Abdallah ibn Yasin

Early life, education and career

Abdallah ibn Yasin was from the tribe of the Jazulah (pronounced Guezula), a Sanhaja sub-tribe. His mother was Tin Izamarren of the Jazula or tribe that lived in the village of Tamanart where he was born, she was from Temamanaout, at the edge of the desert bordering Ghana. A theologian of the Maliki school, he was a disciple of Waggag ibn Zallu al-Lamti, a relative of his, and studied in his Ribat, "Dar al-Murabitin" which was located in the village of Aglu, near present-day Tiznit. In 1046 the Gudala chief Yahya Ibn Ibrahim, came to the Ribat asking for someone to promulgate Islamic religious teachings amongst the Berbers of the Adrar (present-day Mauritania) and Waggag ibn Zallu chose to send Abdallah ibn Yasin with him. The Sanhaja were at this stage only superficially Islamized and still clung to many pagan practices, and so ibn Yasin preached to them an orthodox Sunnism.

After a revolt of the Godala he was forced to withdraw with his followers. In alliance with Yahya ibn Umar, the leader of the Lamtuna tribe, he managed to quell the rebellion.

Ibn Yasin now formed the Almoravid alliance from the tribes of the Lamtuna, the Masufa and the Godala, with himself as spiritual leader and Yahya ibn Umar taking the military command. In 1054 the Maghrawa-ruled Sijilmasa was conquered. Ibn Yasin introduced his orthodox rule - amongst other things wine and music were forbidden, non-Islamic taxes were abolished and one fifth of the spoils of war were allocated to the religious experts. This rigorous application of Islam soon provoked a revolt in 1055.