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Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili ( ar, أبو الحسن الشاذلي) (full name: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Ḥasanī wal-Ḥusaynī al-Shādhilī) also known as Sheikh al-Shadhili (593–656 AH) (1196–1258 AD) was an influential Moroccan Islamic scholar and Sufi, founder of the
Shadhili The Shadhili Order ( ar, الطريقة الشاذلية) is a tariqah or Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by al-Shadhili in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic ''murids'', "seekers") ...
Sufi order.


Early life

Al-Shadhili was born near
Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
in the north of
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
, also known as the
Rif The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...
region, in 1196. A
Sharif Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, f ...
, descendant of the
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Idrisids The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ar, الأدارسة ') were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid and ...
, he was born to a royal family among the Berber Ghomara tribe. He was a Maliki in jurisprudence and wandered far afield in search of knowledge. Immensely learned, even as a young man, he was famous for his ability to engage in legal argumentation with the religions scholars of his day. As a young man, Abul Hasan was hesitating between living the life of an ascetic in the wilderness in order to give himself up totally to worship and invocation, or to return to the towns and settlements to be in the company of the scholars and the righteous. He studied in
Fes Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...
and moved to
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, Alexandri ...
in 1244. In
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
he met the Sufi master al-Wasiti, who advised him that he could find his Spiritual Master (Sheikh) in the country Abul Hasan had travelled from:
Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish ʻAbd al-Salām ibn Mashīsh al-ʻAlamī ( ar, عبد السلام بن مشيش العلمي) (b. ?–1227), was a Moroccan Sufi saint who lived during the reign of the Almohad Caliphate. Biography Virtually nothing is known about him except t ...
, the great Moroccan spiritual master. Under his guidance, Abul Hasan attained enlightenment and proceeded to spread his knowledge across North Africa, especially in
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
and
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, where he is buried. He founded his first zawiya in
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
in 1227. He died in 1258 in Humaithra, Egypt, while he was on his way to the pilgrimage in
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
. Humaithara is between
Marsa Alam Marsa Alam ( ar, مرسى علم ' , Classical Arabic ) is a town in south-eastern Egypt, located on the western shore of the Red Sea. It is currently seeing fast increasing popularity as a tourist destination and development following the openi ...
and
Aswan Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
in Egypt and his shrine there is highly venerated. When he heard of a saintly man teaching Islamic sciences in the Al-Qarawiyyin university of Fez he hastened to meet him and his life changed. This man was the Sufi and scholar Mohammed ibn Harazem (d. 633/1218), grandson of Abul Hassan Ali ibn Harzihim (d. 559/1144) and student of Abu Salih Mohammed Majiri (d. 631/1216), who had been instrumental in the orientation of Abul Hassan to seek the spiritual Pole of the time (Qutb az-Zaman).


Finding his sheikh

It was in a hermitage on top of Jabal al-'Alam, near Tétouan, that he met the sheikh who he was searching for and who was to have the greatest influence on his life,
Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish ʻAbd al-Salām ibn Mashīsh al-ʻAlamī ( ar, عبد السلام بن مشيش العلمي) (b. ?–1227), was a Moroccan Sufi saint who lived during the reign of the Almohad Caliphate. Biography Virtually nothing is known about him except t ...
(d. 625/1228), known as "the Pole of the West", just as
Abd al-Qadir Gilani ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī, ( ar, عبدالقادر الجيلاني, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī; fa, ) known by admirers as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Baḡdādī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusayn ...
(d. 561/1166) was called "the Pole of the East". While he was living with Sheikh Ibn Mashish, on the holy mountain, many wonderful signs from Allah came to Abu'l Hasan, through this holy guide. One such sign was that on the night of his arrival on the mountain he was sleeping at the entrance of the cave where his master lived. He dreamt that he was asking the Sheikh to grant him certain wishes, one of them being that Allah would incline the hearts of His creatures in favour towards him. Then he wished to ask his master if it was necessary for him to live in solitude, or in the desert, in order for him to be in the right station (
maqaam Maqaam (also known as ''maqām'') or maqaamat (plural), translating to "''stations''" in Arabic, is the various stages a Sufi's soul must attain in its search for Allah.Gardet, L. "Ḥāl." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. ...
) to perform his religious tasks, or whether he should return to the towns and inhabited places to seek out the company of scholars and virtuous people. While he was turning these things in his heart he heard the Sheikh praying fervently and calling out: The next morning, when he greeted his teacher to be, he asked him of his state (''kayf al-hal''), to which Ibn Mashish responded, "I complain unto God about the coolness of contentment and submission (bard al-rida wa al-taslim) just as you complain unto Him about the heat of self-direction and choice (harr al-tadbir wa al-ikhtiyar)." When he saw the astonishment on his student's face at hearing his words, he added, "Because I fear that the sweetness of such an existence would make me neglectful of my duty towards Allah." Then Abu'l Hasan said, "This is the Pole of Islam. This is the Sea which overflows." He knew then that his master had taken hold of his whole heart, and he was thereby completely illumined. Four fundamental themes ran through Abd as-Salam teaching of to Abu'l Hasan, as perceived from his famous Hizb, called ''as-Salat al-Mashishiya'': # the Oneness of Existence (''wahdat al-wujud'') which he said could be realised only through asceticism, # fear of God and His judgements (''khawfu billah''), # the belief that God is everywhere and that it is necessary to see His Face in everything that He has created, # that only through the drowning in the Ocean of the Unity (''awnu fi bahri al-wahadati'') can the seeker cast off and leave behind his own existence and attributes to be merged and absorbed into Allah and His Attributes. Before his departure from Jabal al-Alam, Abd as-Salam foretold his student of his eventual move to Ifriqiya where he will become known by the name of Shadhili and the eminent spiritual station he will eventually inherit from Abd as-Salam himself. Abu'l Hasan relates that in a dream, he saw his master standing near the Divine Throne. When he told him of this dream in the morning, Abd as-Salam replied, "O Ali, it was not me you saw, it was the station you will inherit from me." The parting words of advice and admonition that Abd as-Salam gave his disciple before he departed for Tunis emphasised the transformation of consciousness to inward and outward God-centeredness, contentment with God in all states, and the inner withdrawal from creation in prosperity and adversity. These seminal teachings of Abd as-Salam would, through Abu'l Hasan, become the fundamental precepts of the
Shadhili The Shadhili Order ( ar, الطريقة الشاذلية) is a tariqah or Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by al-Shadhili in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic ''murids'', "seekers") ...
Tariqa A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth". ...
.


