"All the Spiritual Paths will be incorporated into the Path of Shadhili (may Allah be pleased with him), except this Mohammedi Ibrahimi Hanifi Spiritual Path of ours, for it is self sufficient". Khatm al-Awliya Mawlana Abul Abbas Tijani

The Qadiriya Sufi Order, so named after Shaykh Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani (d. 561/1166), occupies a pre-eminent place in Moroccan Sufism. Although its organisational structure came into prominence several decades after the death of the Shaykh, who came to be looked upon as an ideal of spiritual excellence and achievement. Later generations however developed all sorts of legends surrounding his personality, and the real nature of his spiritual activity became shrouded in innumerable miracle stories woven around him by his followers and circulated by his biographers. Shaykh Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani combined in his person the twin roles of a esoteric mentor and a exoteric teacher, but after him the two functions became separated. His son Sidi Abdelwahhab (d. 593/1196) succeeded him in the madrasa and his other son Moulay Abderrazaq (d. 603/1206) turned to spiritual discipline and looked after the zawiya. It was he who built near the grave of his father a mosque with seven guilt domes. The Mongolian Halagu's sack of Baghdad in 658/1258 brought to an end both the madrasa and the zawiya, and the Shaykh's descendents became scattered and dispersed. Thereafter those associated with his family turned their attention to organising the order in different regions. Those of his family members who remained in Baghdad constituted what has been called "the moral centre of the order"; others settled in Aleppo, Cairo and Fez.

The Qadiriya was first introduced in Morocco by Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdellqadir Jilani who dwelled Fez after a short stay in Amsun near Taza. His offspring worked together with the progeny of Sidi Ibrahim ibn Abdellqadir Jilani (d. 593/1196) and his brother Sidi Abdellaziz who pierced the Idrissid capital in the early seventh/thirteenth century to establish Qadiri zawiyas in the Sharifian State. The fall of Granada in 897/1492 aided more Qadiri sharifs to join their cousins in Fez and reinforced the already established Qadiri network. The conventional work of Shaykh Sidi Mohammed ibn Mohammed Qadiri Andalusi (d. 950/1535) in particular regenerated the Qadiri institutional structure in Fez and was fundamental in the production of mystic figures in cooperation with Moroccan Qadiri masters such as Sidi Mohammed Zaytouni (d. after 900/1449).

Most certainly it was during the lifetime of Shaykh Moulay Abdellqadir that the influence of Qadiriya was felt in Morocco. Although non-Moroccan Tariqa affiliations are seldom mentioned in sources from this period, Sufis whom one would today identify as 'Qadiris' can be recognised by their devotion to the Almohad-era saints Sidi Abu Ya'aza Yalnour (d. 572/1177) and his disciple Sidi Abu Madyan al-Ghawt (d. 594/1198),  who were assimilated into the Qadiriya. Perhaps because of Abu Ya'aza's close identification with the Mohammedian paradigm, the folkloric tradition of Morocco has long associated him with Moulay Abdellqadir, who enjoyed descent from the Prophet (peace and blessing upon him) on both his mother's and his father's side. By the nineteenth century, the legend linking Abu Ya'aza to Moulay Abdellqadir was so-established that the Sufi biographer Sidi Mohammed ben Jaafar Kattani (d. 1345/1930) reported in his Salwat al-anfas a tradition in which the Shaykh of Baghdad tells his followers: "There is an Abyssinian (habashi) in the Maghrib, whose name is an-Nur and whose kunya is Abu Ya'aza. He occupies a great station, which only few of the First and the Last has attained".

Similar spiritual linkages have also linked Sidi Abu Madyan with Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani prior to their physical meeting on Mount Arafa in the pilgrimage. Sidi Abu Madyan's student, Sidi Abu Mohammed Salih al-Majiri (d. 631/1234), the Patron Saint of Asfi, reports that Abu Madyan said to his disciple: "I saw al-Khadir and asked him about the Shaykhs of the east and the west in our time. Then I asked him about Shaykh Abdellqadir Jilani and he said: 'He is the Imam of the truthful and the proof of the gnostics. He is the inspiration behind gnosis, but his destiny is not to be physically among the Awliya. I arrange the ranks of Awliya according to his direction.'" Moulay Abderrazaq ibn Abdellqadir Jilani's (d. 603/1206-7) student, Sidi Abul Abbas Tajuddin Ahmed Sharishi Slawi (d. 641/1243 in  El Fayyoum, Egypt), the noted Moroccan mystic and author of the famous Sharishiya poem, had also addressed this sanctity and supremacy in his writings.

As early as the ninth/fifteenth century, it is likely that a connection between the Shadhili and Qadiri brotherhoods in Morocco was established by the Imam Sidi Mohammed Jazouli (d. 869/1465) himself, for much of Jazoulite ritual borrows from Sidi Abu Mohammed Salih al-Majiri. The Jazulite Sufi Sidi Abdellaziz Tabba'a (d. 914/1508) believed that the Shaykh who could claim lineal descent from the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him) exercised spiritual authority over his followers by virtue of divine right. This sharifian interpretation of authority was an important hallmark of the Jazouliya. It was also important among the Moroccan Qadiriya, whose hagiographers stressed that Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani's status as the Pole of the Time (Qutb az-Zaman) was a matter of birthright as well. Apart from the rule of formal appointment by one's predecessor and the transmission of the Prophetic Inheritance through the bloodline, there is a little to distinguish the Qadirite saints from the Shadhilite ones.  

