Ibn Tumart
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Tumart (Berber: Amghar ibn Tumert, Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد ابن تومرت, ca. 1080–1130 or 1128), a Muslim Berber religious scholar, teacher and political leader, came from southern Morocco. He founded and served as the spiritual leader of the Almohad movement, a puritanical reform movement launched among the Masmuda Berbers of the Atlas Mountains. Ibn Tumart launched an open revolt against the ruling Almoravids during the 1120s. After his death his followers, the Almohads, went on to conquer much of North Africa and Spain. He is also known as El-Mahdi (المهدي) in reference to his prophesied redeeming.
Biography
Early life
Many of the details of Ibn Tumart's life were recorded by hagiographers, whose accounts probably mix legendary elements from the Almohad doctrine of their founding figure and spiritual leader. Ibn Tumart was born sometime between 1078 and 1082 in the small village of Igiliz (exact location uncertain) in the Sous valley of southern Morocco. He was a member of the Hargha people, a Berber tribe of the Anti-Atlas range, part of the Masmuda (Berber: imesmuden) tribal confederation.
Podcasts:
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by Matthew West
Open Wide My Heart
by: Matthew WestHow many times can a heart be defeated
Before it decides to give in
How many times can a soul be mistreated
Before being locked up within
Some days I wish I could make myself cry
And I wonder if maybe this well has run dry
But just when I think my emotions are too numb to feel
That's when You open wide my heart
I can feel You open wide my heart
And I know just the touch of Your hands lets the healing begin
I feel Your river of love rushing in
When You open wide my heart
Each day I stand at the foot of this mountain
And pray for the courage to climb
When I am weary lead me to the fountain
That quenches my thirst every time
Lord, You are the water, my reason to live
When I feel like I have nothing more left to give
Oh, and just when I think I have fallen too far from Your grace
That's when You open wide my heart
I can feel You open wide my heart
And I know just the touch of Your hands lets the healing begin
And I feel Your river of love rushing in
When You open wide my heart, yeah, yeah, yeah
When I fall down
And You lift me up again
Lose my ground
And You bring me back again
Lost and found
I feel alive again
You open wide my heart
I can feel You open wide my heart
And I know just the touch of Your hands lets the healing begin
And I feel Your river of love rushing in
When You open wide
I feel You
Open wide my heart
Yeah, yeah
Each day I stand at the foot of this mountain