Abu Zakariya al-Hafsi's break with the Almohads

خلع أبي زكريا الحفصي طاعة الموحدين

1230 CE · 627 AH

Tunis

In 627 AH the amir Abu Zakariya, grandson of the shaykh Abu Hafs, seized Ifriqiya and threw off the caliph al-Ma'mun's allegiance after the latter had erased the Mahdi's name from coinage and khutba — founding the Hafsid state at Tunis under the Hintati grandsons of the Almohads' greatest shaykh.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Maghreb
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

122012301240
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Tunis

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

Ibn Khaldun, in "The Lessons" (al-Ibar), reports that in 627 AH the amir Abu Zakariya al-Hafsi took sole power in Ifriqiya and broke the obedience to the caliph al-Ma'mun. Al-Ma'mun had erased the name of al-Mahdi from the coinage and the sermon. 1

Thus the Hafsid state was founded in Tunis by the Hafsids of the Hintata, descendants of the chief of the Almohad shaykhs. 1

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Abu Zakariya al-Hafsi
Occurred at
Tunis

People and things also explored

al-Zaytuna Mosque· Khayr al-Din takes Tunis (1534)· Charles V's conquest of Tunis (1535)· Louis IX's siege of Tunis (the Eighth Crusade)· Abu al-Hasan al-Marini's entry into Ifriqiya· The collapse of Muslim Sicily after Abu Zakariya's death· The Recovery of Tunis from the Spanish· Abdelaziz Thâalbi

Sources

  1. Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Abu Zakariya al-Hafsi's break with the Almohads”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/hafsid-independence-627/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Time

Eras, timelines, this day in history, any year in the Islamic world.
Related

al-Zaytuna Mosque

Draft card for the Zaytuna Mosque of Tunis, the Umayyad-Aghlabid congregational mosque that became the seat of Maliki learning in Ifriqiya; al-Muqaddasi describes it among the city's landmarks, the page not yet checked.