met defeat at the hand of the Almohad sheikh ‘Abd al-Wāḥid b. Abī Ḥafṣ al-Hintātī—a relative of the man who would go on to found the Ḥafṣid dynasty. After the Almohads had forced the surrender of Yaḥyā’s cousin in al-Mahdiya, the Almohad caliph al-Nāṣir entered Tunis victorious. Though Yaḥyā was still alive, the rebellion had been effectively quelled.
Up to that point, Almohad rulers had appointed only close relatives to the governorship of Tunis and Bijāya, the two largest Ifrīqiyān cities. They now broke from that custom: before heading back to Marrakech, al-Nāṣir decided to appoint ‘Abd al-Wāḥid as governor over much of Ifrīqiyā, presumably a reward for defeating Ibn Ghāniya. As a Hintātī, ‘Abd al-Wāḥid belonged to an important Almohad clan, but he was not a member of the Mu’iminid ruling family. When al-Nāṣir left Tunis in 1207, this sheikh took control of the area from Tunis to Tripoli. Though still not all of Ifrīqiyā, it was enough to help him build his stature as a political leader.
The Almohad Origins of the Ḥafṣids
‘Abd al-Wāḥid’s father, Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar b. Yaḥyā al-Hintāti, had been an early supporter of the founding father and mahdī of the Almohads, Ibn Tūmart (d. 1130).12 He had been a member of Ibn Tūmart’s Council of Ten (the highest executive body in the Almohad hierarchy), and one of the most important participants in the negotiations that led to the proclamation of the first Almohad caliph, ‘Abd al-Mu’min, after Ibn Tūmart’s death.13 Abū Ḥafṣ had gone on to become one of the most important military leaders of the Almohad conquests. He was especially active in al-Andalus, where he participated in the conquest of Almería from Castile. His political role was even more important, and hinted at the independence he would assume later on: he advised the caliph and opposed him on occasion in the name of the ideals of the mahdī.14 His loyalty to the Almohad cause was, however, never in doubt. On two occasions, ‘Abd al-Mu’min left him in charge of Marrakech, an act that demonstrated the caliph’s trust in Abū Ḥafṣ and Abū Ḥafṣ’s full membership in the ruling elite. Later, all this helped make ‘Abd al-Mu’min’s successor al-Nāṣir trust Abū Ḥafṣ’s descendants—and to help Abū Ḥafṣ’s son ‘Abd al-Wāḥid become the governor of Ifrīqiyā, thereby helping to create an independent Ḥafṣid dynasty. Indeed, ‘Abd al-Wāḥid was not the only descendant of Abū Ḥafṣ whom the Almohad caliphs held in great esteem. The Almohads singled the family out for favor by maintaining marriage ties with them and offering many of them trusted and sensitive positions.
Throughout the early period of Almohad rule, ‘Abd al-Wāḥid and his descendants continued to earn the trust of the caliphs and gradually secured their claims on a hereditary governorship of Ifrīqiyā. The rebel commander Yaḥyā b. Ghāniya obliged in the creation of Ḥafṣid tales of heroism by continuing to rebel: no sooner had al-Nāṣir and his army returned to Marrakech, leaving ‘Abd al-Wāḥid in charge of Ifrīqiyā, than Yaḥyā b. Ghāniya reemerged in southern Ifrīqiyā and threatened Almohad rule yet again. The new governor marched against him and defeated his army near Tabassa in 1208. Ibn Ghāniya fled in the direction of the central Maghrib and, with help from allied Bedouins, went on to defeat Almohad troops near Tāhart (Tiaret). It was not until 1209–10 that ‘Abd al-Wāḥid dealt a serious blow to Ibn Ghāniya and his supporters among the Riyāḥ, ‘Awf, Dabbāb, Dawāwida, and Zanāta and imposed peace. Defeated and on the run, Ibn Ghāniya once again escaped alive.
When al-Nāṣir died in 1213, ‘Abd al-Wāḥid briefly withheld his support for the designated caliph Abū Ya‘qūb, an act in which he probably drew on his father’s moral standing. ‘Abd al-Wāḥid ultimately recognized the caliph’s appointment. He also enjoyed support among the Almohad sheikhs in Ifrīqiyā: when he died in 1221, the sheikhs recognized his son Abū Zayd ‘Abd al-Raḥmān as his successor to the governorate of Ifrīqiyā. But the Almohad ruler al-Mustanṣir (r. 1213–24) did not agree with their choice, and instead appointed Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Ismā‘īl b. Abī Ḥafṣ to serve as interim governor until the governor of Seville, and ‘Abd al-Mu’min’s grandson, Abū al-‘Ulā, could take over in Ifrīqiyā.
