Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab

Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab (Arabic: أعز ما يُطلب, lit. 'The Dearest Quest'), also known as al-ʿAqīda (العقيدة, lit. 'The Creed'),^[1] is a 12th-century book containing the teachings of Ibn Tumart, self-proclaimed mahdi and founder of the Almohad Caliphate.^[2] According to the text of the book itself, it was compiled by a scribe to whom Abd al-Mu'min dictated his notes from Ibn Tumart's teachings.^[3][4]

Original title	أَعَزُّ مَا يُطْلَب
Language	Arabic
Subject	hadith, fiqh, usūl ad-din, tawhid, politics, jihad, reform
Genre	Manifesto, Aqidah
Publication place	Almohad Caliphate

Content

Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab contains a variety of topics, commentaries, summaries, and essays representing the foundation Ibn Tumart's movement.^[4] It deals with hadith, fiqh, usūl ad-din, tawhid, politics, jihad, calls for reform, and promoting beneficence and discouraging maleficence.^[4]

At the basis of Ibn Tumart's message and teachings is the concept of "tawhid," from which the Almohads got their name: al-muwaḥḥidūn (المُوَحِّدون).^{[5][3]: 246}

Editions

An 1183 manuscript of Ibn Tumart's E'az Ma Yutlab written in a Maghrebi script.^[6]

al-ʿAqīda was translated into Latin by the deacon Mark of Toledo in 606/1209–10, after Almohad military successes in al-Andalus, especially the Battle of Alarcos.^[1]

The Hungarian Orientalist Ignác Goldziher studied the book and published an introduction to it in 1903 (please note, however, that this work was not a French translation of Ibn Tumart's E'az Ma Yutlab) .^[7]

The original text is preserved in two manuscript copies, dated 579/1183 and 595/1199.^[1]