Abu Muhammad Salih ibn Yansaran Said ibn Ghafiyyan ibn al-Haj Yahya al-Dukkali al-Majiri () (sometimes spelled al-Magiri), simply known as Abu Muhammad Salih (1155–1234), was a Moroccan saint and one of the successors of

Abu Madyan Abu Madyan Shuʿayb ibn al-Husayn al-Ansari al-Andalusi ( ar, ابو مدين شعيب بن الحسين الأنصاري الأندلسي; c. 1126 – 1198 CE), commonly known as Abū Madyan, was an influential Andalusian mystic and a great Su ...

. He was the patron saint of Safi and lived during the reign of the

Almohad Caliphate The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...

Biography

Salih was born in 1155 in the town of Asfi ( Safi). His family were a

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

family that settled in Asfi in the mid 11th century. They belonged to the Banu Hayy, a sub-clan of the Banu Nasr, a clan of the Banu Magir, a Southern

Masmuda The Masmuda ( ar, المصمودة, Berber: ⵉⵎⵙⵎⵓⴷⵏ) is a Berber tribal confederation of Morocco and one of the largest in the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and the Sanhaja. They were composed of several sub-tribes: Berghouatas, ...

Berber tribe. He studied under

Abu Abdallah Mohammed Amghar Moulay Abul Mahasin Abu Abdallah Mohammed Amghar () (ca 1060) was a Moroccan idriside Sufi saint during the reign of the Almoravid dynasty and the founder of the Taifa Sanhajiya, the earliest example of a Sufi order in the Maghrib. He is also th ...

in Ribat Shakir. He left Asfi in to study in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, where he spent twenty years. In , he returned to Morocco and founded a ribat in Safi. The

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

brotherhood of the Magiriyyun derives from him. He wrote a ''Talqin al-wird'' and the ribat in Safi, where Abou Mohammed was buried, continued to play an important role until the end of the 15th century. There remains but one written work by Al-Maghri, ''Bidayat al Mourid'', a book on Tassawuf and the lives of certain Sufi saints like Al-Maghri's teacher

. This book would later form the basis of the beliefs of

Abdelaziz al-Tebaa Abdelaziz al-Tebbaa () or Sidi Abdelaziz ibn Abdelhaq Tebbaa al-Hassani (died 1508) was the founder of the first sufi zawiyya of the Jazuli order in Marrakesh. The principles of Sidi al-Tebbaa ultimately go back to Abu Madyan, as outlined in Abu M ...

. The life of Al-Magiri is described in ''Al-Minhaj al-wadih'', written by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Magiri, a grandson of the saint.

References

Bibliography

*Y. Benhima: "L’évolution du peuplement et l’organisation du territoire de la région de Safi à l’époque almohade", in: ''Los Almohades, Problemas y Perspectivas'' *Abu Muhammad Silih, ''Al-Manaqib wa-l-ta'rikh'', Rabat, 1990

External links

Dar-sirr.com Sidi Abu Mohammed al-Majiri (d. 631/1216)
(retrieved on September 9, 2008) 1155 births 1234 deaths 12th-century Berber people 13th-century Berber people 12th-century Moroccan writers 13th-century Moroccan writers Berber Muslims Berber writers Moroccan Sufi saints Moroccan Sufi writers People from Safi, Morocco {{Sufism-stub