The Almohads: the end of the golden age in Spain and the Maghreb

The Almohads came out of the Atlas mountains with a doctrine of absolute divine unity and took Córdoba in 1148. Their difference from earlier Muslim rulers was one of principle: they refused to recognise the dhimma for Jews and Christians, holding that the term of protection had expired. The choice they left was short—Islam, death, or departure.

The communities of al-Andalus and the Maghreb ceased to exist in their former shape within a few years. Some went north to the Christian kings, some to Egypt, and some accepted Islam outwardly while remaining Jews at home—and over these last a quarrel broke out. A certain rabbi declared that whoever had pronounced the Muslim formula forfeited his share in the world to come.

The young Maimonides, himself a refugee, answered him: the Iggeret haShmad, the Epistle on Forced Conversion, holds that a formula spoken under the knife is no apostasy, that such a man remains a Jew and is bound to leave at the first opportunity for a place where he can live openly—but that he must not be branded. It is among the most humane writings of the Middle Ages.

The family of Maimonides left Córdoba, wandered through Spain and Morocco, and settled at Fustat in 1165. Learning moved to Egypt and to Christian Spain, and al-Andalus, where the Kuzari and the Keter Malkhut had been written, was left empty.