False Prophet Hamim al-Ghumari

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا خاتم النبيين

Prayers and peace be upon you, Seal of the Prophets

One of the false prophets to appear in this Ummah was Hamim bin Mann Allah al-Ghumari: “His full name was Hamim Ibn Man Allah Hafid al-Muftari. He was a Berber prophet among the Ghommara tribe in the Rif. He preached a new version of Islam with a Berber Qur’an and modifications of the five pillars. He reformed Islamic practices consisted of two daily prayers, a weekly fast, three to 10 days of fast during the month of Ramadan, almsgiving, and no pilgrimage. Eating fish and bird eggs was forbidden, as was eating animal heads, but eating wild animals (except the boar) was permitted. Ha-mim started preaching in 925 and died in battle with Masmuda in 927-928” (Ilahiane, Hsain. Historical Dictionary of the Berbers. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2006, p.55)

The historian and geographer Abu Ubayd al-Bakri mentioned the reality of this false prophet:

ويجاور بلد نكور بلد غمارة فمنه مجكسة وتنبّأ بذلك الصقع أبو محمّد ‌حاميم ‌بن ‌منّ ‌الله بن حريز بن عمرو بن وجفوال بن وزروال الملقّب بالمفتري

وببلد مجكسة جبل حاميم المنسوب إليه وهو على مقربة من مدينة تيطاوان

وأجابه بشر كثير أقرّوا بنبوّته وجعل لهم الصلاة صلاتين عند طلوع الشمس وعند غروبها يسجدون على بطون أكفّهم ووضع لهم قرآنا بلسانهم فممّا ترجم منه بعد تهليل يهلّلونه حلّني من الذنوب يا من يحلّ البصر ينظر في الدنيا حلّني من الذنوب يا من أخرج موسى من البحر ومنه آمنت بحاميم وبأبي خلف يريدون أبا حاميم وكذلك كان يكنّى وأمن رأسي وعقلي وما أكنّه صدري وما أحاط به دمي ولحمي وآمنت بتانفيت وهي عمة حاميم أخت أبي خلف منّ الله وكانت كاهنة ساحرة وكانت لحاميم أيضا أخت تسمّى دجّو وكانت ساحرة كاهنة من أجمل الناس وكانوا يستغيثون إليها في كلّ حرب وضيق ويزعمون أنّهم يجدون نفعها وفرض عليهم صوم الخميس كلّه ويوم الأربعاء إلى الظهر فمن أكل فيهما غرم خمسة أثوار لحاميم ووضع لجميعهم صوم سبعة وعشرين يوما من رمضان وأبقى فرض صوم ثلاثة أيّام ويوم الفطر الرابع وجعل عيدهم في الثاني من الفطر وفرض زكاتهم العشر من كلّ شيء وأسقط عنهم الحجّ والطهر والوضوء وأحلّ لهم أكل أنثى الخنازير وقال إنّما حرم ذكورها وذلك في قرآن محمّد صلى الله عليه وسلم وحرّم عليهم الحوت حتّى يذكّى وحرّم عليهم البيض من جميع الطير

وقتل حاميم المفتري بمصمودة الساحل من أحواز طنجة سنة خمس عشرة وثلاثمائة

Nekor is adjacent to the country of Ghomara, from which Majkasa came. Abu Muhammad Hamim bin Man Allah bin Hariz bin Amru bin Wajfwal bin Wazruwal, nicknamed al-Muftari, prophesied in that region. In the country of Majkasa is Mount Hamim, which is attributed to him and is close to the city of Tataouine. Many people responded to him and acknowledged his prophethood. He made for them two prayers: at sunrise and at sunset, prostrating on the palms of their hands. He fabricated for them a Qur’an in their language, and among what was translated from it after the glorification they glorify: “Free me from sins, O He who frees the sight and looks into the world. Free me from sins, O He who brought Moses forth from the sea, from whom I believed in Hamim and in Abu Khalaf, meaning Abu Hamim.” This is how he was called. “My head and my mind are safe, and what my chest conceals, and what my blood and flesh encompass. I believed in Tanfit” who is the aunt of Hamim, the sister of Abu Khalaf Man Allah. She was a soothsayer and a sorceress. Hamim also had a sister called Djou, who was a sorceress and a soothsayer. Among the most beautiful people, they would seek help from her in every war and distress, and they claimed that they would find benefit from her. He imposed on them the fast of Thursdays, and Wednesdays until noon. Whoever ate on those days would pay five bulls for Hamim. He lifted on all of them the fast of twenty-seven days of Ramadan, and he left the obligation of fasting three days and the fourth day of Eid al-Fitr. He made their Eid on the second of Eid al-Fitr. He imposed their Zakat as a tenth of everything, and he dropped the Hajj, purification, and ablution for them. He permitted them to eat female pigs, and he said that only male pigs were forbidden, and that is in the Qur’an of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He forbade them fish until it was slaughtered, and he forbade them the eggs of all birds. Hamim the slanderer was killed in Masmuda, on the coast of the outskirts of Tangiers in the year 315 AH (al-Masalik wal-Mamalik, v.2, pp.776-777)

The historian Ibn Khaldun has likewise mentioned an account of this false prophet:

