THE ALMOHAD MECCA LOCATING IGLI AND THE CAVE OF IBN TÜMART ^

Igli was the Mecca of the Almohads. In the Cave of Igli Muhammad Ibn Tùmart proclaimed the begimiing of the Almohad movement in North Africa. Despite the obvious importance of Igli, there was little knowledge about the precise location of Igli or the famous cave of Ibn Tümart on the map. This paper details the discovery of the small village of Igli 30 kilometers East of Tarùdant. The location of this modem village corresponds with Almohad Igli. Primary sources, oral testimony and physical remains are all evidence that modem Igli was the birthplace of Ibn Tümart. (c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.es 190 ALLEN J. FROMHERZ A g, XXVI, 2005

Tùmart and one of the most important sites in Almohad historical geography, has remained an embarrassing mystery.While Mecca and Madina are known by Muslims throughout the world, Igli, the birthplace of Ibn Tùmart, the place where he received his revelation in a cave, a place that from the events described in primary sources could reasonably be called «Mecca» of the Almohad movement, has not been located on the modem map with any certainty.Where is the Cave of Igli?Where, in fact, is Igli of the Almohads?As of yet, there have been few convincing answers to these most basic questions about the origins of the Almohads, one of the largest empires in African history.
Several scholars assumed that Igli or «Igilliz» became the town of Guilliz near Marrakech.^ Henri Basset and Henri Terrasse in their famous series of articles for Hespéris on the fortifications of the Almohads placed Igli somewhat arbitrarily in modem-day Guilliz south of Aghmat Ourika on the Oued Regaia.The rationale for this seemed to be that Guilliz sounded somewhat like «Igilliz» and the Regaia sounded similar to Hargha, the tribe of Ibn Tümart.Terrasse and Basset provided no reasonable evidence proving that Guilliz was in fact the Igli mentioned in the chronicles.On Huici Miranda's map of the major sites of the Almohad period «Igilliz?» is written with a large question mark somewhere in the wadi Sous to the east of Tarùdant.I believe Huici Miranda's speculation was probably much more accurate (see Figure 1).Indeed, he was very close.
In a more recent article on Igiliz Muhammad Rabata al-Dîn places Igiliz only a few kilometres away from Marrakech on the hill of GilHz.This seems highly improbable for several reasons.First, there is no clear mention in the sources of such a location.Second, the Almohads would have been very vulnerable to interference by the Almoravids at such a location, so close to Marrakech, the center of Almoravid power.Although Muhammad Rabata al-Dïn provides some fascinating observations about the history and philology of the word Igiliz, he does not provide any real evidence for the location of the birthplace of Muhammad ibn Tùmart.Yes, there is a hill named Gilliz near Marrakech.But as his own research suggests, Igiliz, Igli, and Gilliz are all variations of a Berber word.He does not emphasize that Igiliz or Igli was the birthplace of Ibn Tùmart or that he built a ribât there to gather supporters after fleeing Marrakech.^ I propose one highly probable location for this Mecca of the Almohads in the Sous valley, a location that corresponds with the primary sources, a location oral tradition identifies as the birthplace of Ibn Tùmart.From a close study of the sources, and from research in Morocco conducted under a Royal Historical Society grant, it is my conclusion that the small town of Igli, about 30 kilometers east of Tarùdant in the Sous valley, is the birthplace of Muhammad ibn Tùmart.There are several reasons for this conclusion.Igli actually corresponds with the name as mentioned in al-Marràkushï source written as «Ijli 'n Warghan», Igli of Hargha.^ Also, as I will discuss, the primary sources clearly seemed to suggest the birthplace of Ibn Tùmart was located in the Sous valley, East of Tarùdant, the same location as present day Igli.Third, there is still a «forbidden» ^ cave near present day Igli that may have been the very same cave where Ibn Tùmart received his revelations and began the Almohad movement.Finally, present-day oral place names, tradition, and physical remains confirm that Igli was the birthplace of Ibn Tùmart.Even the central mosque of Igli remains the «Mosque of Ibn Tùmart».See "lyilliz?"This is virtually the same location as modem Igli

Primary Source Evidence
The Almohad primary sources provide a rich illustration of Igli's central importance in the early history of the revolutionary movement.I will describe two primary accounts of what happened at Igli and why it was such an important site in Almohad history.Next, I (c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.eswill describe an Almohad letter that referred to the Almohad Igli as being the same place as modem-day Igli.