Throughout the tenth/sixteenth century, the ranks of the Jazouliya included both Shadhili and Qadiri Sufis. It would have been highly unusual for Qadiris to have been initiated into this order if there have not been a connection between the Jazouliya and the Qadiriya in the first place. Sidi Abdellaziz Tabba'a provides evidence of such a connection in a poem which traces his spiritual genealogy. This poem entitled Salail al-anwar wa tuhfat manaqib al-akhyar (Offsprings of light and fruits of the exploits of the virtuous), includes the following verse:

Sidi Tabba'a's attempts to link himself doctrinally to Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani is significant, since it comes from a strong partisan of the Shadhiliya. Further evidence of a doctrinal connection between the Jazouliya and the Qadiriya can be found in the invocations of Imam Mohammed al-Jazouli. In his Wednesday litany of Dalail al-Khayrat, Imam Sidi Mohammed Jazouli reproduces verbatim Moulay Abdellqadir's "Minor Prayer" (As-Salat as-Sughra) on behalf of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him):  "Oh God, bless our Chieftain Sidna Mohammed, whose light precedes creation and whose appearance is a mercy to the worlds, to the number of Your creatures who have gone before and who remain and [to the number of] those among them who are saved and damned; a blessing beyond number that exceeds all bounds; a blessing without limitation, end, or conclusion; an eternal blessing through Your eternal nature; and protect his Family and Companions for all time."

Qadiri-Shadhili ties is also represented in the disciplehood of the great Shadhilite mystic Sidi Ahmed Zarruq al-Fasi (d. 899/1493) to the most influential Qadiri zawiya in late fifteenth-century Fez called Zawiyat Bu Laqtut (Zawiya of the Owner of Cats). This zawiya had long been linked to the way of Sidi Abu Madyan. It was originally built by Sidi Ali Boughaleb (d. 568/1172-3), a student of Sidi Ahmed ibn al-Arif Tanji (d. 536/1141), who taught the Sunan of at-Tirmidi to Sidi Abu Madyan in the Qarawiyyine mosque. During his advanced studies in Fez Sidi Ahmed Zarruq took the hand Sidi Mohammed Jazouli as well as Zawiyat Bu Laqtut's teacher Sidi Mohammed Zaytouni (d. after 900/1449) before he travelled to Egypt and met with the Moroccan Shadhilite Sidi Mohammed al-Hadrami (d. 787/1385). It is very worth to mention as well that the faqih Sidi Abdellhaqq Ibn Atiyya (d. 542/1147) cited in his Fahrasa an initiatory chain that links Sidi Mohammed Hadrami to Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani through Sidi Ahmed ibn Achir (d. 764/1362), the Patron Saint of Salé and disciple of Sidi Abu Zakariyya al-Hahi (d. end of seventh/thirteenth century), himself a student of Asfi city's patron saint, Sidi Abu Mohammed Salih Majiri (d. 631/1216), himself the teacher of Sidi Mohammed ibn Harazem ("Grandson of Sidi Ali ibn Harzihim"; d. 633/1218) - Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili's (d. 656/1241) first Sufi teacher.

Nicknamed the "Blind Viper" because of the powerful "bite" of his curses, Shaykh Zaytouni was the principal exponent of the way of Abu Madyan in Morocco and the Maghrib. The Shaykh used his ties with the incoming Qadiri sharifs to establish a reputation as the saintly protector of the Moroccan Hajj caravan. In this way he was able to link his zawiya to other Qadiri orders in the central and eastern Maghrib. Much like Sidi Abu Mohammed Salih and his successors Sidi Ahmed ibn Salih (d. 660/1262) and Sidi Ibrahim ibn Salih (ca. 696/1297) in the thirteenth century (who were also linked to the Qadiriya through their connections in Egypt), Shaykh Zaytouni concluded safe-conduct agreements with Arab tribes in the countryside between Morocco and Tunisia. 

In Marinid Morocco, while Sidi Abdellah Ghazwani (d. 935/1528-9), Sidi al-Hadi Ben Aissa (d. 933/1526), Sidi Abdelwarit al-Yasluti (d. After 960/1554), Sidi Mohammed Mesbahi (d. 964/1557) and other members of the Jazouliya were establishing zawiyas in Marrakech, Fez, and Meknes disseminating their doctrine among the Arabs of northern Morocco, a greater political role for Sufis was being advocated by the Qadiris who had also been influenced by the doctrines of Sidi Mohammed al-Jazouli, who was himself a close friend of a Qadiri Sufi from Meknes named Sidi Mohammed al-Amine Attar Zerhouni (d. 860/1456). Their political engagement was a reaction to the Marinid's failure to hinder the Christian invasion of Tetouan in 803/1401 and Ceuta in 818/1415. In 869/1465, the Qadiri sharifs of Fez supported the Idrissid Sidi Abdellaziz Waryaghli (d. 880/1475) in his coup d'etat against Sultan Abdellhaqq II putting the Marinid's two centuries reign into a shameful end. The Qadiris also gave allegiance to the new appointed Idrissid sultan Moulay Mohammed Amrani al-Juti in al-Qarawiyyine mosque.   

