Shadhili
Encyclopedia
The Shadhili Tariqa is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by Abul Hasan Ali ash-Shadhili. Followers (Arabic murid
Murid
Murid is a Sufi term meaning 'committed one' from the root meaning "willpower" or "self-esteem". It refers to a person who is committed to a Murshid in a Tariqa of Sufism. Also known as a Salik , a murid is an initiate into the mystic philosophy of Sufism. When the Talib makes a pledge to a...

s
, "seekers") of the Shadhiliya are known as Shadhilis.

It has historically been of importance and influence in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 with many contributions to Islamic literature. Among the figures most known for their literary and intellectual contributions are Ibn 'Ata Allah
Ibn 'Ata Allah
Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn 'Ata Allah al-Iskandari , the third sheikh of the Shadhili Sufi order was born and grew up in Alexandria, lived and died in Cairo. He was responsible for systematizing the order's doctrines and recording the biographies of its founder, Sidi Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili, and his...

, author of the Hikam, and Ahmad Zarruq
Ahmad Zarruq
Ahmed Zarruq was a Shadhili Sufi Sheikh and founder of the Zarruqiyye branch of the Shadhili Sufi order...

, author of numerous commentaries and works, and Ahmad ibn Ajiba who also wrote numerous commentaries and works. In poetry expressing love of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

, there have been the notable contributions of Muhammad al-Jazuli
Muhammad al-Jazuli
Sidi Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli al-Simlali , often known as "Imam al-Jazuli", was a Moroccan Sufi leader of the Berber tribe of the Jazulah. He is especially famous for compiling the Dala'il al-Khayrat, an extremely popular Muslim prayer book...

, author of the "Dala'il al-Khayrat
Dala'il al-Khayrat
Dala'il al-Khayrat or Dalaail u'l Khayraat Wa Shawaariq u'l Anwaar Fee Zikri's Salaat Alan Nabiyyi'l Mukhtaar is a famous collection of prayers for Islamic prophet Muhammad, which was written by the Moroccan Sunni Sufi and Islamic Scholar Muhammad al-Jazuli...

", and Busiri
Busiri
Būsīrī was an Egyptian poet who was a follower of Imam Shadhili by enrolling himself in the Shadhiliyya Sufi order. He lived in Egypt, where he wrote under the patronage of Ibn Hinna, the vizier. His poems seem to have been wholly on religious subjects...

, author of the famous poem, the Qaṣīda al-Burda. Many of the head lecturers of al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...

 in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 have also been followers of this tariqa.

Of the various branches of the Shadhili tariqa are the Fassiyatush, found largely in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. The Darqawi branch is found mostly in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 and the Alawiyya
Ahmad al-Alawi
Ahmad al-Alawi , , was the founder of a popular modern Sufi order, the Darqawiyya Alawiyya, a branch of the Shadhiliyya.-Biography:...

 (no connection to the Turkish or Syrian Alawi
Alawi
The Alawis, also known as Alawites, Nusayris and Ansaris are a prominent mystical and syncretic religious group centred in Syria who are a branch of Shia Islam.-Etymology:...

 or Alevi
Alevi
The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....

 groups) which originated in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

 is now found the world over, particularly in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and among many English-speaking communities. British scholar, Martin Lings
Martin Lings
Martin Lings was an English Muslim writer and scholar, a student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, and Shakespearean scholar...

 wrote an extensive biography of the founder of this branch, Ahmad al-Alawi
Ahmad al-Alawi
Ahmad al-Alawi , , was the founder of a popular modern Sufi order, the Darqawiyya Alawiyya, a branch of the Shadhiliyya.-Biography:...

, entitled 'A Sufi Saint of the 20th century' (ISBN 0-946621-50-0)

The Swedish impressionist painter and Sufi scholar Ivan Aguéli
Ivan Aguéli
Ivan Aguéli also named Sheikh 'Abd al-Hādī 'Aqīlī upon his acceptance of Islam, was a Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author. As a devotee of Ibn Arabi, his metaphysics applied to the study of Islamic esoterism and its similarities with other esoteric traditions of the world...

 (1869–1917) was the first official Moqaddam (representative) of the Shadhiliyya in Western Europe. Aguéli initiated René Guénon
René Guénon
René Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...

 (1886–1951) into the Shadhili tariqa. http://www.readingislam.com/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1179664581043&pagename=Zone-English-Discover_Islam%2FDIELayout Guénon went on to write a number of influential books on tradition and modernity. http://www.fonsvitae.com/sophia-perennis.html

Branches

Shadhiliyya has nearly 72 branches across the globe. A few prominent branches are listed below.

Fassiyya

Fassiyatush shadhili sufi order was established by Qutbul Ujud Ghouthuz Zamaaninaa Ash Sheikh Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Mas'ood bin Abdur Rahman Al Makki Al Magribi Al Fassi Ash Shadhili (Imam Fassi) who was a Moroccan by origin and born in Makkah. Fassiyatush Shadhiliyya is widely practised in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. The descendants of Imam Fassi who are Sheikhs of Fassiyatush Shadhiliyya who live in Makkah and in Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

 visit to these countries frequently to train Ikhwan.

