Sidi Abdelljalil ibn Wayhan (d. 541/1126)

An important advocate of eastern Sufi traditions in Morocco was a Masmuda Berber from Dukkala named Sidi Abdelljalil ibn Wayhan (d. 541/1126), who founded the Nuriyya mystical tradition at Aghmat. His teacher, an Egyptian Sufi named Sidi Abul Fadl al-Jawhari, traced his spiritual linage (silsila) to Sidi Abul Hassan an-Nuri (d. 295/880), a Baghdad native of Khurasani origins who taught a spiritual method similar to that of his more famous friend and companion Sidi Abul Qacem al-Junaid (d. 297/882). Although Moroccan hagiographers have characterised the spiritual method of Sidi Abdelljalil ibn Wayhan as "Junaidi," the concept of light (nur), the root of an-Nuri's name, was of great importance to his doctrine. In fact, several of the most important masters of the Moroccan Nuriyya even went so far to incorporate the word nur into their own names. However, it is not entirely incorrect to characterised the Nuriyya tradition as Junaidi. This is because Sidi Sari as-Saqti (d. 253/838), al-Junaid's teacher and maternal uncle, was the master of Abul Hassan an-Nuri as well. Because of this shared discipleship, both an-Nuri and al-Junaid follows the same rules of conduct and gave similar weight to the doctrines of sincerity (sidq), poverty (faqr), and altruism (ithar).

Unlike the more theologically oriented al-Junaid, who gained lasting fame for defending the Sufi concept of divine unity (tawhid), an-Nuri stressed moral conduct (akhlaq) and is most often remembered as a master of futuwwa. According to the biographer as-Sulami, one of a an-Nuri's favourite hadiths was: "He who fulfils the needs of his Muslim brother has the reward of one who has served God all of his time." The altruism expressed in this tradition is referred to as ithar in Sufi treaties and was one of the hallmarks of futuwwa. It was also congruent with the concept of salah, which was central to the Moroccan concept of sainthood. An-Nuri also gave great importance to proving inner states through outward actions. This made his doctrine attractive to Sufis who were educated in the ethnical environment of North African Malikism, which shared a similar ethos. The importance of moral conduct and sincerity in an-Nuri's spiritual method is clearly visible in as-Sulami's Tabaqat as-sufiyya (Categories of the Sufis), which contains the following of aphorisms of this Shaykh: "Sufism does not consist of formalistic behaviour or memorised knowledge; rather, it is moral conduct."; "The most valuable things in our age are two: a scholar who acts upon his knowledge and a gnostic who speaks through his spiritual insight."; "The true Sufi is one who does not importune God the Exalted for his means of livelihood, but relies upon Him in every state." It is also related that when an-Nuri was brought before the Abbasid caliph for questioning, he was asked: "from whence do you get your sustenance?" To which he replied, " We know of no means through which to obtain our recompense. We are people who fend ourselves."

True to the altruistic principles of the Nuriyya tradition that we had learned in Egypt, the Moroccan saint Sidi Abdelljalil ibn Wayhan lived a life of extreme poverty and taught usul al-fiqh without asking for anything in return. Eventually, his poverty and asceticism became so extreme that he was forced to divorce his wife because of his inability to provide for her. Realising that he was obliged to make a property settlement as a part of the divorce, he gave her half of the garment he was wearing—his only position—and kept the other half for himself. Although Sidi Abdelljalil was trained as a jurist, his relations with other legal scholars were strained. Before visiting an exoteric legist, he would say to his disciples: "Come. We will take knowledge from fire." Much of the disapproval to which he was subjected by the ulama was due to his popularity among the lower classes. Because of this acclaim, he was forced to spend almost all of his time at his ribat, leaving only to attend Friday prayers. Upon departing from the mosque, so many people would crowd around him, presenting petitions and trying to touch his clothes for blessings, that he would not be able to reach his ribat until the time for the Asr prayers.

