Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760-1823) was a Moroccan Sufi leader and the author of letters concerning the dhikr he preached and instructions for daily life. He stressed noninvolvement in worldly affairs (Dunya) and spoke against other Sufi orders exploiting claims of barakah (blessings). He was imprisoned by the Moroccan ruler Mulay Slimane (r.1792-1822) for supporting revolts against the throne, but was released by Abderrahmane (r.1822-1859). A Sufi order, the Darqawa, was organized around his teachings after his death, with members coming from a wide range of social groups. Though the Darqawa was once the most important tariqah in Morocco, its power waned as it spread throughout North Africa. Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi was descended from a Hasanid/Idrissid sherif family that lived amongst the Beni Zerwal, in the hills to the north-east of Fez. His tomb is in the zawiya Beni Brih also in the Rif.

Bibliography

Letters by al-Darqawi

• Al 'Arbi Al Darqawi, Majmu'at Rasa'il (Letters from Al Darqawi to his disciples), Casablanca, 1999
• The Darqawi Way (The Letters of Al-Arabi al-Darqawi translated by Aisha Bewley), Diwan Press, Norwich UK, 1980, ISBN 0906512069
• Letters of a Sufi Master, The Shaykh ad-Darqawi, Shaykh al-'Arabi ad-Darqawi, Translated by Titus Burckhardt, Preface by Martin Lings, Fons Vitae (1998) ISBN 1-887752-16-1

Almost all of the letters concern the method based on the central techniques of invocation or dhikr, not usually discussed openly by Sufi masters. The letters were compiled by al-`Arabi al-Darqawi himself, copied by his disciples and printed many times in Fez, in lithographed script. Titus Burckhardt has made this translation on the basis of two nineteenth-century manuscripts as well as the lithographed edition.

Notes

Websites

• Dar-Sirr.com: Portal to Moroccan Sufism