Abdalqadir as-Sufi (born Ian Stewart Dallas; 1930 – 1 August 2021) was a
Shaykh of Instruction, leader of the
Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri Tariqa, founder of the
Murabitun World Movement
The Murabitun World Movement is an Islamic movement founded by its current leader, Abdalqadir as-Sufi (born as Ian Dallas), with communities in several countries. Its heartland is Spain. The number of its followers may amount, according to one e ...
and author of numerous books on
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
,
Sufism
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, r ...
and political theory. Born in Scotland, he was a playwright and actor before he converted to Islam in 1967 with the
Imam
Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...
of the
Qarawiyyin Mosque
The University of al-Qarawiyyin ( ar, جامعة القرويين; ber, ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵉⵏ; french: Université Al Quaraouiyine), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in ...
in
Fez, Morocco
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, Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the List of cities in Morocco, second largest city i ...
.
Early life
Ian Dallas was born in Scotland in 1930 of a
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
family. He travelled extensively to Greece, France and Italy.
[From 'The Collected Works' by Ian Dallas] In 1963 he acted in
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...
's film ''
8½
' (Italian title: , ) is a 1963 surrealist comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi) by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on Guido Anselmi, played by Ma ...
'' as "Il partner della telepata".
Conversion
As-Sufi
converted to Islam
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
in 1967 in
Fes, Morocco
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 ...
as ''Abdalqadir'', witnessed by Abdalkarim Daudi, the Imam Khatib of the Qarawiyyin Mosque, and Alal al-Fasi. He then joined the Darqawi order as a student of
Muhammad ibn al-Habib
Muhammad ibn al-Habib ibn as-Siddiq al-Amghari al-Idrisi al-Hasani (1876–1972), was a Moroccan Islamic teacher, author, and shaykh of the Darqawi ''tariqa'' in Morocco.
Life and education
Muhammad Ibn al-Habib was born in Fes in 1876. At ...
. He travelled to Morocco and Algeria with his
Shaykh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliteration of Arabic, transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonl ...
and was further instructed in Sufism by
Sidi
''Sidi'' or ''Sayidi'', also Sayyidi and Sayeedi, ( ar, سيدي, Sayyīdī, Sīdī (dialectal) "milord") is an Arabic masculine title of respect. ''Sidi'' is used often to mean "saint" or "my master" in Maghrebi Arabic and Egyptian Arabic. Wi ...
Hamud ibn al-Bashir of Blida and Sidi Fudul al-Huwari ''as-Sufi'' of Fes.
Teaching
Abdalqadir as-Sufi advocated adherence to the original legal school of Islam, the tradition of the people of
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
as recorded by
Malik ibn Anas
Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
, since he considered this the primal formulation of Islamic society and a necessity for the re-establishment of Islam in the current age.
Abdalqadir was responsible for the establishment of the Ihsan Mosque in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, England, the Great Mosque of Granada, and the Jumu'a Mosque of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
Abdalqadir as-Sufi taught that
suicide terrorism
A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...
is forbidden under
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
, that its psychological pattern stems from
nihilism
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...
, and that it "draws attention away from the fact that capitalism has failed."
He has stated that Britain is on "the edge of terminal decline" and that only
Britain's Muslim population can "revitalise this ancient realm". He wrote extensively on the importance of monarchy and personal rule. He regarded the face veil (or
niqab) of
Muslim women
The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree a ...
as unislamic, describing it as an "evil hinduisation of women".
In 2006, he issued a
fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
, following a visit and speech given by then
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
in Germany. In his ''Fatwa Concerning the Deliberations of Pope Benedict XVI in Germany'', he stated that "in my opinion, Pope Benedict XVI is guilty of
insulting the Messenger of Allah". He was an early mentor of American Sufi scholar,
Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf (born: Mark Hanson; 1958) is an American Islamic neo-traditionalist, Islamic scholar, and co-founder of Zaytuna College. He is a proponent of classical learning in Islam and has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching metho ...
.
[Grewal, Zareen]
"Islam Is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of Authority"
December 2013
Murabitun World Movement
In February 2014 he distanced himself from the dinar and dirham movement, saying, "So, I now dis-associate myself from all activity involving the Islamic gold dinar and silver dirham". The other major condition of a correct
Zakat
Zakat ( ar, زكاة; , "that which purifies", also Zakat al-mal , "zakat on wealth", or Zakah) is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is ne ...
, he argued, is the existence of personal rule, or Amirate, since Zakat is, by Qur'anic injunction, accepted rulings and established practice, taken by the leader, not given as a voluntary
sadaqa
or Sadqah ( ar, صدقة , "charity", "benevolence", plural ' ) in the modern context has come to signify "voluntary charity". According to the Quran, the word means voluntary offering, whose amount is at the will of the "benefactor".
Etymolo ...
.
Death
As-Sufi died on 1 August 2021 in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa at the age of 91.