The Biography of the Mahdï
According to al-Baydhaq, the Mahdï's close companion and personal biographer, Ibn Tümart spent several days inside the cave near Igli.^ He spread out his burnous, a long, rough woollen cloak, as if it were a carpet.One day, Ismâ'îl Igîg saw this and he asked, «Oh my brother, is it only but a burnous that you make like a carpet that inspires the light of knowledge?Light is nothing if not clothed by light!»This burnous of Yaliltan as it was called in the text, was later worn during various battles against the Almoravids.Ismâ'îl took off his cloak and put it on the floor declaring, «Sit here, you are more dignified than me for this, and God has ordered us to treat you with honor».After sitting down at the entrance of the cave, Ibn Tùmart looked to the left and the right and said «Make a great enclosure for the horsemen...».Then he ordered the construction of mangers saying, «Those who construct one will have one horse, those who construct two will have two, and those who would judge my word about the mangers, may God castigate them!»Then a communal meal was prepared: the Imam put salt on his hand and said: «Here is a pact of God, a pact of the prophet, between us and them, to conform to the Book [the Qur'ân] and the Sunna!»When the food was ready the people said, «The Imam neither drinks nor eats!»He turned towards them, detached a portion of meat from a lamb shoulder and brought it to his mouth.Then he said, «I eat as people eat, I drink as people drink.I am from the offspring of Adam, I must do as they do... Eat as all the prophets have eaten!».^ What was the significance of this enigmatic scene near the sacred cave of Igli?In my view there are at least two possible explanations for al-Baydhaq's account.The first purpose of this scene was to confirm the status of Ibn Tùmart as a prophet with special access to God.As he remained alone in the cave, Ibn Tùmart was somehow trans-^ "Les Mémoires d'al-Baydhaq", Documents Inédits d'Histoire Almohade, ed.E. Lévi-Provençal, Paris, 1928, 116, 73 in Arabic. ^ Documents Inédits, 111, 72-73  formed.The cave was a boundary space between the sacred and the earthly, a channel to the light of prophecy, and a passage only the Mahdï Ibn Tùmart could follow.The cave scene also presaged the future illumination of North Africa by the Mahdï's message.
Ibn Tùmart eats and his followers are astounded that such a sacred man would eat simple earthly food.This confirmed how Ibn Tùmart's experience in the cave transformed him from a mere preacher and moral reformer to the leader of a new Islamic era.His image had been so transformed by the cave that he had to say to his followers, «I am the offspring of Adam!»The second purpose behind Ibn Tùmart's actions was to enforce the absolute loyalty and just participation of his followers.Or, as Ibn Khaldùn might have said, the purpose of this exercise was to solidify their 'asabiyya, their group feeling against a common enemy -the ruling Almoravids.
It remains a slowly dying practice among Berbers in parts of the Sous valley to share their labour in a communal way, to reap the rewards of their work in common.Thus, the whole community will be involved in the cultivation of each family's field.When Ibn Tùmart calls on his followers to 'build the mangers' for the horses he says, those who have one horse shall construct one.Those who have two will need to construct two.In effect he said, give up your horses, a horse is the most prized asset of any male Berber, to the cause.Not only should they provide their horses, they must build a stable for the horses in the ribat of Ibn Tùmart at Igli.This was more than a symbolic act.Once a Berber warrior gives up his horse, he relinquishes his freedom and his ability to resist.Those who have one shall have to give their one, those who happen to have more will give more.Along with the meal scene, the purpose of this scene was to soHdify the loyalty of his followers, to demand the sacrifice of property, to become, as it were, one tribe, one messianic community following the commands of the Mahdï.Whereas before it was most honourable to defend blood, it was now most honourable to defend and promote the ideals of the Mahdï.Those who did not follow his words were shamefully expelled from this new community, this new spiritual tribe.

