Relations between Rulers and Ruled in the Medieval Maghrib: The “Social Contract” in the Almoravid and Almohad Centuries, 1050–1250

Abstract

This article approaches the notion of an Islamic social contract from the perspective of the Berber inhabitants of the Maghrib and their concern that the state should be just, with a particular focus on the period between 1050 and 1250 when the region was ruled by two successsive indigenous imperial regimes, the Almoravids and the Almohads. It explores the gradual implantation of ideas of Islamic statehood in the region, their intersection with earlier indigenous beliefs and social practices, and the “naturalization” of Islamic philosophical ideas developed in the ?Abbasid East and al Andalus in the very different environment of the Maghrib. Two ideas of particular salience to the discussion are the Almoravid idea of a M?lik? “Commander of Truth or Law,” the am?r al-?aqq, and Almohad references to a utopian perfect city or polis, al-mad?na al-f??ila, in the context of their recognition of their spiritual father, Ibn T?mart, as the mahd?.