The political defeat of the Ḥafṣid clan in Ifrīqiyā was brief, and they owed their next victory, once again, to Ibn Ghāniya, who used the confusion to rebel yet again. New to the area, Abū al-‘Ulā was unable to rout Ibn Ghāniya immediately. Instead, ‘Abd al-Wāḥid’s son, Abū Zayd, defeated Yaḥyā in 1223 and headed for Tunis as a victor. This could not but have solidified the family’s claims to leadership in the region. The new caliph, al-‘Ādil (r. 1224–27), recognized Abū Zayd for his impressive military victory and appointed him governor of Ifrīqiyā. But his authoritarian and unpopular governorship ended in 1226, after just two years, when the caliph appointed his brother, the sheikh Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Abd al-Wāḥid b. Abī Ḥafṣ, to replace him. One Ḥafṣid had been deemed lacking, and another was now appointed in his stead—so thoroughly had the Almohads come to rely on the house of Abū Ḥafṣ.
The new Ḥafṣid governor of Tunis, Abū Muḥammad, had little to no control over Bijāya and western Ifrīqiyā. But that was the least of his concerns. As soon as he took over, he had to fend off yet another Ibn Ghāniya–led rebellion in southern Ifrīqiyā, as well as the rebellion of the Walḥāsā in the region of Būna. The chaos afforded yet another opportunity for a Ḥafṣid governor to stake his claim to the region—to become, as it were, a son of Ifrīqiyā.
Ifrīqiyā Becomes Ḥafṣid
The lord (mawlā) Abū Zakariyā claimed independence (istabadda) in Ifrīqiyā, since it was his country (balad) and the country of his father and brother.15
With yet a third son of ‘Abd al-Wāḥid, Abū Zakariyā, the Ḥafṣid dynasty made Ifrīqiyā its home. In 1227, Abū Zakariyā became governor of Tunis, having previously served as the commander of Gābis. The Almohad caliph would have sent the diploma of governorship to Abū Muḥammad, who had served in the post under the previous caliph, except that Abū Muḥammad, following the path of moral indignation first carved by his grandfather Abū Ḥafṣ, refused to recognize the caliph’s appointment. Abū Zakariyā received the appointment instead. In 1228, one of his first acts was to prove his loyalty to the regime over his family: with the help of Almohad troops, he exiled his brother Abū Muḥammad. He then entered Tunis and became the ruler of the Almohad province of Ifrīqiyā—the third descendant of Abū Ḥafṣ to assume the post.
Abū Zakariyā’s loyalty to regime was neither blind nor uncritical. Despite his support for the caliph over his own brother’s objections, he still retained some distance from events in the capital, and could be provoked to rebellion when the Hintāta were threatened. Indeed, al-Ma’mun (r. 1227–32) tested Abū Zakariyā’s loyalty in the course of a wider conflict in the Maghrib. Al-Ma’mūn’s rule over the Maghrib was hardly secure. While he was trying to reassert Almohad control in al-Andalus, he received news that his cousin Yaḥyā b. al-Nāṣir had rebelled in the Maghrib. He immediately headed south to engage in battle with his cousin, and in the course of the conflict, publicly repudiated the mahdī’s doctrine. He also killed a great number of Almohad sheikhs, some of whom were Hintāta.16 The response was immediate: the Ḥafṣids were, after all, Hintātīs and could not simply accept the slaughter of kin. Abū Zakariyā disavowed al-Ma’mūn and, in his stead, recognized Yaḥyā b. al-Nāṣir as the legitimate Almohad caliph. But whether out of principle or political motives, Abū Zakariyā could not sustain fealty to a mere pretender. In 1229, he eliminated Yaḥyā’s name from the Friday sermon (khuṭba), and made the imams deliver it instead in the name of the mahdī and the four “rightly guided” caliphs (rāshidūn). Abū Zakariyā then formalized his independence from Marrakech by taking up the title of emir (amīr), the only title he ever bore.
