The Muwahhids One of the greatest states that succeeded in the name of the Mahdi, also in the Maghreb, was the state of the Muwahhids, and their leader was Muhammad ibn Tumart, who was also a Shi'ite, descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib. He traveled to the East and received his education in Iraq, where he met Al-Ghazali, Al-Kiya Al-Harasi, and Al-Tabarzashi, among others. He took from them Hadith, Usul al-Fiqh, and religion. In truth, he was pious, ascetic, strongly attached to religion, and intensely zealous for it, denouncing those who deviated from religion with severity and enthusiasm. Therefore, in every town he visited, this severity was taken against him, and he was subjected to harm, which he bore with patience. This was in Mecca and in Egypt until they expelled him from there. He then went to the Maghreb, and he did not abandon this severity even when he was on the ship, where he compelled its passengers to perform prayers at their appointed times and to recite portions of the Quran. Then he descended to the town of "Al-Mahdiyyah," where his Shi'ite party resided, and he stayed in a locked mosque on the road. He would look out the window, and if he saw something wrong among the passersby