Ibn-tumart, Abdullah

Ibn-Tumart, Abdullah a religious enthusiast, flourished in the second half of the 12th century in Northern Africa. He appeared before the simple-minded hordes of Barbary, and preached against the Sunnitical doctrine of the Mohammedan orthodoxy SEE SUNNITES, and the literal interpretation of the verses of the Koran, and the Mohammedan belief that God feels and acts like man. His followers, on account of their belief in the strict unity of God without corporeal representation (Tauchid),. called themselves Almowachids, or Almohads. Ibn-Tumart they recognized as Mahdi, or the God-sent Imam of Islam. Like Mohammed, he went forth to conquer by the sword the territories of the Almoravids, and his doctrine soon found followers throughout Northwest. Africa. SEE MOHAMMEDANS. (J. H.W.)