The East. Through scant and sometimes contradictory information, we can draw general outlines of this journey, the faces of those who accompanied him, and the path he took on that journey.

Date of Departure: 1 Historians are almost in agreement that Ibn Tumart's departure for the East was in the late 5th or early 6th century. However, the exact year has been a point of disagreement among them. Ibn al-Qattan mentioned the beginning of this journey in the events of the first year of the sixth century. However, he mentioned in another place that it was in the first year of the sixth century or the one before it. Al-Marrakushi said that Ibn Tumart had traveled to the East in the months of [illegible] to seek knowledge, and he reached Baghdad in the year [illegible]. As for Ibn Khaldun, his wording was: "And he traveled to the East in search of knowledge at the head of the 5th century," which is a phrase that specifies the date of the journey as the year 500 AH / 1106 CE or 499 AH / 1105 CE, considering that the phrase "head of the century" can also be interpreted as such.

These different accounts suggest that the journey began in one of the three years: 499 CE / 1105 AH, 500 CE / 1106 AH, or 501 CE / 1107 AH. To further refine this, we find another important element that can help us favor one of these years. This element consists of two points: the first is the determination of the duration of the stay.

Ibn al-Qattan - Nazm al-Juman (4) Borouiba misunderstood this phrase to mean the year 499 or 500. Same source: (5) See his book Ibn Tumart: 23 Al-Marrakushi - Al-Mu'jib: (6) Ibn Idhari - Al-Bayan al-Mughrib: (7) Ibn Khaldun - Al-'Ibar: (8) Abdullah Allam - Al-Da'wah al-Muwahhidiyyah bil-Maghrib: (9) mentioned that Ibn Khaldun made a mistake in expressing "at the head of the 5th century." The correct interpretation is "at the head of the 6th century." Al-Salawi followed this. The truth is that there is no mistake by Ibn Khaldun. The head of the century is its end, not its beginning, by analogy with the head of a human being being its highest part.

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