There are within Moroccan style of Islam three major types of legitimation: the Quran (including its extension by the Hadith –sayings of the Holy Prophet), the consensus of the community (Ummah), and the line of succession (wirata). The Quran is repository of the divine word, publicly available, not incarnated in any one person, group, institution, or policy, and hence capable of sitting in judgement on any one of them. Another important form of legitimation is the consensus of the community. In Islam, this approach has complemented rather than opposed the Quran. Legitimacy of the community was invoked only for the supplementing of divine truth by interpretation where interpretation was required, rather than as an independent and equally powerful source. In practise, the Quran required scholars (ulama) to read it and consensus to interpret it, and hence, concretely speaking, the authority of the ulama as religious scholars, and that of the community as interpreters of the Words, were in harmony.

But there is a third type of legitimation within Moroccan Islam, that of succession. Succession can be either physical or spiritual, and sometimes one genealogical line may employ both physical and spiritual links. Therefore, the aspect of sharifism concerns the relative valuation of ascribed (mawhub) versus acquired form of status (maksub); {Verily Allah intends to keep off from you every kind of uncleanness O People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt), and purify you with a perfect purification} (Quran 33:33). The belief that descent from the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family) is a necessary and sufficient proof of religious or political authority was widely accepted by Muslims after his departure. This practice developed in Morocco as the result of the career of Imam Mawlana Idriss b. Sidna Abdellah al-Kamil b. Sidna al-Hassan al-Muthanna b. Sidna al-Hassan Sibt b. Sidna Ali ibn Abi Talib and Lalla Fatima Zahra. With the pledge of allegiance (al-bay’ah) to Imam Moulay Idriss in 172/413 in Zerhoun, successive sultans of Morocco considered themselves the caliphs of Western Islamdom with the title of the “commander of the faithful” (Emir al-Mouminin).

Moulay Idriss II (said “al-Azhar”, the blossomed) was born on Monday the 13th of Rajab or the third 175/791 or 177/792. It was said that he was born with the declaration of Shahada, i.e. ‘There is no God but Allah (La-ilaha illa-Allah) and the saying of al-Hawqala, i.e. ‘There is no Strength or Might except through God’ (La-hawl-a wa-la quwwata-illa-bi-Allah) written between his shoulder blades. Raachid took him under his wing. He memorized the Quran by the age of eight. Raachid then taught him the sciences of Hadith, Islamic law, language, poetry, literature, horse riding, archery and other forms of the art of war. At the age of 11, he was ready to take up the responsibility of Imamate. The Berbers pledged al-bay’ah to him on Friday 7th Rabee’ al-Awwal 188/804-5. The Imam addressed the people with a powerful speech calling them to God and His obedience. The exclusivity of Ahl al-Bayt’s claim to the Caliphate continued in the admonition of Moulay Idriss al-Azhar when he pledged their allegiance to his Imamate:

Do not submit to anyone other than ourselves, for the establishment of God's truth (imamat al-Haqq) that you seek is only to found in us. 

Writing of Moulay Idriss II, the historian Rom Landau, says:

In the lore of the Moroccans, Idriss II, was a being of almost magical attributes. An exceptional young man he certainly must have been. At many points we are reminded of one of the greatest sages of Islam, Ibn Sina (Avicenna). At the age of four little Idriss apparently could read, at five write, at eight he knew the Quran by heart, and by then is said to have mastered the wisdom of all the outstanding savants. He was of real physical strength as well, and when he became officially sovereign at the age of thirteen, he had already accomplished feats of endurance that men twice his age could not emulate. His profound Islamic faith enhanced all these advantages and increased the veneration accorded him.

In 193/809, Moulay Idriss al-Azhar re-founded the city of Fez on the left bank of the river Fez. During the next nineteen years of his reign until his death in 213/829 at the age of 36, the Imam reunified Morocco, re-established its firm allegiance to Islam, and prepared the way for the Arabization of an amorphous and mainly tribal society. Doing so, he brought together in one faith and under one banner the kernel of a Sharifian state. For the next generations, the Idrissid concept of Imamate re-established especially by Moulay Idriss II maintained its hold in the political and spiritual system of Morocco.

The authority of the Idrissids is linked to a specifically Mohammedian tradition of leadership in accounts detailing the imamate of Moulay Idriss II. This is not to say that Moulay Idriss I did not believe that his status as a descendent of the Prophet was important to his claim of political legitimacy. However, Moulay Idriss II is more closely associated in the hagiographical and historical record with the innate and personal aspects of the Mohammedian Example (al-qudwa al-‘hasana). The theme of an inherited Mohammedian baraka (blessing), which was to become an important aspect of Moroccan Sufism, appears prominently in the works of Idrissid hagiography, such Nadhm ad-dur wal iqan by the Algerian chronicler Abu Abdellah Tanasi (d. 899/1484). In the following passage from this work, a companion of Moulay Idriss II named Dawud ibn al-Qacem is informed about the qualities which led his master to victory over the Kharajistes (al-Khawarij): 

I was amazed by what I saw of Moulay Idriss' bravery, strength, and firmness of resolve. Then he turned toward me and said, "O Dawud, why is it that I see you staring at me so much?" I said, "O Imam, I am amazed at the qualities in you that I have seen in no one else." "What are they?" he asked. "Your goodness, your beauty, the firmness of your intellect, the openness of your demeanour, and your determination in fighting the enemy," I answered. Then he said, "O Dawud, what you have seen in what we have inherited from the baraka of our ancestor the Messenger (peace and blessing be upon him and his family) and from his prayers for us and blessings upon us. This [baraka] has passed on as a legacy to our father, the Imam Ali (may God honour his face).