The Book of Ancestry
In a different version of the same story, the Kitâb al-Ansàb, or Book of Ancestry, describes the cave at Igli as a center of pilgrimage and devotion after the death of Ibn Tümart.^ A certain Abu Marwán ibn Yahyá, for example, remained at the ribât of Igli as a hermit until the end of his life.The reasons for this constant devotion during and after the life of Ibn Tümart were made clear by the Book of Ancestry, «All these great men [«the men of 50» or the ruling cadre of the Almohads] passed in review [a tribal display of force usually on horses still practiced today] with the Harga tribe....When the Imam went inside the cave to go on a [spiritual] retreat in Igli, at the Ribât of the Harga, the people of the Harga come to the entrance of the cave early in the morning and saluted the Imam who spoke to them: «What is it that you need?» he would ask.They responded, «We have come to obtain your baraka [blessing or holiness] so that you may invoke Allah in our favor!»Having said this they inclined toward him and saluted him.Then, he passed his hand over their heads and invoked God in their favor.This [ceremony] was performed several times.Ibn Tümart blessed what seemed to be a throng of followers from his cave, transferring the baraka, the blessing and grace of God onto them.The Hargha were joined by «adopted» Hargha sheikhs, non-Hargha who joined the tribe.They remained at Igli listening to Ibn Tümart.Then the Mahdî decided to immigrate (similar to the the hijra of Muhammad to Madina) to Tînmallal.They accompanied him until he had fixed his residence there.After a certain time, the Hargha were subjected to the tamylz: a religious discrimination or separation.It can mean the execution of disloyal members.
Like the scene described by al-Baydhaq, the Kitâb al-Ansâb story confirmed Ibn Tümart's spiritual legitimacy and solidified his support.He publicly blessed his followers and invoked the name of God in their favor.A great procession of horsemen surrounded him as warriors and sheikhs abandoned their former tribes and proclaimed themselves Hargan -members of the tribe of Ibn Tümart, the Harga.Like the Ansár of the prophet Muhammad, the «adopted» Harga gave up their former deep-seated loyalties, loyalties of blood, tradition and ^ Documents Inédits, 59-62, 39-41 in Arabic.
(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.eshonor, to follow this MahdL In this case, the cave was the ceremonial center of this process of transforming the blood, of redefining ancestry and identity.From this close band of followers, the Almohads would sweep across the mountains of North Africa and al-Andalus, transforming loyalties, demanding Almohad Islam, «submission», and tawhid, or strict unity, from all.
According to basic principles of social anthropology, tribal societies existed around blood loyalties and were regulated by certain circles of relations: boundaries and rules to defend those loyalties, ensure the propagation of one's blood and maintain a certain level of informal order between tribes.E. Gellner and E. Pritchard used this «segmentary theory» to explain the supposedly static nature of tribal societies, divorced from the reality of historical change.^^ However, as this scene of adopted Harga sheikhs surrounding the cave of Ibn Tùmart showed, ancestral loyalties were never really static.Blood was important, but even more important was history and spiritual politics.Tribes could change.Blood could be transformed.The adopted Harga sheikhs following Ibn Tùmart at the cave of Igli were an example of this.In fact, Ibn Tùmart's mission was to disrupt the status quo ante of blood relations and from that chaos reconstruct a truly powerñxl movement where old loyalties do not necessarily disappear, they were simply redirected towards a spiritual purpose, an ultimate loyalty to God, the father of fathers, and the Mahdï, sheikh of sheikhs.

The Almohad Pilgrimage
Having established the importance of the Cave and of Igli in Almohad history, what of its location?A letter by the commander of the faithfiil, 'Abd al-Mu'min, successor to Ibn Tùmart, written down by Abu 'Aqïl Ibn 'Atiya in Marrakech (13 Nov., 1157) gave details about the sacred cave and the devotion it attracted after the death of Ibn Tùmart.^ ^ The contents of this letter were the most explicit proof '^ Gellner, E., Saints of the Atlas, University of Chicago, 1969.'' This is one of the earliest sources available for the period.It is probably highly reliable.The Arabic text is letter number seventeen, al-risala al-sàbi'a 'ashara in Rasà'il muwahhidiyya, E. Lévi-Provençal éd., Rabat, 1941, p. 81.For a short summary of the letter in French see E. Lévi-Provençal, "Un Recueil de Lettres Officielles Almohades", Hespéris, XXVin, 1941,41.The first volume of a new, more complete edition of the letters came out recently, Azzawi, A., Ras d'il Muwahhidiyya: Majmû'ajadîda, 2 vols., Kenitra, 1995.(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.esthat present-day Igli near Tarüdant was the «Mecca» and the birthplace of the Almohad empire, a place of pilgrimage and great devotion.The letter referred to a voyage made by 'Abd al-Mu'min to the various regions of the empire to reinforce the Almohad doctrine, tawhid, among the various populations.Naturally, one of his major destinations was Igli.He arrived in the Sous valley in October of the same year gaining the loyalty of the ancient, and historically independent, walled city of Tarùdant.The royal entourage resolved to visit the places Ibn Tùmart, the Mahdi, had blessed with his presence during the course of his life.They left Tarüdant along the Sous River and began the sacred pilgrimage at Igli, where they conducted a solemn visit to the mosque of the Imam and the «cave from whence he had arbitrated».This route would have put them almost exactly where Igli is today.Tarùdant is only 30 km to the west of the modem town of Igli.Also Igli is very near the road still taken to Tlnmallal and eventually Marrakech.
