ABSTRACT
The red tent (Ar. qubba) appears time and again in accounts of Almohad ritual practice. At Marrakesh, it was set up underneath a domed pavilion to receive imperial visitors. In campaigns in Ifriqiya and al-Andalus, it stood as a symbol of caliphal presence in the field. The image of the tent in the sources was as peripatetic as the Almohad caliph himself. Scholars have drawn parallels in this practice with both early Islamic legends surrounding the Prophet as well as the more proximate connection with the Andalusi Umayyads, allegories that befit the Almohad emphasis on religious reform and underscore their political legitimacy. But given a general dearth of descriptive information about these tents themselves, little has been written on them directly. This essay aims to understand the red surādiq of the Almohad caliph not only as a performative set piece within these ceremonies, but also as an architectonic mediator of urban space.
