Having raised the ire of the Almoravid govern-
ment in Marrakesh, Ibn Tumart retreated to his
own people, the Masmuda berbers of the Anti-
Atlas Mountains, in 1121. There he laid the foun-
dations for the future almohad dynasty, claiming
the title of mahdi (messianic deliverer) and
implementing a rigorous religious ethic among
his Berber following. Posing as a holy man and
miracle worker, Ibn Tumart rallied the Masmuda
against the ruling almoravid dynasty. Although
he failed in his attempt to take Marrakesh (1124),
the city would eventually fall to his successor,
Abd al-Mumin (r. 1133–63), along with the rest
of North Africa and Islamicate Spain after Ibn
Tumart’s death in 1130.
See also andalUsia.
Stephen Cory
Further reading: M. Kisaichi, “The Almohad Social-
Political System or Hierarchy in the Reign of Ibn
Tumart.” Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo
Bunko 48 (1990): pp. 81–101; Roger Le Tourneau, The
Almohad Movement in North Africa in the Twelfth and
Thirteenth Century (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer-
sity Press, 1969).
Ibrahim See abraham.
Ibrahim Ibn Adham (730–777) early Sufi
saint who was a model for piety in Sufi tradition and
whose conversion story mirrors that of the Buddha
Ibrahim ibn Adham was born a prince in Bactria,
Balkh (present-day aFghanistan)—where Bud-
dhism flourished until the 11th century—in a
recently created Arab settlement. Legend tells that
Ibn Adham’s conversion to the Sufi path began
when out hunting in the forest one day he was
confronted by a voice prompting him to examine
his true calling in life. Like the Buddha, to whom
Ibn Adham is frequently compared, he thereupon
chose to renounce his claim to kingship and set off
for mecca, leaving an infant son and wife behind,
to spend the rest of his life in saintly devotion to
allah. In 748, he migrated from mecca to syria,
where for the following few decades he lived the
life of a wandering Sufi in the desert. It is believed
that he died around 777 in Syria while participat-
ing in raids against Byzantine Christians. He is
reported to have transmitted several hadith and
is remembered for his extreme asceticism and
generosity.
One of the earliest Sufis, Ibrahim ibn Adham’s
legend grew and developed in the centuries fol-
lowing his death as he became a frequent model of
piety in Sufi treatises written in communities from
Arabia to East Asia. Early sources on Ibrahim ibn
Adham include hagiographies written in the 11th
century by al-Sulami and in the 13th century by
Farid al-Din al-Attar. Ibrahim ibn Adham’s story
was told in the oldest Persian treatise on sUFism,
the classic Kashf al-mahjub by Al-Hujwiri in
Lahore, Pakistan. A 17th-century Malay text, Bas-
tanu’s-salatin, written by an Indian Muslim named
Ar-Raniri, presented Ibrahim ibn Adham as one of
the greatest early saints of Islam. He stands out
as a paradigm of saintly devotion in such hagi-
ographies, like the most famous and earliest of
known Women Sufis, rabia al-adaWi ya (d. 801).
But as he embodied the ideal of unsurpassed piety
and asceticism, Rabia stood for the ideal of pas-
sionate love for God. One famous story described
Ibn Adham’s 14-year journey to Mecca and his
frequent stops for prayer at holy sites along the
way, only to discover upon reaching Mecca that
the kaaba had to meet Rabia.
See also bUddhism and islam.
Megan Adamson SijapatiFurther reading: Russell Jones, Nuru’d-din ar Rahini
Bastanu’s-Salatin, bab IV, fasal 1: critical edition and
translation of the first part of Fasal 1, which deals with
Ibrahim ibn Adham (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan
Pustaka, 1974); John Alden Williams, ed. Themes of
Islamic Civilization (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univer-
sity of California Press, 1971).Ibrahim Ibn Adham 341 J