Ahmad Zarruq () also known as Imam az-Zarrūq ash Shadhili (Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn 'Īsa) (1442–1493 CE) was a 15th-century Moroccan

Shadhili The Shadhili Order () is a tariqah or Sufi order. The Shadhili order was founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world. Many followers (Arabic ''murids'', "seekers") of the Shadhil ...

Sufi, jurist and saint from Fes. He is considered one of the most prominent and accomplished legal, theoretical, and spiritual scholars in Islamic history, and is thought by some to have been the renewer of his time (

mujaddid A ''mujaddid'' () is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" () to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to revitalize Islam, clean ...

). He was also the first to be given the honorific title "Regulator of the Scholars and Saints" (muhtasib al-'ulama' wa al-awliya'). His shrine is located in Misrata, Libya, however unknown militants exhumed the grave and burnt half the mosque.

Life

Zarruq was born on 7 June 1442 (22nd Muharram, 846 of the Islamic 'Hijra' calendar) – according to Sheikh Abd Allah Gannun – in a village in the region of Tiliwan, a mountain area of Morocco. He was of the Berber tribe of the Barnusi who lived in an area between Fes and

Taza Taza () is a city in northern Morocco occupying the corridor between the Rif mountains and Middle Atlas mountains, about 120 km east of Fez and 150 km south of Al Hoceima. It recorded a population of 148,406 in the 2019 Moroccan ...

, and was orphaned of both his mother and father within the first seven days of his birth. His grandmother, an accomplished jurist, raised him and was his first teacher. Zarruq is one of the most prominent scholars in the late Maliki school but is perhaps better known as a

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

and founder of the Zarruqiyye branch of the

order (

Tariqa A ''tariqa'' () is a religious order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking , which translates as "ultimate truth". A tariqa has a (guide) who plays the ...

). He was a contemporary of

Muhammad al-Jazuli Abū 'Abdullah Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān ibn Abū Bakr al-Jazūli al-Simlālī () (d. 1465AD = 870AH), often known as Imam al-Jazuli or Sheikh Jazuli, was a Moroccan Sufi Saint. He is best known for compiling the '' Dala'il al-Khayrat'', an extr ...

. He took the name 'Zarruq' (meaning 'blue') and he studied the traditional

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

sciences such as jurisprudence, Arabic, traditions of Prophet Muhammed and wrote extensively on a number of subjects. His most famous works are first of all his ''Qawa’id al-Tasawwuf (The Principles of Sufism)'', his commentaries on

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

jurisprudence and his commentary upon the ''Hikam'' of ibn 'Ata Allah. He travelled East to Mecca in Tihamah and to Egypt before taking up residence in

Misrata Misrata ( ; , Libyan Arabic: ; also spelled Misratah and known by the Italian spelling Misurata) is a city in northwestern Libya located in the Misrata District, situated to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. ...

, Libya where he died in 899 (1493). He was buried in

, Libya.

Quotes

* This world is like the river of Goliath from which no one who drinks is saved except the one who scoops up a handful, not the one who slakes his thirst.

Notes

Bibliography

*Scott Alan Kugle, ''Rebel Between Spirit And Law: Ahmad Zarruq, Sainthood, And Authority in Islam'', Indiana University Press, 2006, *Ali Fahmi Khashim, ''Zarruq, the Sufi: A guide in the way and a leader to the truth : a biographical and critical study of a mystic from North Africa'' * Salah Hussein Al-Houdalieh, "Visitation and Making Vows at the Shrine of Shaykh Shihab Al-Din," ''Journal of Islamic Studies'', 21,3 (2010), 377–390.

External links

*Zaineb S. Istrabadi, ''Qawa’id al-Tasawwuf, The Principles of Sufism'', annotated translation with introduction, Phd thesis with extensive information on his life, times, contemporaries and interpretation of the text (pdf-file

*''Foundations of the spiritual path by Sidi Ahmad Zarruq'', translated by Hamza Yusuf (pdf-file

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarruq, Ahmad 1442 births 1493 deaths Asharis Moroccan autobiographers Moroccan travel writers Shadhili order Moroccan Sufi writers Moroccan Maliki scholars 15th-century Moroccan writers Scholars from Fez, Morocco 15th-century Berber people Berber scholars Berber writers Moroccan Islamic religious leaders 15th-century jurists Supporters of Ibn Arabi Sunni Sufis

Life

Quotes

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links