The Tinmel massacre — end of Banu Abd al-Mu'min

ملحمة تينملل وقطع دابر بني عبد المؤمن

1275 CE · 674 AH

Tinmal

In 674 the Almohad remnant, who had sworn to Ishaq brother of Umar al-Murtada in 669, stood to their last refuge at Mount Tinmel — cradle of their da'wa, their imam's house and their Mahdi's mosque; Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Mahalla, Abu Yusuf's governor of Marrakesh, stormed the height, killed their puppet caliph and the vizier Ibn Attush in the battle, beheaded and crucified the captives at Marrakesh, scattered the Almohad caliphs' tombs and exhumed the bodies of Yusuf and his son Ya'qub al-Mansur to cut off their heads — the work of Abu Ali al-Milyani whom the sultan had enfeoffed with Aghmat; the sultan disowned the deed for its enormity yet pardoned it for the man's fealty — and the seed of Banu Abd al-Mu'min was cut off.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Maghreb
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In time

1260127012801290
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

Overview

Ibn Khaldun relates in "al-Ibar" that in 674 AH the remnants of the Banu Abd al-Mu'min took refuge on the mountain of Tinmal, the stronghold of the Almohad call. Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Mahalla, agent of the sultan Abu Yusuf over the lands of Marrakesh, stormed it. 1

What happened

In the battle their caliph, the weak one, was killed, and their vizier Ibn Atush. Those seized in Marrakesh had their necks struck. 1

Ibn Khaldun says that the tombs of the Banu Abd al-Mu'min's caliphs were scattered, and the heads of Yusuf and his son Ya'qub al-Mansur were cut off after their bodies had been dug up. He attributes this to Abu Ali al-Miliyani. He says the sultan disapproved of the act, then overlooked it. 1

Ibn Khaldun says that the line of the Banu Abd al-Mu'min was cut off by this. That is the narrator's judgement, not the museum's; the report comes from a single source and needs an additional source.

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Tinmal

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Tinmal

Sources

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

islam.museum contributors. “The Tinmel massacre — end of Banu Abd al-Mu'min”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/sack-of-tinmel-674/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Tinmal

Tinmal, the fortress in the Daran mountains where the Hargha pledged Ibn Tumart in 515 and from which the Almohad state sprang.