The choice of Abd al-Mu'min was not from the hidden secrets of Ibn Tumart's insight.

Towards the Far West: - 6 After staying in Milala, and Abd al-Mu'min ibn Ali joining him, Ibn Tumart set off with his companions towards his birthplace in the Far West. The Badiq recorded the details of this journey, which included passing through: Matjah, Jassas, Tanmalalt, Tlemcen, Oujda, Sijilmasa, and Ajdir.

And Fes, Meknes, Maghila, and Tabardost.

During this march, Ibn Tumart would choose men in whom he saw competence and bring them to him. After choosing Abd al-Mu'min from Milala, he also chose Abd al-Wahid al-Sharqi from there, asking his mother's permission, and she granted it.

And she was compassionate towards the group, providing a donkey on which they loaded their belongings. From Wansharis, he took with him Abd Allah ibn Muhsin al-Wansharisi, known as al-Bashir, who would become one of his prominent companions. By the time he reached the city of Fes, he had seven companions with him: Abd al-Mu'min ibn Ali, Abd al-Wahid al-Sharqi, Al-Hajj Abd al-Rahman, Al-Hajj Yusuf al-Dukkali, Abu Bakr al-Sanhaji, Umar ibn Ali, and Abd al-Haqq ibn Abd Allah.

On the way, he was involved in changing what was wrong, focusing on two moral failings that seemed to be prevalent in Morocco: the mixing of men and women, and the drinking of wine and the accompanying revelry and merriment. In Tlemcen, he found a wedding celebration with various forms of entertainment. He forbade this and ordered the breaking of the tambourines.

In Oujda, he ordered a stream to be made at the mosque for worshippers to perform ablution.

See in (142) and onwards. And Al-Ghanay, The Rise of the Almohad State: See also: Huisse Miranda, Political History of the Almohads: 33 and Brunschvig, Ibn Tumart and Abd al-Mu'min.

The sources do not mention a clear reason for his departure from Milala, except that two men from his village passed by him heading east, which stirred his longing for it. So he decided to leave immediately. See: Al-Badiq, Akhbar al-Mahdi, and onwards. Al-Badiq, Akhbar al-Mahdi: The same source and page.

And we note that Abd Allah al-Bashir was not mentioned among the seven. The same source.

The same source.