Travels


Tunis

Remaining with his master for a while, Abu'l Hasan then departed for Shadhila, in Tunisia, on orders from his teacher; and from there he received the name of al-Shadhili. He entered a new retreat in a cave on top of Jabal Zaghwan close to Shadhila accompanied by his first companion Abu Yahya Abdellah ibn Samala al-Habibi. After intense spiritual exercises in the Jabal Zaghwan region, he was ordered in a vision to teach Sufism. Accordingly, he set up his first institution (''zawiyah'') in Tunis in the year 625/1228, just when the new governor, Abu Zakariyya', also arrived. During his early years in Tunis, Abu'l Hasan first taught forty students who were known as the forty friends (''al-awliya al-arba'un''). His new tariqah was a stunning success, drawing masses of people from all walks of life, including the sultan's family. On one of his trips to the East, an Ayyubid sultan conferred on him and his descendants, by way of a religious endowment, one of the enormous towers that arose from the walls formerly encompassing the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Abu'l Hasan remained in Tunis for a number of years until one day God Most High brought him a young man who was to become his successor and the inheritor of his station and his holy line,
Abul Abbas al-Mursi Al-Mursi Abu'l-'Abbas (1219 in Murcia – 1287 CE) ( ar, المرسي أبو العباس) was a Sufi saint from Al-Andalus during the Nasrid period and who later in his life moved to Alexandria in Egypt. His complete name is Shahab al-Din Abu' ...
(d. 686/1271), from Murcia in Spain.


Egypt

In the year 642/1244, the sheikh, once again had a vision. Abu'l Hasan said: Thus he left Tunisia accompanied by Al-Mursi Abu'l-'Abbas, his brother Abdullah, his servant Abu al-'Azayim as well as other Sufi sheikhs and many of his own disciples, and moved to Alexandria, where he established both his residence and the institution (''zawiyah'') of his order in the tower the sultan had given him. Alexandria was, during this time, a distinguished city and a place of learning various major sciences. He lived with his family on the top floor; another floor was converted into a tremendous mosque where he gave public instruction; and another floor was converted into a great zawiyah for his disciples, with cells for meditational retreat. In Egypt, likewise, his order was greatly successful, drawing into its ranks many court officials, great religious scholars like
Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam Abū Muḥammad ʿIzz al-Dīn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin ʿAbd al-Salām bin Abī al-Qāsim bin Ḥasan al-Sulamī al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أبو محمد عز الدين عبد العزيز بن عبد السلام بن أبي القاسم بن حسن ا ...
(d. 660/1262) or the Shafi 'i traditionist al-Mundhiri (d. 656/1258), a host of Sufi figures, and individuals from different levels of society. In the year 646/1248, he lost His vision, and it was in that state that he participated in the Battle of Al Mansurah in Egypt, which stopped the Seventh Crusade headed by Saint Louis of France.


Death

Shortly before Sheikh Abu'l Hasan started on his last pilgrimage to Mecca, the city of Baghdad fell to the conquering Mongols, thus ending the long reign of the Abbasids there and ushering in a new epoch in the history of Islam. The sheikh was accompanied by a mass of his disciples; but he fell ill in the eastern desert of Egypt, in a place called
Humaithara Abu Al Hassan El-Shazly or Sheikh Shazlyas called now or the original name Humaithara ( ar, حميثرة ', also spelled "Humaisara," "Al Maithara") or Sheikh Shazily (Arabic. الشيخ الشاذلى) (as it is called in Egypt now) is an isolate ...
(now: Sheikh Shazly), and there he died in the year 656/1258.


