Historical Background Of Sulayman Mashish

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Historical Background

We would like start our discussion with a brief history of Shaykh Abu Hasan Ash-Shādhilī. Around the year 559/1146 or 563/1148, a child named Sulayman was born to a sharif of the Bani Arus whose name was Abu Bakr ibn Ali, and the name of the child was and he was nicknamed "مَشِـيش" which means Little Cat in the Berber language. Upon reaching maturity, Sulayman Mashish withdrew from the world as an ascetic and built a zāwiyah that still stands among the ruins of his village of Aghyul. In either 559/1146 or 563/1148, he sired a son named Moulay Abdessalam. known as ‘Ibn Mashish’, he who would become the first exemplary shaykh Moroccan Sufism.

His sole student, the Moroccan sharif, Sidi Abul Hassan ash Shādhilī' (d. 656/1241) spread the first version of Moroccan Sufism abroad under the banner of Shādhilīyyah Sufi order. He started his journey in search of wisdom via Tunis and finally arrived in Iraq. There he met a Sufi named al-Wāsitī who told him that he could find his Spiritual Master (Sheikh) in the country he had travelled from: ‘Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish, the great Moroccan spiritual master. Under his guidance, Abul Hasan attained enlightenment and proceeded to spread his knowledge across North Africa, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, where he is buried. After the death of his master, he spread the teaching of Ibn Mashish far and wide.

Sidi Abul Hassan ash Shādhilī' promoted a path of moderation in outward actions, concentrating instead on attaining sincerity through constant remembrance and repetition of Allah’s name. He died in 1258 in Humaithra, [4] Egypt, while he was on his way to the pilgrimage in Mecca in 1258. Humaithara is between Marsa Alam and Aswan in Egypt and his shrine there is hi...

... middle of paper ...

...iritual development. According to Sidi Mustafa, the purpose of the Hadrah is to draw closer to Allah and to free to heart everything other than the remembrance of Allah.

In summation when a comparison is made between the two zawiyahs, we find one Zawiyah of Shaykh Sidi Ahmad Al Habib that is on the decline due to several factors beyond its control. The main reasons being a lack of the finance that is necessary to keep the Zawiyah in good operation, a lack of leadership come from a shaykh and a lack of followers or new members who could generate new energy and life into the Zawiya.

As for the other Zawiyah, Zawiyah Sidi al-Ghazi, we found to be vibrant and full of energy and life. For very opposite reasons. It had a strong hierarchy, finance, membership and a large facility and infrastructure.

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1. http://www.dar-sirr.com/Mashish.html

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