Observations placeholder
Abu ‘L-Mawahib Ash-Shadhili
Identifier
007323
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
This description was abridged from that on Wikipedia
Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili (Arabic: أبو الحسن الشاذلي) [593 AH/1196 CE – 656 AH/1258 CE] was an influential North-African Islamic scholar and Sufi, founder of the Shadhili Sufi order.
He was born into a royal family in Bani Yafrah in the Ghomara tribe, near Ceuta in the north of Morocco. A syed of Hassani-Idrissite decent, he was a Maliki who wandered far afield in search of knowledge.
Immensely learned, even as a young man, he was famous for his ability to engage in legal argument with the religious scholars of his day.
He studied in Fes and moved to Alexandria in 1244. In Iraq he met the Sufi master al-Wasiti, who advised him that he could find his Spiritual Master (Sheikh) in the country Abul Hasan had travelled from: Abd as-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. He founded his first zawiyya in Tunis in 1227. He died in 1258 in Humaithra, 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 highly venerated.
A description of the experience
Abu ‘L-Mawahib Ash-Shadhili
He who does not become an expert in annihilation shall not discover the beautiful face of the bride