Darqawiyya

The Darqawiyya, a Moroccan branch of the Shadhili order, was founded in the late 18th century CE by Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi. Selections from the Letters of al-Darqawi have been translated by the Shadhili initiate Titus Burckhardt, and also by the scholar Aisha Bewley.http://www.fonsvitae.com/LETTERS.HTMLhttp://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Abewley/Darqawi.html One of the first tariqas to be established in the West was the 'Alawiya branch of the Darqawiyya, http://www.tasawuf.ws/en/ which was named after Ahmad ibn Mustafa al-'Alawi al-Mustaghanimi, popularly known as Shaykh al-Alawi. "A significant book about him, written by Martin Lings
Martin Lings
Martin Lings was an English Muslim writer and scholar, a student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, and Shakespearean scholar...

, is A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century."

Maryamiyya

The Maryamiyya branch of the Shadhiliyya Order was founded by 'Isa Nur al-Din Ahmad or Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998), a European disciple of Ahmad al-'Alawi, who established the Order in Europe and North America. http://www.cis-ca.org/voices/s/schuon_mn.htm http://www.sophiajournal.com/vol5no1.html Some of Schuon's most eminent students include, Titus Burckhardt
Titus Burckhardt
Titus Burckhardt , a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984. He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom and Tradition.He was an eminent member of the "traditionalist school" of twentieth-century authors...

 (1908–1984) and Martin Lings (1909–2005), author of the aforementioned text, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century and the universally acclaimed biography of the Prophet, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. http://www.fonsvitae.com/muhamlings.html Schuon also wrote several outstanding books on Islam including, Understanding Islam, Dimensions of Islam, and Sufism: Veil and Quintessence, http://www.worldwisdom.com/Public/Books/SeriesResults.asp?Series=The+Writings+of+Frithjof+Schuon&from=Search as well as a number of books on the Perennial Philosophy. http://theabodeofpeace.com/perennialism.html

Attasiyah

The 'Attasiyah Order is a branch of the 'Alawi Order. It is centered in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

 but also has centers in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

. The 'Alawiya order in Yemen has recently been studied by the anthropologist David Buchman. In his article "The Underground Friends of God and Their Adversaries: A Case Study and Survey of Sufism in Contemporary Yemen", Professor Buchman summarizes the results of his six month period of fieldwork in Yemen. The article was originally published in the journal Yemen Update, vol. 39 (1997), pp. 21-24."

Another figure is "Shaykh Abdalqadir al-Murabit, a Scottish convert to Islam, whose lineage is Shadhili-Darqawi. Currently his order is known as the Murabitun
Murabitun
The Murabitun is a worldwide Islamic movement founded by Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi, leader of the Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri Tariqa, with communities in around 20 different countries....

. At other times his order has been known as the Darqawiyya and Habibiya. One of the first books that Abdalqadir wrote was The Book of Strangers, which he authored under the name Ian Dallas. For a brief anecdote of Abdalqadir in the early 1970s, go" here.

Another contemporary order deriving, in part, from Abdalqadir al-Murabit is the al-Haydariyah al-Shadhiliyah, headed by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri. Of Shi'ite descent, Fadhlalla teaches within neither a Shi'i nor a Sunni framework.

Darqawi Hashimiya

There is another branch of the Shadhili-Darqawi Order known as the Shadhili-Darqawi-Hashimi branch, which is firmly established in both Damascus and Jordan. This branch of the Shadhili tariqa was established through Sheikh Muhammad al-Hashimi al-Tilmisani who, as a young man, migrated from North Africa to Damascus with his spiritual guide (murshid
Murshid
Murshid is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher". Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Sufi teacher. The term is used by other branches of Islam as well, e.g. by the Nizaris, the main school of Ismā‘īlī Shiites....

), who was a disciple of Sheikh Ahmad al-'Alawi (see above Martin Lings
Martin Lings
Martin Lings was an English Muslim writer and scholar, a student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, and Shakespearean scholar...

). Sheikh Muhammad al-Hashimi received his authorization (ijaza) to be a murshid of the Shadhili tariqa from Sheikh Ahmad al-'Alawi when the latter was visiting Damascus in the early 1920s.

Perhaps the most well known spiritual guides (murshideen) in the West of this branch of the Shadhili tariqa are Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller
Nuh Ha Mim Keller
Nuh Ha Mim Keller is an American Muslim translator of Islamic books and a specialist in Islamic law, as well as being authorised by Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri as a sheikh in sufism in the Shadhili Order...

 and Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi
Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi
Sayyid Muhammad Abul Huda al-Ya’qoubi is an Islamic scholar and murshid.-Background:Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi was born in Damascus, Syria. He is the son of Ibrahim al-Ya’qoubi a scholar and former Imam of Grand Omayyad Mosque. He is also a sayyid where his family lineage can be traced back to Islamic...

 both are students of the spiritual guide and Shadhili Sheikh Abd al Rahman Al Shaghouri. Sheikh Abd al Rahman was a student of Sheikh Muhammad al-Hashimi al-Tilmisani. The Sheikh Nuh is an American convert to Islam who resides in Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

, Jordan. Some of his writings are available here. His official website is here. The latter, Sheikh al Yaqoubi, traces his lineage in the tariqa through his father and grandfather. And his official website is here.

