Language:
English
Year of publication:
2011
Titel der Quelle:
Christlicher Norden, Muslimischer Süden
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2011) 231-247
Keywords:
ʻAbd al-Muʼmin,
;
Islam Relations Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Judaism
;
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Antisemitism History To 1500
;
Dhimmis (Islamic law)
Abstract:
A paper delivered at a conference held in Frankfurt am Main in June 2007. Examines reasons for the policy of forced conversion or expulsion of dhimmis under the rule of the first Almohad Caliph Adb al-Mu'min (1130-63), the political successor of the founder of the Almohad movement, Ibn Tūmart (d. 1130). This policy, which was tantamount to the abolishment of the dhimmi status, at least temporarily and in certain regions, represented a departure from traditions and rules followed until then. Mentions eschatological reasons, since Ibn Tūmart is said to have proclaimed himself to be the "Impeccable Imam", a title seen by many as connoting the Mahdī, who will appear at the end of time and abolish all religions other than Islam, according to the Ishmaelites. Purity concerns were also a salient feature of the Almohads. In addition, striving to put an end to religious discrepancies both within Islam and between Islam and other religions, they were strongly influenced by "fitra", the belief that Islam is the inborn religion of mankind and that men born to non-Muslim families should be freed from indoctrination by their families. Furthermore, since Ibn Tūmart presented himself as the reviver of the early Muslim community, he may have viewed the territory conquered by him as the new Hijāz, a territory where the presence of non-Muslims was explicitly forbidden by the Prophet. To a lesser extreme, the Almohads may have been influenced by the doctrines of the 10th-century historian and jurist al-Ţabarī, who determined that dhimmis should not live in cities with Muslim majorities.
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