Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab (Arabic: أعز ما يُطلب, lit.'The Dearest Quest'), also known as al-ʿAqīda (العقيدة, lit.'The Creed'),[1] is a 12th-century book containing the teachings of Ibn Tumart, self-proclaimed mahdi and founder of the Almohad Caliphate.[2] According to the text of the book itself, it was compiled by a scribe to whom Abd al-Mu'min dictated his notes from Ibn Tumart's teachings.[3][4]

Original titleأَعَزُّ مَا يُطْلَب
LanguageArabic
Subjecthadith, fiqh, usūl ad-din, tawhid, politics, jihad, reform
GenreManifesto, Aqidah
Publication placeAlmohad Caliphate

Content

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Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab contains a variety of topics, commentaries, summaries, and essays representing the foundation Ibn Tumart's movement.[4] It deals with hadith, fiqh, usūl ad-din, tawhid, politics, jihad, calls for reform, and promoting beneficence and discouraging maleficence.[4]

At the basis of Ibn Tumart's message and teachings is the concept of "tawhid," from which the Almohads got their name: al-muwaḥḥidūn (المُوَحِّدون).[5][3]: 246 

Editions

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An 1183 manuscript of Ibn Tumart's E'az Ma Yutlab written in a Maghrebi script.[6]

al-ʿAqīda was translated into Latin by the deacon Mark of Toledo in 606/1209–10, after Almohad military successes in al-Andalus, especially the Battle of Alarcos.[1]

The Hungarian Orientalist Ignác Goldziher studied the book and published an introduction to an edition published in occupied Algeria in 1903.[7]

The original text is preserved in two manuscript copies, dated 579/1183 and 595/1199.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Ibn Tūmart". Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_com_32275. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  2. ^ Norris, H.T. (October 2011). "Ibn Tūmart and the Almoravids: 'The Evil Deeds of the mujassimūn from Kākudam', Selected Passages from Ibn Tūmart's Aʿazz mā yuṭlab". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 13 (2): 155–164. doi:10.3366/jqs.2011.0027. ISSN 1465-3591.
  3. ^ a b Bennison, Amira (2016). Almoravid and Almohad Empires. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 99. ISBN 9780748646821. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Ibn Tūmart, Muḥammad (1997) [originally recorded approximately 1130]. Abū al-ʻAzm, ʻAbd al-Ghanī (ed.). Aʻazz mā yuṭlab. Rabat: Muʼassasat al-Ghanī lil-Nashr. ISBN 9981-891-11-8. OCLC 40101950.
  5. ^ "7. Fiqh". Brockelmann in English: The History of the Arabic Written Tradition Online. doi:10.1163/97890043200862542-8098_breo_com_122070. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  6. ^ Bongianino, Umberto (Feb 8, 2018). The Ideological Power of Some Almohad Illuminated Manuscripts (Lecture).
  7. ^ Goldziher, Ignác; Ibn Tūmart, Muḥammad (1903). Mohammed ibn Toumert et la théologie de l'Islam dans le nord de l'Afrique au XIe siècle. Alger: P. Fontana.