Page "Almoravid dynasty" Paragraph 10

Ibn Yasin, however, found a more favorable reception among the neighboring Lamtuna people.

Probably sensing the useful organizing power of Ibn Yasin's pious fervor, he was invited by the Lamtuna chieftain Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni to preach to his people.

The Lamtuna leaders, however, kept Ibn Yasin on a careful leash, forging a more productive partnership between them.

Invoking stories of the early life of the Prophet Muhammad, Ibn Yasin preached that conquest was a necessary addendum to Islamicization, that it was not enough to merely adhere to God's law, but necessary to also destroy opposition to it.

And, in Ibn Yasin's ideology, anything and everything outside of Islamic law could be characterized as " opposition ".

Tribalism, in particular, was singled out as an obstacle.

Again, it was not enough to merely ask or urge his audiences to put aside their blood loyalties and ethnic differences, and embrace the equality of all Muslims under the Sacred Law, it was necessary to make them do so.

For the Lamtuna leadership, this new ideology dovetailed with their long desire to refound the Sanhaja union and recover their lost dominions.

In the early 1050s, the Lamtuna, under the joint leadership of Yahya ibn Umar and Abdallah ibn Yasin-soon calling themselves the al-Murabitin ( Almoravids )-set out on campaign to bring their neighbors over to their cause.