Sheikh Muhammad Sa'id al-Jamal, a student of Sheikh Muhammad al-Hashimi al-Tilmisani, works from the Haram al-Sharif or The Temple Mount in Jerusalem and mufti of the Hanbali Madhab. He was also a student of the spiritual guide and Shadhili Sheikh Abdur Rahman Abu al Risah of Halab in the land of Syria of the Shadhili Yashruti line. He is a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

, through his ancestor Ahmad ar-Rifa`i. He travels yearly to the US and has numerous students there. He has written many books in both English and Arabic on Sufism, tafsir, and healing. His students from the US also established the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism which is devoted to sufi way of healing.

Badawiyya

Another branch of the Shadhilia which has groups in Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey and America is the Shadhilia-Batawia founded by Sheikh Ibrahim al-Batawi, for many years professor at al-Azhar. He was a confrere of Sheikh Abdu-l-Halim Mahmud, Shaikh al-Azhar, who was very influential in the revival of Sufism in Egypt. Sheikh Ibrahim’s student, Sheikh Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee
Nooruddeen Durkee
Shaykh Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee is a Muslim scholar, thinker, author, translator and the khalifah for North America of the Shadhdhuli School for Tranquility of Being and the Illumination of Hearts, Green Mountain Branch. Nooruddeen Durkee became a Muslim in his early thirties in al-Quds,...

 has established the Shadhdhuliyyah-Baddawia order in the US. Sheikh Nooruddeen has translated and transliterated the Qur'an and has compiled two definitive books on the Shadhdhuliyyiah,Orisons and Origins.

"Between October 17–26, 1999 the First International Shadhilian Festival occurred in Egypt. It concluded with a pilgrimage to the tomb of Abu 'l-Hasan al-Shadhili and involved Sufi gatherings of dhikr" and the singing of qasida
Qasida
The qaṣīdaᵗ , in Arabic: قصيدة, plural qasā'id, قــصــائـد; in Persian: قصیده , is a form of lyric poetry that originated in preIslamic Arabia...

s, or classical poetry.

On Christianity

It has been suggested that the Shadhili school was influential on St. John of the Cross, in particular on his account of the dark night of the soul
Dark Night of the Soul
Dark Night of the Soul is a treatise by Saint John of the Cross containing a commentary explaining his poem of the same name.-Poem and treatise by Saint John of the Cross:...

 and via Ibn Abbad al-Rundi
Ibn Abbad al-Rundi
Ibn Abbad al-Rundi was one of the leading Sufi theologians of his time who was born in Ronda. Attracted to Morocco by the famous madrasahs, Ibn Abbad emigrated there at an early age...

.

This influence has been suggested by Miguel Asín Palacios and developed by others, who suggests that Ibn Abbad al-Rundi
Ibn Abbad al-Rundi
Ibn Abbad al-Rundi was one of the leading Sufi theologians of his time who was born in Ronda. Attracted to Morocco by the famous madrasahs, Ibn Abbad emigrated there at an early age...

, who draw detailed connections between their teachings.

Other scholars, such as José Nieto, argue that these mystical doctrines are quite general, and that while similarities exist between the works of St. John and Ibn Abbad and other Shadhilis, these reflect independent development, not influence.

The Spiritual Chain

The silsila
Silsila
Silsila is a 1981 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.-Plot:...

 of the Shadhili order is as follows:
  • Prophet Muhammad
  • Ali ibn Abi Talib
  • Hasan al-Basri
  • Habib al-‘Ajami
  • Dawud al-Ta’i
  • Ma‘ruf al-Karkhi
  • Sari al-Saqati
  • Abul Qasim al-Junayd
    Junayd
    Junayd is a male given name which means soldier or warrior.-Given name:*Mohammed Junaid Babar, Pakistani-American terrorist*Junayd Baghdadi, a 9th-century Sufi*Junaid Ismail Dockrat, South African Dentist...

  • Abu Bakr al-Shibli
  • Abu Faraj ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Tamimi
  • Abul Faraj al-Tartusi
  • Abul Hasan ibn ‘Ali Yusuf
  • Sa‘id al-Mubarak
  • Abdul-Qadir Gilani
  • Abu Madyan
    Abu Madyan
    Abu Madyan , also known as Abū Madyan S̲h̲uʿayb, Abū Madyan, or Sidi Abu Madyan Shuayb ibn al-Hussein al-Ansari, was an influential Andalusian mystic and Sufist. Some even refer to him as the national figure of Maghreb mysticism as he was such a forerunner of Sufism in this geographical area...

  • ‘Abd al-Rahman al-‘Attar al-Zayyat
  • Abdeslam Ben Mshish
  • Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili
    Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili
    -Biography:He was born in a royal family of a business man in Berber Ghomara, near Ceuta in the north of Morocco in 1196. He studied in Fes. He set out across North Africa and into the Levant in the hope of finding the great living saint of his time . He started his journey in search of wisdom via...


External links

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