Muhammad ibn Tumart (ca. 1080-1130) was a North African religious revolutionary leader who founded the Almohad movement in North Africa. His organization of Berber tribesmen led to the end of Almoravid rule in North Africa.

A Masmuda Berber born in a mountain village in southern Morocco, Ibn Tumart showed remarkable piety as a youth; in pursuit of religious learning he left home in 1105 to visit the principal cities of Islamic civilization, studying Islamic theology and jurisprudence in Marrakesh, Cordova, Baghdad, Damascus, and Alexandria. About 1118 he returned to North Africa, where he preached in towns and villages against the immoral behavior of the inhabitants, calling upon them to act in accordance with the strictures of Islamic law. More specifically, he denounced such impious actions as drinking wine, the playing of musical instruments, and the appearance of women in public places without the veil. Public criticism of the Almoravid sultan...