The Mahdī Built the Makhzan. The Makhzan Forgot the Mahdī
The Almohad Empire built Morocco's makhzan, its court culture, its architectural language, and its administrative apparatus. It was built by a man who called himself the Mahdī. Morocco kept everything he built — and forgot everything he claimed.
Veiled Warriors, Borrowed Legitimacy, and the Empire That Won by Accident
How does a weakened caliph in Baghdad reshape the religious geography of the far Maghrib? Through networks — from al-Bāqillānī to Abū ʿImrān al-Fāsī to Waggāg ibn Zallū to Ibn Yāsīn. The Almoravids were the western execution of an eastern strategy, and their structures outlasted every dynasty that replaced them.