Waggag ibn Zallu al-Lamti

Waggag Ibn Zallu al-Lamti (Berber: ⵓⵡⴰⴳⴳⴰⴳ ⵓ ⵣⵍⵍⵓ ⴰⵍⵎⵟⵉ;Arabic: وجاج بن زلو اللمطي‎‎) (died 11th-century in Aglu near Tiznit, Morocco) was a Moroccan Maliki scholar and jurist who lived in the 11th-century. He was a disciple of Abu Imran al-Fasi and belonged to the Lamta clan, which is a Sanhaja-Berber tribe. Waggag had an eminent role in the rise of the Almoravid Dynasty as he was the religious teacher and spiritual leader of Abdallah ibn Yasin, the founder of the dynasty.

He was a native of the Sous region and traveled to Al Qayrawan, where he studied under Abu Imran al-Fasi. He then went to the Sous where he founded a Ribat in the village of Aglu (located near present-day Tiznit) named Ribat al-Murabitin where he took disciples and taught the Maliki doctrine.

After receiving a letter for his former teacher Abu Imran al-Fasi asking him to help teach religion to the southern Sanhaja Saharan tribes, he chose Abdallah ibn Yasin, to accompany the Gudala leader Yahya ibn Ibrahim to the Sahara. Waggag Ibn Zallu then became the spiritual guide of the Almoravid's first leader.

In relation to the Almoravid movement, some historical chronicles (e.g. al-Bakri, Ibn Abi Zar, Qadi Ayyad) give him credit in asking Abdallah ibn Yassin to fight those who disobeyed him and then commanded him to advance north to take Sijilmasa which transformed the Almoravid religious movement into a military one with much greater ambitions. It was also reported that after the death of Abdallah Ibn Yasin, only the disciples of Waggag Ibn Zallu were eligible to be appointed as religious authoritative leaders.

...
Wikipedia