to him and fight at his side, for such a one’s blood and property were licit. He asserted that his anger was purely for Allah’s sake and that his uprising was an act of ḥisba (religious accountability).

Ibn Khallikān writes: “His grave, on the mountain, is held in great veneration. He died in early middle age. He was brown-skinned, of medium build, large-headed, sharp-eyed, and awe-inspiring. His deeds speak louder than any report: one foot on the earth, his head among the Pleiades, and a soul that would sooner spill the water of life than allow the water of honour to be spilled. The Almoravids neglected to bind or loosen his reins until dawn’s first light crept through the night. His food came from the wool his sister spun: a single loaf with oil, or a little clarified butter, and he never abandoned that fare even when worldly riches poured in upon him.

“One day he saw that his companions were drawn to the abundance of the booty they had taken, so he ordered all of it burned, saying, ‘Whoever desires this world—here it is with me; but whoever seeks the Hereafter, his recompense is with Allah.’ He would often recite:

Cast off the world, for you—
You entered it naked and naked you shall depart.⦗1⦘

“He himself conquered no cities. He merely laid the foundations and prepared the ground, but death surprised him; afterward, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin was the one who opened the lands.”

I have also heard—so it is said—that Ibn Tumart concealed some men in abandoned graves. He then arrived with a company, wishing to show them a “sign,” and cried out, “O dead men, answer!” They replied, “You are the infallible Mahdi—you are such-and-such.” Fearing that the ruse might spread, he caused the graves above them to cave in, and they died.⦗2⦘

In any case, the man was one of the world’s stalwarts: he pursued a goal and achieved it, and he