Sidi Mohammed ibn Yajbash (d. 920/1505)

One of the most important Qadiri masters in Morocco in the sixteenth century was a Berber from the town of Taza called Abu Abdellah Sidi Mohammed ibn Abderrahim ibn Yajbash al-Tazi (d. 920/1505). Contemporary to the Shadhilite Sufis Sidi Abdellah Ghazwani (d. 935/1520) and Sidi al-Hadi Ben Aissa (d. 933/1518), Sidi Ibn Yajbash was a disciple of the well-renown Fasi master Sidi Mohammed Zaytouni (d. after 900/1449); the first spiritual master of Sidi Ahmed Zarruq al-Fasi (d. 899/1484), who was based in the Qadiri Zawiya of Fez that is called Bu Laqtut (the Owner of Cats). This zawiya had long been linked to the way of Shaykh Abu Madyan al-Ghawt. It was originally built by Sidi Ali Boughaleb (d. 568/1153), an Andalusian hadith scholar and disciple of Sidi Ahmed Ibn al-Arif (d. 536/11211) who taught Abu Madyan the Sunan of at-Tirmidhi at the Al-Qarawiyyine mosque. A juridical Sufi and associate of the legist Sidi Mohammed ibn Yusuf Sanusi (d. 899/1484), Sidi Ibn Yajbash was noted as a social reformer and advocate of jihad. He was also known for his poetry, which stimulated an entire genre of socially conscious didactic verse among the Sufis of Morocco and western Algeria.

Although Sidi Ibn Yajbash appears never to have been a disciple of Sidi Mohammed ibn Sulayman al-Jazouli (d. 869/1454), his writings show unmistakable Jazulite influence. This is apparent in the introduction of his most important work, Kitab al-jihad, which celebrates "all of those who say 'My Lord is God' and follow the Straight Path' (kullu man qala Rabbi Allah thumma istaqam). This is a clear reference to Jazouli's nowlost treaties on Sufism, an-Nush at-tamm liman qala Rabbi Allah thumma istaqam. Kitab al-jihad is an overtly political work that was inspired by the fall of the Atlantic port of Asila to the Portuguese in 886/1471. it was written to exhort the ulama of Morocco to awaken the social and political crises that plugged their region and to undertake the reforms that were necessary to unite the Muslim community in its defence. The beginning of this work is written in the style of khutba, a Friday sermon, and evokes a stark image of impending doom: 

Worshippers of God! What is this great negligence that has fixed itself in your hearts, upon which the ego relies, and which has negated proper guidance and God's favour? Are you not aware that your enemies are investigating you and are employing every strategy in order to get you? They have gathered together in numbers and too large to count and have sent their spies and scouts to every land in order to inform them of what your numbers are, as well as your strengths and convictions. They have told their leaders of your foolishness and negligence, and that your numbers, compared to theirs, are as insignificance and as weak as can be. For you are divided against your Muslim brothers and care nothing about debasing the religion of the Lord of Messengers and taking [as captives] the believing worshipers of God.

Once they have known everything about your conditions, your lack of care, and preoccupations, they will crave… to attain their goals. Then they will gather… and go out into these lands. But they will be satisfied neither with possessing it nor with obtaining wealth and slaves. Instead, they will cause glory and happiness into debasement and sorrow. They will cause despair and expulsion to prevail, both in feeling and in fact. [The people of this land] will be shackled with chains and irons and everyday they will suffer grievous agony;  they will become like chattel and slaves and those who only yesterday were rich and secure will be poor and afraid. They will be robbed of their possession, their material conditions will be upset, their women will be separated from them, their daughters will be taken from them, and the unbelievers will complete over the prices at which they will purchase them.  

So what is this negligence about your brothers, oh Muslims? Even now, [the unbelievers] are watching you at every moment in time. They are not satisfied with food, nor they do find rest in sleep. What is the condition of one who lies fettered in chains or shackles and under arrest? These [unfortunates] only serve [their masters] beneath reprimands and blows, with abuse, slaps, and insults; they will find neither pity nor mercy; they cannot imagine the sorrow and affliction that they undergo; their tears will pour down their cheeks and they will be overcome by sadness that knows no relief! Is there anyone who can cool these embers? Where is the compassion of the people of Islam? Where is the mercy of Sidna Mohammed's (peace and blessing be upon him) umma, who are characterised by the noblest of qualities—the devotees of the one who is famous for his excellence and the instrument of attainment of God?

Like Imam Jazouli before him, Sidi Ibn Yajbash Tazi believed that the true Islam could be found among those who dared to put their lives on the line as holy warriors. Best of all are the lovers of God who sought union with their Creator through the loss of life or limb: "Where are the lovers? Where is the one who desires salvation in this beauty? Where is the one who hungers to attain his desire in the sweetness of union? By the grace of God you have attained your hopes, oh seeker! You have reached your desires, oh lover! The One you have longed for will not cause you to be frightened at the coming of death, nor will He deny you the eternal happiness that you so passionately desire by ending what is merely short-lived!

After calling believers to the common defence, Sidi Ibn Yajbash next turns to the social and moral conditions in which Satan identifies his friends and enemies. The friends of Satan are those whom Ibn Yajbash blames for the debased condition of Moroccan society in his day: the oppressive ruler (sultan al-jair), the arrogant man of wealth, the dishonest merchant, the wine drinker, the usurer, the adulterer, the murder, the trustee who steals the inheritance of orphans, the miser, and the lover of the material world. By contrast, Satan's enemies are those who provide answer to Morocco's problems: the just leader (imam al-'adil), the humble man of wealth, the honest merchant, the chaste slaveboy, the trustworthy believer, the sincere repenter, the man who is merciful, abstains from women, and is generous, the almsgiver, the bearer of the Quran, the God-fearing legist (al-mujtahid fi-Allah), and the holy warrior (al-mujahid fi sabil Allah).

From Ibn Yajbash's point of view, the friends of Satan are the cause of the discord that has beset Morocco since the beginning of the fifteenth ninth/century. The insecurity that this discord has provoked has let to the loosening of social bonds and erosion of trust and solidarity. Now that this affliction has infected the elites, the result is internal strife and political weakness. If something is nor done to halt this slide into chaos, the Muslims of Morocco will be cursed by God with expulsion and dispersion like the children of Israel (Bani Israel). Indeed Ibn Yajbash claims, Islam itself might fall into a decline from which it can never recover, for religion now means so little in Morocco that even its most basic tenets are ignored: You have disobeyed the bounds of Shari'a for the sake of that which is revolting, as if the Quran has never been revealed to you and as if the Lord of Lords had never taught you the difference between right and wrong… You have sold your religion for the world and for the dirham. The outcome of the first is the Fire and the outcome of the second is prediction!" 

To secure Morocco from its decline, the Qadiri master Sidi Mohammed Ibn Yajbash calls for a leader who is capable in both religion and the sword—and imam and amir whose religious expertise is acknowledged by the ulama and who, like the Rightly Guided Caliphs of old, can guide Muslims in battle as a true successor to the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him). This leader "will take care of Muslims and arrange them in ranks for battle as has been mentioned by the ulama in many volumes. If he finds weakness or fear in them, he will urge them to be patient and take refuge in God's forgiveness and in making numerous prayers to the Conquering King, Who alone possesses power and victory". It was no coincidence that during this same period, the sharifs of Morocco began to promote themselves as the "just imams" called for by Shaykh Ibn Yajbash and other Sufi activists.