Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ja'far al-Khazraji al-Sabti () (
''Sabta'' 1129 -
Marrakesh 1204), better known as Sidi Bel Abbas, was a Moroccan Muslim
saint. He is the patron saint of
Marrakesh in the
Islamic tradition and also one of the "
Seven Saints" (''Sabʿatou Rijal'') of the city. His festival was founded by
al-Hasan al-Yusi at the instigation of
Moulay Ismael
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif ( ar, مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the sev ...
.
Abu Al-Abbas was born in ''Sabta'' (Ceuta). He studied under Abu Abd Allah al-Fakhkhar, himself a student of
Qadi Ayyad
ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā (1083–1149) ( ar, القاضي عياض بن موسى, formally Abū al-Faḍl ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAmr ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ al-Yaḥṣubī ...
.
In 1145-6, he moved to Marrakesh, during the final weeks of the
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
siege of the city. For a number of years he lived in a cave on the hill of Igilliz outside Marrakesh, only coming into town on Fridays for the communal prayer.
The
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
sultan
Yaqub al-Mansur was a disciple of Abu al-Abbas. He asked him to come and live in the city and provided him a house, a hostel for his disciples as well as a
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
for study. Teaching was maintained by the sultan's own funds. Whenever
Yaqub al-Mansur visited Abu al-Abbas he made a point of behaving in a humble manner and acting "as a servant".
To Abu al-Abbas, every act of human mercy (''rahma'') evoked a merciful response from the all-merciful God (''ar-Rahim''). Abu al-Abbas summed up his theory of reciprocity with the maxim: "
ivineBeing is actualised by generosity" (al-wujud yanfa ilu bi'l-jud). The Andalusian philosopher
Ibn Rushd
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, ...
visited Abu al-Abbas several times in
Marrakesh.
When Abu al-Abbas died in 1204, he was buried at the graveyard of Sidi Marouk, near Bab Taghzout. In 1605, the
Saadian sultan
Abu Faris erected a
mausoleum for Abu al-Abbas, hoping that the saint's power would help him recover from his epilepsy. In 1988, sultan
Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to:
People
* Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name
*Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...
improved the sanctuary.
It is also the place of his
zawiya.
Abu al-Abbas's
hagiography, ''Akhbar Abi'l-Abbas as-Sabti'', written by
Abu Ya’qub Yusuf ibn Yahya at-Tadili, was in part composed by Abu al-Abbas himself and contains many autobiographical passages.
See also
*
Sidi Bel Abbas sanctuary, a Muslim holy place located in the Spanish enclave of
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 ...
*
Zawiya of Sidi Bel Abbes
The Zawiya of Sidi Bel Abbes or Zaouia of Sidi Bel-Abbès (, Berber: ⵣⴰⵡⵉⵢⴰ ⵙⵉⴷⵉ ⴱⵍⵄⴻⴱⴰⵙ) is an Islamic religious complex ( zawiya) in Marrakesh, Morocco. The complex is centered around the mausoleum of Abu al ...
in Marrakesh, containing his mausoleum
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabti, Abu Al Abbas As
1129 births
1204 deaths
12th-century Moroccan people
13th-century Moroccan people
Moroccan Sufi writers
People from Ceuta
Moroccan philosophers