The pilgrims remained in Igli for some time, placing a door inside the cave to prevent damage.The letter indicates that they renovated the cave, they flattened the floor and put up a masonry vault inside the cave.There were also roofs placed on the sides of the cave.At the same time, the Qur'àn was recited day and night inside the mosque of Ibn Tümart in Igli.Probably some sort of ceremony was performed at the cave.After some time, the caravan went forward and arrived at Ansa, a place that was said to be up the Atlas along the Sous river.This simple account only confirms the high likelihood that Igli, 30 km west of Tarùdant in the Sous valley, is the same Igli described in the Almohad sources.The geographic placement was clear.The Almohads moved from Marrakech to Tarùdant to Igli to Ansa.The first great pilgrimage to the birthplace of Ibn Tùmart served to solidify the legitimacy of his successor 'Abd al-Mu'min.Igli today is a moderately sized village, probably housing some 1000 people dedicated to agriculture, the oil press and animal husbandry.Although many ancient agricultural practices remain, including the cultivation and pressing of olives and the production of Argan oil, the present-day site of Igli has gone through several generations of renovation.The so-called mosque of Ibn Tümart, for example, looks very little like its probable Almohad original.There are several decaying kubbas, the «Záwiya of Tiylina», in the village that seem to be at least from the Merinid or Saadian period, very possibly they were Almohad structures as well.A much more thorough survey of Igli by experts in Almohad architecture will be necessary before any concrete conclusions can be made.Simply judging by the presence of common Almohad decorative motifs, I think it is highly likely that the Almohad traditions have survived in the interior architecture of the central mosque of Ibn Tümart.
Such is the prevalence of Argan trees in the surrounding mountains, I think it is possible that the name of Ibn Tümart's tribe «Ait Hargan» actually refers to the Argan: a short prickly tree grown in the surrounding mountains that produces a green, olive-like fixiit famous in the Anti-Atlas region.Igli has long been a Berber word for this specific village and region.^^ There are also remains of a cave in the foothills of the Atlas to the north of modem Igli.From the Igli olive press one can see the magnificent Jebel Shama and the Atlas chain in the distance capped in snow.On the very first series of foothills near the small hamlet of Shama, there is a section of hill that seems to have high iron concentrates, giving it a bright red color.Underneath this iron red band there is a chalky limestone strata.From here an underground stream bubbles out during certain seasons, carving out a cavern in the limestone.Unfortunately, the entrance to the actual cave remains completely blocked with stones.According to shepherds working nearby there was another entrance but we were unable to locate it.On the hill to the west of the Cave there are at least two, perhaps three rings of what appear to have been ramparts, surrounding the entire hill.
The Kitâb al-Ansâb narrative mentioned a ribát.One might speculate that these were simply the remains of a typical Berber fortress village.However, no such villages can be seen similarly placed in the hills as most settlements are either on or very near the Sous plain.Again, there is no immediate evidence proving that these remains were Almohad.However, the curious, double ringed wall structure, its proximity to the cave, and the testimony of local shepherds, seem to indicate that this was in all probability the cave and ribàt of Ibn Tümart (Figure 3).More work will need to be done to find and clear AQ, XXVI, 2005 the original entrance of the cave, to see if the cave renovations mentioned in Abd al-Mu'min's letter survive and to possibly excavate the hilltop remains.Although oral histories of the Almohads and the cave of Ibn Tùmart are perhaps less scientifically reliable than the written sources, they do provide even more confirmation that Igli was, in fact, the Mecca of the Almohads.Stories passed down in Berber through the centuries have focused on the special, sometimes dangerous powers of the cave where Ibn Tùmart once preached.Indeed, the cave and the entire region around the cave where the soil is colored white is still considered to this day a place of high spiritual danger, a realm of jinn, magic waters, and Berber gold.These may have simply been stories told to prevent children of shepherds from losing themselves in the cave.However, they do reveal a continued «sacred fear».The site is definitely haram.Many people in Igli simply remained silent about the cave when we asked about it.Even while the manager of the olive press, and a local shepherd were willing to tell us about the cave and even point it out, they would not go with us there for fear of «disrupting thQjinn».According to the manager of the olive press, an en-(c) Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://al-qantara.revistas.csic.estire