Abu al-Ala Idris al-Ma'mun (; ''Abū Al-`lā Al-Mā'mūn Idrīs ibn Al-Manṣūr''; died 16 or 17 October 1232) was an

Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

rival caliph who reigned in part of the empire from 1229 until his death. He was a son of

Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Yūsuf ibn Abd al-Muʾmin al-Manṣūr (; d. 23 January 1199), commonly known as Yaqub al-Mansur () or Moulay Yacoub (), was the third Almohad caliph. Succeeding his father, al-Mansur reigned from 1184 to 1199. His reig ...

and brother of

Muhammad al-Nasir Muhammad al-Nasir (,'' Muḥammad an-Nāṣir'', – 1213) was the fourth Almohad Caliph from 1199 until his death. Évariste Lévi-Provençalal-Nāṣir Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online, 2013. Reference. 9 January 2013. Co ...

and

Abdallah al-Adil Abu Muhammad ʿAbdallah 'al-ʿAdil' ( ''ʿAbd Allāh''; d. October 4, 1227) was an Almohad Caliph, a former governor in al-Andalus who challenged and secured the murder of his predecessor, Abd al-Wahid I. His 1224 coup ushered in a period of in ...

Life

Al-Ma'mun was the first Almohad ruler to officially renegade on the

Imamate The term imamate or ''imamah'' (, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a Muslim theocratic state ruled by an ''imam''. Theology *Imamate in Shia doctrine, the doctrine of the leadership of the Muslim commu ...

of the Mahdi Ibn Tumart, recognizing instead the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

caliph in Baghdad as Imam and reverted back to promoting the

Taqlid ''Taqlid'' (, " imitation") is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on context and age. Cla ...

of the

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

madhab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE and by the twelfth century almost all ...

formerly promoted by the

Almoravids The Almoravid dynasty () was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almo ...

whom the Almohads had ousted less than a century earlier. He claimed instead that the title Mahdi applied to Jesus. His nephew Yahya took this step as license to proclaim himself caliph and a civil war broke out. At the same time, a revolt took place in

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

under emir al-Mutawakkil. Al-Ma'mun therefore send his relative Abu Zayd from Valencia to Murcia to squash the revolt, but Abu Zayd was defeated. Al-Ma'mun then went with an army to confront al-Mutawakkil, but he could not capture the city itself. As the situation in North Africa also became worse, al-Ma'mun departed to Morocco and ended thus Almohad rule on the peninsula. Idris asked

Ferdinand III of Castile Ferdinand III (; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. Through his ...

for help, receiving 12,000 knights who allowed him to conquer that city and to massacre the sheikhs that had supported Yahya. Following his victory, Idris honored the treaty with Ferdinand III and allowed the construction of a Christian church in Marrakesh in 1230, which was destroyed two years later by Yahya. The side changes of Idris soon lost him popular consent. In the early 1232, when he was besieging

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

, Yahya took the occasion to capture Marrakesh. Idris died during the march to reach the city, and was succeeded by his son Abd al-Wahid II. The rejection of typical Almohad doctrine also caused the break away of the

Hafsid dynasty The Hafsid dynasty ( ) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berbers, Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. that ruled Ifriqiya (modern day Tu ...

in the

Ifriqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya). It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of ...

province. One of his consort was a Christian woman, Habbaba, who upon his death informed the Christian palace militia before she informed the Muslim members of the court, giving the former an advantage. Military Diasporas: Building of Empire in the Middle East and Europe (550 BCE-1500 CE). (n.d.). Storbritannien: Taylor & Francis. Idris’ other son was Abu al-Hasan as-Said al-Mutadid.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Idris 01, Almohad Caliph 1232 deaths 13th-century caliphs 13th-century monarchs in Africa Almohad caliphs 13th-century Berber people People from Marrakesh Year of birth unknown