His name is given alternatively as Muhammad ibn Abdallah or Muhammad ibn Tumart. Al-Baydhaq reported that "Tumart" was actually his father Abdallah's nickname ("Tumart" or "Tunart" comes from the Berber language and means "good fortune", "delight" or "happiness", and makes it an equivalent of the Arabic name "Saad". As it was noted by Ahmed Toufiq in his research about Ibn al-Zayyat al-Tadili's famous book "at-Tashawof", many early Sufi saints held this name in Morocco). Ibn Khaldun reports that Muhammad ibn Tumart himself was very pious as a child, and that he was nicknamed "Asafu" (Berber for "firebrand" or "lover of light") for his habit of lighting candles at mosques.