cadre offuqahà ' sat around the cave some 40 years ago attempting to exorcise the spirits.They found the task impossible and decided instead to seal off the cave with boulders and rocks, thus our present difficulty in finding an entrance.Our visit to Igli ^^ and our attempt to find the cave probably sparked a wave of speculation about our true intentions.One older man warned us about «not looking for the Gold».According to tradition, a rich group of Berbers had left their treasure in the cave with a curse on anybody who went to find it.Some stories tell of a Portuguese man who attempted to enter the cave for the gold.He set off a type of booby trap and nothing but his skeleton remains.Further down in the cave there is supposedly a spring of strange liquid that looks like antifreeze.If you drink this water the jinn and the Devil will not touch you.Anybody possessing this sacred water could, in a sense, lead a war against evil.There are probably several other tales about the cave and even about Ibn Tûmart in Igli.Although they do not provide any conclusive evidence, they do indicate the remarkable, continuous impact of Ibn Tùmart's revelations from the Cave of Igli and the sense that this is still an area of some spiritual significance.In all likelihood the cave of Igli had a certain sacred quality long before Ibn Tümart was bom, making it the natural choice for Ibn Tùmart as he proclaimed the beginning of a new era in North Afi^ica and al-Andalus.The hundreds of crumbling remains scattered across the Mediterranean, the stem, square minarets, the kasbahs in isolated mountainsides, the massive mosques of Seville and Rabat, were all testimony to the power of a message proclaimed from the cave.It is little wonder that the cave of Igli remains today a place of power and mystery, a source of myth and legend, a doorway to another world.A cave was God's most basic shelter, originally unworked by human hands, the mythical habitat of our earliest ancestors, a place of darkness, of supreme simplicity, even a reflection of the saint or prophet's soul.Caves are the border outposts between the material universe and the realm of the spirit.In Cave al Hira and the Cave of Igli the voice of God echoed and the light of prophecy was revealed.Once released from the metaphysical realm, the world outside the cave would be transformed.In conclusion, I want to say again that I do not claim to have complete and absolute proof that modem Igli is in fact the Igli where Ibn Tümart was bom.Excepting al-Idrïsï, who did not mention Igli, there are no exact maps of the region from the era.Possibly names changed, locations shifted.Yet I believe I have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the Igli of today is in all likelihood the very same Igli or Igilliz that had such a prominent place in Almohad history.The primary sources, especially the letter of 'Abd al-Mu'min, confirm the geographic location of Igli near Tarùdant.They also mentioned sites and events that correspond with sites around Igli: the cave and what appear to be the possible remains of a ribât on the next hill.Finally, the oral traditions are but one more confirmation that Ibn Tümart has had a lasting impact on the region.There is as much reason to believe the oral testimony about Igli and Ibn Tümart, as to be sceptical, especially when so much basic evidence seems to confirm their fundamental claims about the location.There may indeed be other towns with a mosque named after Ibn Tümart, but how many other towns in the Sous valley are named Igli with a «forbidden cave» only a kilometer away?All of this evidence, historical, physical, oral and circumstantial would make proving that the Igli of today was not the Almohad Igli very difficult indeed.It is a sign of our lack of knowledge about Moroccan historical geography that this «Mecca of the Almohads» was not discovered long before.
There remain several important cities mentioned in North African historical sources that have no confirmed location on modem maps.They seem to be floating in a sea of approximation and guesswork, cut from any specific geographic context.Systematic survey work in Morocco backed up by a close reading of the sources in the library may confirm the precise location of these 'lost' cities.
ABSTRACT Igli was the Mecca of the Almohads.In the Cave of Igli Muhammad Ibn Tùmart proclaimed the begimiing of the Almohad movement in North Africa.Despite the obvious importance of Igli, there was little knowledge about the precise location of Igli or the famous cave of Ibn Tümart on the map.This paper details the discovery of the small village of Igli 30 kilometers East of Tarùdant.The location of this modem village corresponds with Almohad Igli.Primary sources, oral testimony and physical remains are all evidence that modem Igli was the birthplace of Ibn Tümart.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.This hill, directly across from the remains of the cave, has two rings of ramparts.A closer inspection reveals what appear to be the remains of towers