; a people who possess whips and lashes like the tails of cattle wherewith

they beat [and flog] the people and [secondly] women who are clad in scanty attire,

semi-naked, the crowns of their heads [adorned in hair that is piled up] in the shape of

[the humps of] Bactrian camels.9 Such persons will not enter Paradise, nor will they

inhale its fragrant scent, indeed, its air and scent are far removed and far distant from

such people.

On the authority of Ab Hurayra: I heard the Messenger of God, may the blessings

and peace of God be upon him, utter the words that, A long journey would be

required for you to arrive at the place where you would see a people who go forth in

wrath, [ill tempered], in the morning, and who depart with a curse upon their lips, and

who bear in their hands whips in the form of cattle tails. Such are peculiarly theirs and

are possessed by none besides them.

[p. 261] A chapter about the abominations that they perpetrated and the grave losses

that they inflicted, their lives spent in ill-gotten gains, their eating and their drinking

of that which is unlawful, their coming and going, their sensual embodiment of belief

[bombast, and pride and excess] (tajsm) and their gross infidelity.



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There is but one kind [of category for those who comit such abominations, i.e. the

mujassimn]. Due to the infamy and ill repute [of this behaviour] it requires no further

clarification or detailed description. Suffice to say that their corporeal and excessive

behaviour, their infidelity, their falsehood, their needfulness, needs no proof nor

physical evidence. No elaboration, therefore, is required or will be forthcoming. It has

been recorded on the authority of Ka b b. Ujra that the Messenger of God, the

blessing and peace of God be upon him, said to him, O Ka b [with regards to],

someone living off ill-gotten gains, is any action, other than his being cast into the fire

of Hell, afitting punishment?

A chapter on the prohibition of collaboration with the mujassimn in their evildoing

or believing in their lies

On the authority of Ibn Ujra: The Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of

God be upon him, said, Seek the help of God, O Ka b b. Ujra, from the princes who

will come after me, and from him who approaches their gates, believes their lies and

gives assistance to them in their oppression. He is not one of mine, nor am I one of

his, and he will never be returned to me at the sacred pool (al-aw).10 However, he

who does not approach their gates, who disagrees with their lying falsehoods, and

who does not assist them in their oppression, then he is one of mine, and I am one of

his, and he will be returned to me at the sacred pool.

In regard to this adth, it is [shown that] he who makes himself an enemy of these

people and who perseveres in following the Sunna of the Messenger of God, may the

blessings and peace of God be upon him, and his religion, then the sacred pool will

await him, if God so wills it. He who abandons his faith, and who returns to them,

who changes and alters, who believes in their falsehoods and aids them in their

oppression [and evildoing] will be driven away from the sacred pool and he will never

come to it.

Among the adth of Ab Hurayra there is a clarification of this, on the authority of

Ab Hurayra [himself]: Verily, the Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of

God be upon him, said, I wish that I had seen [and beheld] our brethren. They said

Are we not your brethren? He said Nay, rather you are my Companions, and our

brethren are those who have not yet come. I am the one who will lead them to the

sacred pool. In this is a warning for the party of the people of the Truth who are

resolute in their faith [p. 262] after the Prophets death, and who have clung fast to his

Sunna. There is also a warning to be found therein for the parties of the people of

falsehood (awif ahl al-bil) who have forsaken their religion after his death, those

who have apostasised and who have changed and altered, who have corporealised

their faith (jassam), and who have opposed the truth. The Prophet said, Indeed men

will be lost to (yudhdna an) my sacred pool, just as the camel who wanders (dhda)

is lost. I will cry out to them, Come ye, come ye, indeed, come forward! Then it will



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be said They changed [the religion] after you. and I will say, Be crushed and

perish, perish, perish!

A chapter on recognising the followers [of the mujassim

n], who aided and abettedthem in their wrongdoing, and who believed in their lies and a clarification of their

deeds [subdivided] into three categories

Amongst [the mujassimn] are the mulabissn; that is to say, the tricksters [or cunning

deceivers] who led [their followers] astray without knowledge, and who entreat

through their legal judgements in favour of their gross falsehoods and their whims and

fancies. Whenever they are asked about something they issue a judgement on it, in

accordance with their whims and their aims. Hence they have strayed and have misled

others. And a clarification of this quality [of their nature] and character, is to be found

in the adth of Abd Allh b. Amr b. al-, who said: I heard the Messenger of

God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him, say that God does not take

knowledge away by wresting it from the people, rather He takes away knowledge

by taking hold of the scholar until a point is eventually reached where none remain.

The people then choose and select their chiefs, who are men of ignorance, and when

they are asked and questioned they issue edicts (fatw) without sufficient knowledge.

They are misled, hence they, in turn, mislead! This was reported by Muslim and

al-Bukhr.

