Morocco: The Hub of Sufism par Excellence

The Sharifian Kingdom of Morocco has long been one of the most important crucibles of Islamic mysticism. Moroccan religious and intellectual movements often created ebb tides of intellectual and cultural influence that flowed toward the Muslim East. The wide geographical extent of the Tijaniya, the Shadhiliya and the Idrissiya Sufi orders underscores the importance of this lacuna. Instead of been merely imitative, many of the doctrines and institutions that were created such as the al-Qarawiyyine of Fez had profound effect on the Maghrib and the rest of the Islamic world. The foundation of Sufism in Morocco came, of course, from the East, as did Islam. Yet the unusual type of Islam in Morocco...Continue Reading

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Shadhiliya brotherhood was closely associated with political and intellectual elites of North Africa. This was to be expected, since Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 656/1241), Sidi Abul Abbas al-Mursi (d. 686/1271)... [More]

At the Sidi Abu Mohammed Abdellah al-Ghazwani (d. 935/1520), the successor of Sidi Abdellaziz Al-Tabba’a (d. 914/1499) as Shaykh al-jama'a of the Jazouliya and one of Marrakech' Sab'atu Rijal Saints, was born among the Banu Ghazwan tribal segment... [More]