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Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili

Shaykh Abu’l-Hassan ash-Shadhili (أبي الحسن الشاذلي) was born in Ghumara, near Ceuta in the north of Morocco in 1196/1197 into a family of peasant labourers. He died 1258, in Humaithra, on the Red Sea. For his education he went to the Qarawiyyin University in Fes, where he met some scholars who introduced him to the sciences of Islamic Law. He traveled to many countries. In Iraq he met a great Sufi called Wasiti who told him to return to his country where he could find Moulay Abdeslam Ben Mshish, the great Moroccan spiritual master. He did so, and became the close follower of this spiritual master who initiated him in the way of remembrance of Allah and enlightenment. When he met Moulay Abdeslam after ritually washing himself, he said, ‘O Allah, I have been washed of my knowledge and action so that I do not possess knowledge or action except what comes to me from this Shaykh.’

Shaykh Abu’l-Hassan ash-Shadhili travelled from Morocco to Spain and finally settled down in Alexandria. Later on in life, when asked who his spiritual master was, he used to reply, ‘I used to be the close follower of Moulay Abdeslam ibn Mshish, but I am no more the close follower of any human master.’ Shaykh Abu’l-Abbas al-Mursi (d. 1288), who succeeded Shaykh ash-Shadhili as the next 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.’

Shaykh ash-Shadhili had hundreds of close followers in both Alexandria and Cairo, not only from among the common people but also from among the ruling classes. 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.

Shaykh Abu’l-Hassan Ash-Shadhili died in the south of Egypt near the Red Sea while he was on his way to the pilgrimage in Mecca in 1258. His shrine, which appears to be nowhere, in the middle of the desert, stands to the present day and is highly venerated. Near his tomb are two wells, one containing bitter water, the other containing sweet water.

Bibliography

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

Bibliography

See also