All of this is evident and perceivable, no clarification is required, and in the midst of

those people there are helpers and supporters who are apostates who have returned to

them, who have sold their faith for worldly gain. Among them are those who, in the

morning are believers, but by evening time have become infidels, selling their faith.

All of this is apparent (hir), and there is no necessity for a long discussion.

Clarification (bayn) of it is to be found in the following adth from Ab Hurayra:

Verily the Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him, said,Hasten to complete your affairs before the strife of darkness (bdir bil-aml

fitanan ka-qi il-layl al-mulim) for man goes forth at daybreak as a believer and by

evening he is an infidel, or he believes in the evening and at daybreak he is an infidel,

selling his faith for worldly gain. The trial and temptation of faith (fitnat al-dn) is

greater than these temptations and there is no trial that is greater than apostasy

(al-irtidd) [p. 263] and to alter and change [in religion]. Amongst their helpers are the

slaves of the dinar and the dirham and the Blackshirts (al-khama or the empty

bellied kham al-ban), who are beneath their authority in humiliation, in degradation

and in baseness. They have forsaken their religion and their ultimate future, seeking

[instead] their satisfaction, out of fear for this world and their prohibited happiness

unattained, and theirfleeting world that was not to last for them. They have forfeited

both this world and the next world. [Such are] the men who are accursed by the tongue

of the Messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him.



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[p. 265] A chapter on the obligation to wage holy war (jihd) against them on

account of their infidelity, their corporeality (tajsm), their denial of the Truth, and in

their deeming acceptable the blood of Muslims and [plundering] their wealth and

[possessions]

God, Almighty and Glorious said You who believe, fight the disbelievers near you and

let them find you standing firm: be aware that God is with those who are mindful of

Him (Q. 9:123).

NOTES1 Michael Brett and Werner Foreman, The Moors, Islam in the West (London: Orbis, 1980),

pp. 2930.

2 Text from I. Goldziher, Le Livre de Mohamed ibn Toumart (Algiers: n.p., 1903) pp. 25865.

On the term mujassimn, see Alfred Bel, Les Benou Ghnya, Derniers reprsentants de

lEmpire Almoravide et leur lutte contre lEmpire Almohade (Paris, 1903), pp. 325. Cf. H.T.

Norris, The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara (Harlow: Longman, 1986), pp. 15863.

3 H.T. Norris, The Berbers in Arabic Literature (London and New York: Longman and

Libraire du Liban, 1982).

4 Kkudam (variant Qqdam, Kawkadam, Kkdam). Cf al-Idrs in N. Levtzion (tr. and ed.)and J.F.P. Hopkins (ed.), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History (Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 128. Only Ibn Tmart and Ibn Khaldn imply that a very

extensive part of the Sahara was intended, namely the entire territory of the mulththamn, the

veiled peoples (today we know them as the Tuareg, the Moors of Mauritania and other mixed

ethnic Saharan population). Among Arab geographers and historians in general the name is

variously attached to (i) a location, (ii) a specific town, principally Azgg (Azqi) in

Mauritania, (iii) a centre for the manufacture of the lam (oryx-skin) shields, (iv) a waterless

tract on a caravan route devoid of population, (v) a narrow passage for trans-Saharan caravans,

and (vi), in two instances, a name of a tribe. It is possible that both tribe and town were once

connected. No town in the Sahara of today has a name that recalls Kkudam, with the soleexception of Agadem in South Eastern Niger (see Francis Rennell Rodd, People of the Veil

(London: n.p., 1926), pp. 3334). This town is too remote from the heartland of the Almoravids

to be of any relevance. It is almost certain that the name was a common widespread toponym in

the Sahara. It could have a relevance to three Tuareg terms that are found today:

(a) @gidi / igedan : iguda (dune du sable vivant), or

(b) @gd@m (entourer de tous cts ou dun seul cte/; au bord dune vale / mare /fleuve), or

(c) could (b) above have any connection with the fable that the first rib of the Almoravids

was located within an island surrounded by water? (agaam / igadaman / @gem

(passage); as@om / is@gam (lieu de passage, qu).

One cannot exclude some relationship between North African (particularly Libyan) place

names and the Arab and Berber groups in the Arabic accounts, whether such are mentioned

by geographers or by historians, with their sundry borrowed nomenclature from Classical

sources.

It has long been proposed that the Igdalen Tuareg, and the Almoravid Gudla may have had

some connection with the Classical Getullu and Gaetuli of Corripus and Pliny, and the Ifghs

(and the Ban Ifran of Ibn Khaldn) with the Classical Iforas.