Successors

Shortly before he died, in 656/1258, Sheikh Abu'l Hasan designated Abu'l Abbas al-Mursi as his successor in the order. After Sheikh Abu'l Hasan's death, Abu'l Abbas al-Mursi moved into the great tower that the founder of the Shadhiliyyah had used as residence, mosque, and zawiyah, and remained there until his death ( 686/1288) some thirty years later, seldom moving out to travel in Egypt.


Ideas

When asked who his spiritual master was, he used to reply, "I used to be the close follower of
Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish ʻAbd al-Salām ibn Mashīsh al-ʻAlamī ( ar, عبد السلام بن مشيش العلمي) (b. ?–1227), was a Moroccan Sufi saint who lived during the reign of the Almohad Caliphate. Biography Virtually nothing is known about him except t ...
, but still I am drinking the water of wisdom from five ponds
Jibril In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
, Mikhail, Israfil, Izra'il,
Rooh Rooh (English: Soul) is an Indian one hour horror supernatural thriller television series which was broadcast on Zee TV from 6 November 2004 to 6 August 2005. It used to air every Saturday at 8 P.M. Each story has a different cast and crew. Shi ...
." Shaykh Abul-Abbas al-Mursi (d. 1288), who succeeded Shaykh ash-Shadhili as the spiritual master of the Order, was asked about the knowledge of his spiritual master and replied, "He gave me forty sciences. He was an ocean without a shore." He taught his close followers to lead a life of contemplation and remembrance of Allah while performing the normal everyday activities of the world. He disliked initiating any would-be follower unless that person already had a profession. His admonition to his close followers was to apply the teachings of Islam in their own lives in the world and to transform their existence. Shadhili wrote several devotional recitations, prayers and letters, some of which remain today. One of the best known poems is his "Litany of the Sea"
hizb al-Bahr
.Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abbad, ''Ibn Abbād of Ronda: Letters on the Sūfī Path'', 1986, p. 38


Bibliography


Origins of the School of the Shadhdhuliyya
is published by its translator Shaykh
Nooruddeen Durkee Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee was a Muslim scholar, thinker, author, translator and the Khalifah (successor) for North America of the Shadhdhuli School for Tranquility of Being and the Illumination of Hearts, Green Mountain Branch. Nooruddeen Durke ...
includes the life of Shaykh Abul Hasan ash-Shadhdhuli and his followers, 2012.
The Mystical Teachings of al-Shadhili, including His Life, Prayers, Letters, and Followers
* A Translation from the Arabic of Ibn al-Sabbagh's Durrat al-Asrar wa Tuhfat al-Abrar by Elmer H. Douglas, Edition, introduction, and notes by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, SUNY series in Islam, 1993 * The Rise of al-Shadhili (d. 656/1258), by A. M. Mohamed Mackeen, in: ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 91, No. 4 (Oct. – Dec., 1971), pp. 477–486


See also

*
Shadhili The Shadhili Order ( ar, الطريقة الشاذلية) is a tariqah or Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by al-Shadhili in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic ''murids'', "seekers") ...
*
Imam Fassi Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Fassi (commonly known as ''Qutbul Ujud Imam Fassi'') (1760?–1863) was the originator of the Fassi family of Sheikhs who constitute the Fassiyatush Shadhiliyya Sufi order. Early life Fassi was born either in the year 11 ...
*
Ibn Ata Allah Tāj al-Dīn Abū'l-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Isa ibn Hussein ibn ʿAṭā Allāh al-Judhami al-Iskandarī al-Shādhilī was an Egyptian Malikite jurist, muhaddith and the th ...
*
al-Fassi family Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Fassi (commonly known as ''Qutbul Ujud Imam Fassi'') (1760?–1863) was the originator of the Fassi family of Sheikhs who constitute the Fassiyatush Shadhiliyya Sufi order. Early life Fassi was born either in the year 117 ...
*
Moinuddin Chishti Chishtī Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan Sijzī (1143–1236 CE), known more commonly as Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī or Moinuddin Chishti, or by the epithet Gharib Nawaz (),Blain Auer, "Chishtī Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan", in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam, TH ...
*
Ashraf Jahangir Semnani Sultan Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Semnani ( ur, ; (1285–1386) was an Iranian Sufi saint from Semnan, Iran. He was the founder of the Ashrafi Sufi order. He is India's third most influential Sufi Saint after Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer ...


References


External links


The grand Fassiya branch of Shadhiliyyah order

Modern day branch of this order

Lectures & Articles of this same branch



Ibn 'Ata' Allah, Muslim Sufi Saint and Gift of Heaven
by Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook.
''The Relevance and the Beauty of the Teaching of Shaykh Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadhili, Abu-l-Hassan Sunni Sufis Shadhili order Founders of Sufi orders Malikis Asharis Sunni imams Sunni Muslim scholars Berber writers Egyptian Sufis Moroccan emigrants to Egypt Moroccan expatriates in Tunisia Moroccan letter writers Moroccan religious leaders Moroccan Sufi writers 1196 births 1258 deaths 12th-century Berber people 13th-century Berber people 12th-century Moroccan people 13th-century Moroccan writers 12th-century Arabs 13th-century Arabs