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 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, ...

Saint. He is best known for compiling the ''

Dala'il al-Khayrat ''Dalāil al-khayrāt wa-shawāriq al-anwār fī dhikr al-ṣalāt alá al-Nabī al-mukhtār'' ( ar, دلائل الخيرات وشوارق الأنوار في ذكر الصلاة على النبي المختار, translation=Waymarks of Benefit ...

'', an extremely popular

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

prayer book. This book is usually divided into 7 sections for each day of the week. Al-Jazuli is one of the

seven saints of Marrakesh The Seven Saints of Marrakesh or Patron Saints of Marrakesh () are seven historical Muslim figures buried in Marrakesh, Morocco. Each of them was a famous Muslim judge, scholar or Sufi saint (''wali'') venerated for their piety or other mystical ...

and is buried in his mausoleum inside the city.

Biography

Muhammad al-Jazuli claimed to be 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, fr ...

(a descent of the Prophet of Islam,

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

) and belonged to the Berber Jazulin tribe. He lived in the historic

Sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Sous River (''Asif n Sus''), separated from the Sahara desert ...

area 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 to ...

, situated between the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. It separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range. It stretches around through Moroc ...

, and studied locally before going to the Madrasat As-Saffarîn in

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

where his room is still pointed out to visitors today. In Fez he memorized works of usul al-fiqh and Maliki law, such as Ibn al-Hajib's Mukhtasr al-Far’i and Sahnun's Al-Mudawwana al-Kubra. He also met the famous jurist and mystic Ahmad Zarruq. After settling a tribal feud he left the area and spent the next forty years in Makkah, Medina and Jerusalem. After his long journey, he returned to Fez where he completed the prayer book

. He was initiated into 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 Sufi order, by a descendant of Abu Abdallah Mohammed Amghar, the

sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

of the Banu Amghar. He spent fourteen years in

Khalwa Khalwa (Arabic, also khalwat; lit., "solitude"; pronounced in Iran, "khalvat"; spelling in Turkish, ''halvet'') has several meanings in Sufism, Islamic jurisprudence, and the Druze religion, which in some way derive from the concept of being alone ...

(seclusion) and then went to Safi where he gathered around him many followers. The governor of Safi felt obliged to expel him and later poisoned him which led to his death in 1465. He is said to have died during prayer. His tomb in Afoughal became the center of the

Saadi dynasty The Saadi Sultanate (also rendered in English as Sa'di, Sa'did, Sa'dian, or Saadian; ar, السعديون, translit=as-saʿdiyyūn) was a state which ruled present-day Morocco and parts of West Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was l ...

Saadian resistance against the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. His deep respect for al-Jazuli was the reason that

Abu Abdallah al-Qaim Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Qaim bi-Amr Allah, () often shortened to Abu Abdallah al-Qa'im or Muhammad al-Qa'im, was the first political leader of the Saadi Dynasty of Morocco. He ruled the Sous and other parts of southern Morocco ...

chose Afoughal as his residence. It is claimed that in 1541, seventy-seven years after his death, his body was exhumed to be transferred to

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

and found to be uncorrupted. In the northern part of the Medina of

the Saadi sultan

Ahmad al-Araj Ahmed al-Araj ( 1517 – 1544) (b. 1486 – d. 1557) was a ruler of the Saadi Dynasty, he became Emir of Marrakesh when he conquered the city in 1524. Some sources refer to him as Sultan of Marrakesh. Ahmed was a son of Abu Abdallah al-Qaim bi A ...

(1517–1544) had a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

built for al-Jazuli. The mausoleum was enlarged and partly rebuilt during the reign of the sultans

Moulay Ismail 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 se ...

and

Mohammed Ben Abdallah ''Sidi'' Mohammed ben Abdallah ''al-Khatib'' ( ar, سيدي محمد بن عبد الله الخطيب), known as Mohammed III ( ar, محمد الثالث), born in 1710 in Fes and died on 9 April 1790 in Meknes, was the Sultan of Morocco from 175 ...

.Vincent J. Cornell, Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1998). The second half of this book is dedicated to Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī and the history and doctrines of al-Ṭā'ifa al-Jazūliyya through the end of the sixteenth century. It is the most extensive and up-to-date study of the Jazūliyya yet available in a Western language.

References

External links

Mp3 Audio Recitation
of Dala’il al-Khayrat and PDF translation and transliteration.

)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Jazuli, Muhammad al- 1465 deaths Moroccan Sufi writers Shadhili order 15th-century Berber people Year of birth unknown People from Souss-Massa 15th-century Moroccan people Berber Muslims People from Safi, Morocco

Biography

See also

References

External links