Authorship
The author of more than 20 books and several essays and articles, his books include:
*''The Book of Strangers'', (
State Univ of New York Press, 1972, )
*''The Way of Muhammad'', an existential exposition of the pillars of Islam from the perspective of Sufism (Diwan Press, 1975, )
*''Indications From Signs'', (Diwan Press, June 1980, )
*''The Hundred Steps'', a classic work on key steps in the path of Sufism (Portobello Press, )
*''Qur'anic Tawhid'', (Diwan Press, 1981, )
*''Letter to An African Muslim'', (Diwan Press, 1981, )
*''Kufr – An Islamic Critique'', (Diwan Press, 1982, ASIN: B0007C6U32)
*''Root Islamic Education'', written on the school of the people of Madinah under the leadership of Imam Malik (Madinah Press, June 1993, )
*''Oedipus and Dionysus'' (Freiburg Verlag, 1992, )
*''The Sign of the Sword'', an examination on the judgements on ''jihād'' in the light of classical works of fiqh, particularly ''al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyyah'' of
Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi, relating it to the contemporary situation and the global dominance of world banking and usury finance. (Diwan Press, 1984, )
*''The Return of the Khalifate'', a historical work on the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
, their demise and its causes and an exposition of a route to the recovery of the khalifate (Madinah Press, 1996, )
*''The Technique of the Coup de Banque'' on the modern age since its inception in the French Revolution. (Kutubia Mayurqa, 2000, )
*''The New Wagnerian'' (Budgate Press, 2001, )
*''Letter to an Arab Muslim'' (Editorial Kutubia Mayorqa, 2001, )
*''Sultaniyya'' is a modern statement on leadership in Islam. Abdalqadir surveys Islam under the chapter headings Deen, Dawla (polity), Waqf, Trade, the Sultan – personal rule – and Tasawwuf. (Madinah Press, Cape Town, 2002, OCLC: 50875888)
*''Commentary on Surat al-Waqi’a'' (Madinah Press, 2004, )
*''Collected Works'' (Budgate Press, 2005, )
*''The Book of Tawhid'' (Madinah Press, 2006, )
*''The Time of the Bedouin'' (Budgate Press, 2007, )
*''The Book of Hubb'' (Madinah Press, 2007, )
*''The Book of 'Amal'' (Madinah Press, 2008, )
*''The Book of Safar'' (Madinah Press, 2009, )
*''Political Renewal (The End of the Political Class/The House of Commons and Monarchy)'' (Budgate Press, 2009, )
*''The Muslim Prince'' (Madinah Press, 2009, )
*''The Interim is Mine'' (Budgate Press, 2010, )
*''Three Plays'' (Budgate Press, 2010, )
*''Ten Symphonies of Gorka König'' (Budgate Press, 2010, )
*''Discourses'' (Madinah Press, 2010, )
*''The Engines of the Broken World'' (Budgate Press, 2012, )
*''Commentaries'' (Madinah Press, 2012, )
Translations undertaken by his students
* ''The Noble Qur'an: a New Rendering of its Meanings in English'', by Abdalhaqq and
Aisha Bewley
Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley (born 1948) is a convert to Islam and author or translator of many books on Islam. The WorldCat union catalog lists her as author or translator for "73 works in 172 publications in 3 languages and 855 library holdings". ...
(Bookwork, Norwich, UK, )
* ''The Muwatta of Imam Malik'' translated by Aisha Bewley and Ya'qub Johnson (Bookwork, Norwich, UK, 2001, , )
* ''Ash-Shifa by Qadi Iyad'' (published as ''Muhammad – Messenger of Allah'') translated by Aisha Bewley (Madinah Press, 1992, )
* The Letters of Shaykh Moulay
Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (; 1760–1823) was a Moroccan Sufi leader of the Shadhili tariqa and the author of letters concerning the dhikr he preached and instructions for daily life. He stressed noninvolvement in worldly affairs ...
(published as ''The Darqawi Way'') translated by Aisha Bewley (Diwan Press Norwich, UK, 1980, ).
* ''The Foundations of Islam'' by Qadi 'Iyad. ()
*''The Seals of Wisdom'' by Muhyiddin ibn al-Arabi translated by Aisha Bewley (Madinah Press, Cape Town 2005, )
*''Sufis and Sufism: A Defence''
[This rebuttal by two prominent ulema of the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fes was written in response to the slander against Sayyid Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki al-Makki in a book called Kitab al-Hiwar,] by 'Abdu'l-Hayy al-'Amrawi and Abdu'l-Karim Murad translated by Aisha Bewley (Madinah Press, Cape Town 2004, )
*''A Madinan View: on the Sunnah, courtesy, wisdom, battles and history'' by Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani translated by Abdassamad Clarke (Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, London 1999, )
Gallery
File:saq4.jpg
File:saq2.jpg
File:Shaykh_Abdalqadir_as-Sufi.jpg
Notes
References
* ''The Collected Works'' by Ian Dallas, Budgate Press, 2005,
External links
Abdalqadir as-Sufi's Official WebsiteDallas College
{{DEFAULTSORT:As-Sufi, Abdalqadir
1930 births
2021 deaths
20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
British Sufi religious leaders
Sunni Sufis
Darqawi
Date of birth missing
Converts to Sunni Islam
People from Ayr
Scottish Sufis
Scottish philosophers
Scottish political writers
Scottish religious writers
Scottish spiritual writers
Sufism in Africa
Moroccan Sufis
South African Sufis