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The same circumstances may have equally applied to the choice of the name of Kkudam that

was first employed by Ibn Tmart. In the latter case it would be linked to the Ogdaemae, who

were placed by Ptolemy close to Mount Ogdaemum, not far west of Lake Moeris in the Western

Desert of Egypt (see Oric Bates, The Eastern Libyans: An Essay (London: Frank Cass and Co.

Ltd, 1970), pp. 601, and especially Map V111 (Ethno-Geography of Eastern Libya from

Ptolemys positions), and Francis Rennell Rodd, The People of the Veil (London: Macmillan,

1926, pp. 3225). Continuous migrations of Libyan tribes (and, in particular, under Hill

pressure) from East to West, and over many centuries, could explain much of the often confused

and incoherent tribal picture which is afforded within the Arab geographers lists of tribes and

their locations throughout the entire Maghrib.

In order to assess the island rib story, see Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus of Early Arabic

Sources, pp. 23940, in the much criticized account of Ibn Ab Zar of Fez (d. 715/1315). For

the terminology cited above, see Ghubayd agg-Alawjeli, Awgalel T@maj@q T@frensist

Ghoubed Alojaly, Lexique, (Copenhagen: n.p., 1980), p. 49, p. 50. In connection with thelatter terms, see al-Bakrs Wnzamn in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus of Early Arabic

Sources, p. 67, which may be contrasted with al-Idrss disputed identification with Azgg

/ Azqi / Azukk in Mauritania on p. 28.

5 This reference to wild sheep possibly black sheep, which at the time were more common

in the Southern than the Northern Sahara, clearly indicates that Ibn Tmart viewed their

presence as reprehensible. Since, at that time, black sheep were less to be found in the north it

would seem that the northern migration of the Saharan Almoravids, accompanied by black

sheep, was a baleful fact to be faced by the Moroccan Berbers. See, T. Lewicki, West African

Food in the Middle Ages according to Arabic Sourcs (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1974). The sheep which Ibn Tmart found offensive were in al likelihood al-kibshal-damanya (Ovis longipes). They had no fleece and had a long, thick tail. It certainly

warranted a special mention by him. All the unfavourable aspects of the Almoravids in the eyes

of Ibn Tmart were expressed in the term tajsm, which, as has been shown by Alfred Bel,

indicated anthropomorphism. In the eyes of Ibn Tmart it was carried to an extreme so as to be

a causus belli. In his view there was no distinction to be made between anthropomorphism and

infidelity. The anthropomorphists equalled the Christians in such infidelity.

6 These flagellants whips are frequently depicted in medieval maps, for example the

Catalan Map of Charles V (1375 AD). See the frontispiece that depicts MansMs, Lord of

the Negroes of Guinea, published in E.W. Bovill, Caravans of the Old Sahara: An

Introduction to the History of the Western Sudan (London: Oxford University Press, 1933). Fordetails in regard to the imposition of punishments by flogging that were imposed on the

Almoravids by Abd Allh b . Ysn, see Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus of Early Arabic

Sources, pp. 745.

7 It is curious that Ibn Tmarts criticism of the Almoravids for their taste in high building, and

their class distinction and arrogance, was preceded by a very similar view that was expressed

and held by Abd Allh b. Ysn, the sprititual leader of the Almoravids within the Sahara

itself. According to al-Bakr this question convinced Abd Allh that the Almoravids should

live in a town where its dwellings were modest and of an equal height. This town was called

Arat/Aret-n-anna (RTNNY), see Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus of Early Arabic

Sources, p. 71. Abd Allh b. Ysn ordered that no building should be higher than any other

and they complied.

8 Quotations from the Quran are taken from M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Quran: English

Translation and Parallel Arabic Text (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).

9 The womenfolk of the so-called Blue Men of Southern Morocco (Tikna, Rgayabt etc.) still

have a manner of arranging their hair within a headcover that recalls the hump of the Bactrian

camel description of Ibn Tmarts text. See, for example the picture in Maurice Croizard and



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Pierre Galante, Les Hommes Bleus au Maroc (Lausanne (Vilo-Paris): Nouvelles Editions S.A.,

1956), p. 19.

10 This is a problematic term to render into translation. E.W. Lane offers three specific uses

of aw in the possible context of Ibn T

marts text: (i) saq

ka All

h bi-aw al-ras

l(may God give thee to drink from the pool of the Apostle), (ii) unsibba alayhim aw

al-ghamm (the reservoir of the clouds, and the reservoirs thereof, poured forth upon them),

(iii) malaa awa udhunihi bi-kathrat kalmihi (he filled the concha of his ear with the

abundance of his speech), see E.W. Lane, Arabic English Lexicon (8 vols, Beirut: Librairie

du Liban, 186393), vol. 2, p. 670.


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The Evil Deeds of the Mujassimun From Kakudam