This paper argues that the mythical, historical origins of the litham, the male mouth veil of the Saharan Lamtuna (present-day Twareg), was constructed in medieval Arabic and Berber sources in response to the political and religious ambitions of the Lamtuna Almoravids after their conversion to Islam. Using both the conventional Arabic geographers, Ibn Hawqal, Al-Bakri, Ibn Al-Athir as well as Almohad and Almoravid sources, including Ibn Tumart’s ‘A’azz ma Yutlab, this paper demonstrates how the mouth veil was described as either unislamic and feminine by Ibn Tumart, enemy of the Almoravids, or a symbol of pre-Islamic faith as in the Hulal al Maushiyya, an anonymous fourteenth century text sympathetic to the Almoravids. The Hulal al Maushiyya indentifies the Litham wearers as descendants of Himyar, an exiled Yemeni tribe that professed that “Ahmad is the Messenger of Allah” centuries before the coming of Muhammad. They wore the veil, according this story, to avoid capture. The veil was thus not a symbol of unislamic gender confusion but a gift from Allah, and a symbol of Allah’s special protection over them. Ibn Tumart described the veil as licentious and proof that the Almoravids were illegitimate. In contrast to both of these stories, Ibn Hawqal, who provides one of the earliest accounts of the veil, described a much more practical reason for the male mouth veil: it kept the sand and dust out. This paper will ground the story of the litham in the context of medieval Maghrebi history and medieval sources. While most studies have focused on the veil as a feminine object and the subject of a contested women's history. The veil is symbol of either empowerment or of submission depending on perspective. This paper will describe and explain the contested history of the veil as a male symbol, as a symbol of masculinity, or femininity, of Islamic legitmacy, or lack thereof, and of power - or submission.