Like other jurisprudentially trained scholars who were noted for both sala'h and the working of miracles (such as Sidi Abu Ibrahim ou Gmaten and Sidi Darras ibn Ismail al-Fasi), Sidi Abdelljalil ibn Wayhan was revered as an "anchor of the earth" and patron-protector of Aghmat. As such, he was called upon to mediate local disputes and to act as a semiofficial ombudsman. Often he represented the vox populi before the government officials, who were outsiders appointed from Marrakech. The last occasion on which he was performed these services was during the Almohad siege of Marrakech in the year 541/1126. Desiring to commandeer the houses of Aghmat for his troops, the Almohad caliph Abdelmumin sent a crier through the streets of the town, proclaiming that all the residents had to evacuate, with the exception of Sidi Abdelljalil.

The unfairness of this order so disturbed the Shaykh that he too, prepared to move out of Aghmat. When it was reported to Abdelmumin that Sidi Abdelljalil was leaving, he sent his crier to inform the people that they were permitted to return to their homes. A short time later, an order came that the Shaykh should present himself at the caliphal headquarters at Jabal Igilliz, just outside of Marrakech. He first tried to excuse himself on the grounds that he was ill, to which that caliph's messenger replied, " You must go there, even if we have to carry you in a litter!" He then obtained permission to delay his departure until the time of the afternoon prayer. By the time the muezzin called the prayer, Sidi Abdelljalil died and his funeral procession was winding its way through the streets. True to his followers to the end, he had preserved by his death in Aghmat the protection that would have been denied his town had he followed the caliph's messenger to Igilliz. 

Perhaps the most prominent successor of Sidi Abdelljalil ibn Wayhan (d. 541/1126) who renewed the Nuriya tradition after the death of the Shaykh was Sidi Abu Innur ibn Wakris al-Mashanzai (d. 550/1135). Known today as Sidi Bannour (Berber. the Illuminated One), he is still revered as one of the most important saints of Dukkala. His tomb at Ribat Iliskawen, in the present-day town of Sidi Bannour, southern of El Jadida City, continues to draw pilgrims from throughout Morocco. The tales recounted about this murabit are redolent with them of power and authority. His main function was to protect the Masmuda farmers and merchants of northern Dukkala, who, after being caught between Barghwata raids from the north and Sanhaja migrations from the south, found their livelihood threatened. Hagiographical anthologies such as Sidi Abu Yaqub Yusuf ibn az-Zayyat at-Tadili's (d. 628/1213) Kitab at-Tashawwuf ila rijal at-tasawwuf (Book of insight into the tradition bearers of Sufism)  reveal that the Masmuda saints of Dukkala played an important role in their sedentarist client's strategy for survival, since their supernatural powers could be used to compensate for the military and political weakness of the sedentarist themselves. The protection afforded by men of wilaya from their own ethnic group gave the Masmuda an enhanced status in the eyes of their Sanhaja rivals and allowed them to find alternative niches in the changing socioeconomic structure of the origin.

The themes of patronage, protection, and "broker-client intersubjectivity", all of which are well-known concepts to transaction theorists in the field of Social Anthropology are clearly discernible in the hagiographical accounts of Sidi Bannour's activities.  Ibn Qunfudh, for example reports that Sidi Bannour survived the Almoravid conquest of Morocco and continued to protect his people well into the reign of the second Almoravid sultan, Ali ibn Yusuf. During this period the Almoravids, who displayed a clear ethnic bias in the pattern of their conquests and subsequent rule, sent a force of Veiled Sanhaja to punish Iliskawen for nonpayment of the kharaj tax that had levied on the Mashanzaya as a conquered people. Sidi Bannour went before the inhabitants of Iliskawen as the raiding party approached and announced, "God had expelled them from you!" At a distance of only half a Roman mile from the town the commander of the expedition suddenly fell ill and died, and the raid was called off. At-Tadili also recounts a story about one of Sidi Bannour's successors, Sidi Abu Hafs Omar ibn Tsuli al-Mashanzai (d. 595/1144), who played a similar role by protecting Ribat Iliskawen from the predations of Banu Hilal Arabs: "A group of Arabs entered the land of Dukkala. One of them went to the garden of Abu Hafs and took some grapes from it. When he put them into his mouth, he was stricken by cramps that nearly killed him. He went to Abu Hafs to tell him about it. Abu Hafs rubbed the [Arab's] throat and that which had  stricken him left him. Then he asked, "What made you enter my garden?" "I used to enter to eat [at will] from the gardens of the people of Tamasna," [the Arab] replied, "and nothing happened to me, so I thought that your garden was like those others".

 © 2008 Dar Sirr