One of the greatest political Qadiri masters in the sixteenth century Morocco was a Berber from the town of Taza called Sidi Mohammed ibn Yajbash Tazi (d. 920/1514). Sidi Ibn Yajbash was a disciple of Sidi Mohammed Zaytouni and was noted as a juridical Sufi, social reformist, and advocate for 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 al-Jazouli, 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 al-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 876/1471. 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 do they 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 Shaykh 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!

The Chefchaouen master Shaykh Sidi Abdellah Habti (d. 963-1556), a disciple of Sidi Ibn Yajbash, was by far the most successful at combining social activism and Sufi reformism in a single career. Sidi Habti's critiques of Moroccan society are perceived in a remarkable didactic poem known as the Alfiyya, which had long been used in Morocco as a method for teaching grammar, and was first introduced as a way of distributing the doctrines of Qadiri reformist Sufism by the Sidi Mohammed Ibn Yajbash Tazi. Like his master Ibn Yajbash, Sidi Habti believed that the main cause of the social ills besetting Morocco was the loss of faith. Sidi Habti's educational programme emphasised instruction in the Shari'a and the development of a reading knowledge of the Arabic language. However, although he focused most of his attention on social reform, Sidi Habti did not overlook the obligation of Jihad against the Portuguese. He and his Shadhilite associate from Chefchaouen Sidi Mohammed ibn Khajju (d. 956/1550) travelled widely around northern Morocco, calling for Muslim unity in the face of Christian threat.

The venerated Master Sidi Ahmed Qadiri Yamani (d. 1113/1698) is certainly the most important Qadiri figure in the twelfth/seventeenth century Morocco. The Shaykh was born and educated in Yemen. There he took Sufism from the head of the Qadiri Zawiya Shaykh Sidi Abul Mohammed al-Barmadi. This latter is linked to Moulay Abdellqadir Jilani through Sidi Ali ibn Haddad—the first founder of the Qadiriya in Yemen. Sometime around the year 1081/1666 Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdellah Yamani entered Fez and soon later earned colossal fame in the circles of ulama, sharifs and Sufis. He was very crucial in the spiritual excellence of the Shadhilite Shaykh Sidi Ahmed in Abdellah al-Fasi and his son Sidi al-Arbi. This latter is the Master of Sidi Ali al-Jamal Amrani (d. 1193/1778), who was himself the teacher of Mulay al-Arbi Darqawi (d. 1239/1824). Sidi Ahmed al-Fasi was also the spiritual master of the Idrissid sharif Moulay Abdellaziz Debbarh (d. 1132/1719).  According to Kitab al-Ibriz, Sidi Ahmed al-Fasi taught the Siryaniya language to Sidi Abdellaziz in one month. Sidi Ahmed ibn Ajiba (d. 1224/1809) remarks in his Fahrasa that Sidi Ahmed had received Qadiri training from Shaykh Yamani in Fez. Sidi Qacem Khassasi (d. 1083/1677), who had transmitted him the Shadhiliya, had already died when Sidi Ahmed had not yet reached mystic maturity. Before dying, he said: "Someone will come to perfect you." Shaykh Yamani came to perfect him, as matter of fact, and went to great expense for the disciple.

The venerated Qadirite figure Sidi Mohammed Ma' El Aynain (“his nickname he received as a child, meaning ‘water of the eyes’ in Arabic”; d. 1246/1831) had also ties to the Shadhilite master Sidi Mhammed ben Nasir Dar'i (d. 1085/1674). In 1898, Sidi Mohammed Ma' El Aynain, who succeeded his father Sidi Mohammed Fadil Ould Māmīn (1797–1869) as head of the Qadirite Fadiliya Sufi order, began building the town of Smara, in the Moroccan Sahara. The Sultan of Morocco, Moulay El Hassan I, who sent craftsmen and materials, assisted him in the construction. In 1902, once the main parts of the city were completed, he moved and based himself there, creating, among other things, an important Islamic library. The Shaykh, who was a great esoteric and exoteric Sufi and a charismatic political leader for his inspiration and leadership of a Sahrawi resistance movement in a six years holy war (1904–1910) against French and Spanish colonization in the Sahara, took advantage of his sharifian origin and military skills to establish the order among Sahrawi tribes. The Shaykh took part in all aspects of his group's life and quickly became a political and social leader, as well as a religious and spiritual one, a saint protector and a savior. This close link between religious and socio-political power, which was sustained by his successors, became one of the Fadiliyyah’s distinguishing characteristics.