كان غمارة هؤلاء عريقين في الجاهلية بل الجهالة والبعد عن الشرائع بالبداوة والانتباذ عن مواطن الخير وتنبّأ فيهم من مجكسة ‌حاميم ‌بن ‌من ‌الله بن جرير بن عمر بن رحفو بن آزوال بن مجكسة يكنّى أبا محمد وأبوه أبو خلف تنبّأ سنة ثلاث عشرة وثلاثمائة بجبل حاميم المشتهر به قريبا من تطوان واجتمع إليه كثير منهم وأقرّوا بنبوّته وشرع لهم الشرائع والديانات من العبادات والأحكام وصنع لهم قرآنا كان يتلوه عليهم بلسانه فمن كلامه يا من يخلى البصر ينظر في الدنيا خلني من الذنوب يا من أخرج موسى من البحر آمنت بحاميم وبأبيه أبي خلف من الله وآمن رأسي وعقلي وما يكنّه صدري وما أحاط به دمي ولحمي وآمنت تبانعنت عمّة حاميم أخت أبي خلف من الله وكانت كاهنة ساحرة إلى غير هذا وكان يلقّب المفتري وكانت أخته دبّو ساحرة كاهنة وكانوا يستغيثون بها في الحروب والقحوط وقتل في حروب مصمودة بأحواز طنجة سنة خمسة عشر وثلاثمائة وكان لابنه عيسى من بعده قدر جليل في غمارة ووفد على الناصر ورهطهم بنو زحفوا موطنون وادي لاو ووادي راس قرب تطوان وكذلك تنبّأ منهم بعد ذلك عاصم بن جميل اليزدجومي وله أخبار مأثورة وما زالوا يفعلون السحر لهذا العهد وأخبرني المشيخة من أهل المغرب أن أكثر منتحلي السحر منهم النساء العواتق قال ولهم علم استجلاب روحانية ما يشاؤنه من الكواكب فإذا استولوا عليه وتكنّفوا بتلك الروحانية تصرّفوا منها في الأكوان بما شاءوا والله أعلم

These Ghomara were deeply rooted in pre-Islamic times, or rather ignorance, and distance from the laws, through nomadism and seclusion from places of goodness. And among them, from Majkasa, Hamim bin Man Allah bin Jarir bin Umar bin Rahfu bin Azwal bin Majkasah, whose nickname was Abu Muhammad, and whose father was Abu Khalaf, prophesied in the year 313 AH at Mount Hamim, which is famous near Tetouan. Many of them gathered around him and acknowledged his prophethood. He established for them laws and rites of worship and rulings, and he made for them a Qur’an that he recited to them with his tongue. Among his words were: “O He who frees the sight to look at the world, free me from sins. O He who brought Moses out of the sea, I believe in Hamim and his father Abu Khalaf from Allah, and my head and mind believe, and what my chest contains and what my blood and flesh encompass, and I believe in the aunt of Hamim, the sister of Abu Khalaf, from Allah” and she was a soothsayer and a witch, and other than that. He was nicknamed the slanderer, and his sister Dabbu is a sorceress and they used to call upon her in wars and droughts. He was killed in the Masmuda wars in the outskirts of Tangier in the year 315 AH. His son Isa after him had great power in Ghomara. He came to al-Nasir and his people, the Banu Zahf, settled in Wadi Law and Wadi Ras near Tetouan. Likewise, Asim bin Jamil al-Yazdjoumi prophesied from them after that and he has authentic stories. They continue to practice magic to this day. The elders of the people of Morocco informed me that most of those who claim to practice magic among them are virgin women. He said that they have the knowledge of attracting the spirituality of whatever planets they want. If they take control of it and are covered by that spirituality, they can dispose of it in the universe as they wish. And Allah knows best (Tarikh Ibn Khaldun, v.6, p.288)

Now a few comments on this false prophet and the phenomenon that gave rise to him. As Ibn Khaldun noted, the rise of false prophets like Hamim al-Ghumari is due in part to the ignorance of those Muslims who live isolated from the Muslim heartland and urban centers of learning. In the early days of Islam, certain non-Arab populations—Iranians and Berbers—were susceptible to the call of nativist religious leaders who would present a syncretic version of Islam to them incorporating their pre-Islamic heritage and customs and freeing them from what they perceived as Arab religious and cultural “imperialism”. Hence, the fabricated scripture of Hamim al-Ghumari was composed in the Berber language, undoubtedly to attract the ignorant Berbers and those among them uneasy about the Holy Quran being a Scripture in Arabic, a foreign tongue. This phenomenon is what gave rise to Sikhism in the Punjab, attracting Punjabi peasants to the new religion whose scripture, the Granth, was composed and recited in Gurmukhi Punjabi. Here is the cunning mixing of religion with nativist and ethnonationalist sentiment to gain following among a certain population. Hamim al-Ghumari modified many of the strictures of the Islamic Shari’ah, formulating a new law and new set of rites, also apparently to appeal to the tastes and desires of the people. He reduced the five daily Salah to two, and likewise lifted the obligation of fasting in most of the days of Ramadan save three. He also made pork permissible, so long as it was from a female swine and not a male swine, arguing that even in the Holy Quran the Verses that ban eating of the pig refer to the pig in the masculine! Like many other false prophets and heresiarchs, Hamim al-Ghumari’s movement was apparently steeped in the occult—the practice of witchcraft. His aunt and sister were soothsayers and witches.