Literally, baraka means blessing, in the sense of divine favour. In broadest terms, baraka is not as it has so often been represented, a paraphysical force, a kind of spiritual electricity—a view which though not entirely without basis, simplifies it beyond recognition. Like the notion of al-qudwa al-hasana, it is a conception of the form in which the divine reaches into the world. Implicit, uncriticized, and far more systematic, it too is a “doctrine”. More exactly, it is a form of interpreting— emotionally, morally, intellectually— human experience, a cultural lustre on life. Rather than electricity, the best signal for baraka is personal presence, force of character, moral vividness. Saints have baraka in the way men have strength, courage, dignity, skill, beauty, or intelligence. It is a gift which some men have in greater degree than others, and which sharifian saints have in superlative degree.  

Upon the death of Imam Moulay Idriss II, he left twelve sons, who were sent throughout Morocco by their grandmother Kanza to proliferate the Idrissi-Hassanid sharifism. One Idrissite imam, however, became through his descendents an important figure in the development of the sharifian paradigm of sainthood. Moulay Ali 'Haydara ibn Mohammed, a grandson of Moulay Idriss II, received the bay’ah as Imam and ruler of Fez in 221/836. When he failed to designate his infant son Moulay Ahmed Mizwar as his successor before his own death in 234/849, the Idrissite Imamate passed into the hands of his cousins, the descendents of Moulay Omar b. Moulay Idriss II, who lived in the regions of Habt and Ghumara in northern Morocco. After being passed over for the Imamate, Moulay Ahmed Mizwar became disenchanted with politics and devoted himself to a life of worship and asceticism. Sometime before the turn of the tenth century, or just before the Idrissite state became a bone of connection between the Fatimids of Ifriqiya and the Umayyads of Spain, he moved from Fez to northern Morocco and established himself at Hajar an-Nasr (Escarpment of the Eagle), a fortes situated in the Habt region among the Sanhaja Berber tribes of Ahl Sarif, Banu Yusuf, and Sumata.

As his nickname, Mizwar (Berber. lion or leader) implies, this great grandson of Moulay Idriss II was adopted as a spiritual leader by the tribes who lived near his mountaintop stronghold. According to local tradition, when the chiefs of these tribes asked Moulay Ahmed Mizwar to delegate a member of his family to join them and favour them with the baraka of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him and his family) he chose his son Abdessalam (known locally as "Sidi Sellam"). As a means of honouring the young Sharif, who had recently married, the tribesman renamed themselves "Banu Arus" (Sons of the Bridegroom), the appellation by which they are known today. For the next seven generations, the descendents of Sidi Sellam established themselves among the Berbers of Banu Arus while maintaining a reputation for holiness that was based almost exclusively on their Hassanid descent. Around the year 530/1135, a child named Slimane, but later named "Mashish" (Ber. Little Cat"), was born to a Sharif of the Bani Arus known as Abu Bakr ibn Ali. Upon reaching maturity, Slimane Mashish withdrew from the world as an ascetic and built a hermitage that still stands among the ruins of his natal village of Aghyul. In either 559/1146 or 563/1148, he sired a son named Moulay Abdessalam (d. 622/1207), who would become the first patron saint of Moroccan Sufism. His sole student, the Moroccan sharif, al-Qutb Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 656/1241) was gifted to present abroad the first version of Moroccan Sufism under the banner of Shadhiliya Sufi order. 

Among Moulay Idriss’ offspring who had achieved a great and powerful status in Moroccan Sufism the names of:

1. From Sidna Mohammad b. Moulay Idriss (d. 221/797 in Fez; successor of Moulay Idriss II, the head of 31 sharifian prominent families): Moulay Abdellah Sharif Yalmahi Wazzani and his offspring (d. 1089/1674), Sidi Abderrahman Ben Raysoun and his offspring (d. 950/1535), Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdewahid Kattani and his offspring (d. 1289/1874), Sidi Qacem ibn Rahmun (d. 1249/1834), Sidi Qaddur Alami (d. 1265/1850), Sidi Ali ibn Ahmed Shaqur Alami (d. before 1345/1930), Sidi Ali ben Hamdush Alami (d. 1131/1716), Sidi Ahmed Alami Rahouni (d. 1373/1958), Sidi Mohammed al-Harraq (d. 1261/1846), Sidi Mohammad Ahmed Rkibi Wali, Sidi Abderrahman Mshashti, Sidi Maymun Mahaji, Sidi Jaafar Chibani, Sidi Abu Siba'a ibn Hariz Maashi, Sidi Yahya Azami, Sidi Lamfadal Jarmouni, Sidi Abdellqadir Harakat Kandri, Sidi Mohammed ibn Maluk Kandari (d. 1316/1901), Moulay Abdellah b. Idriss Bedrawi (“Tijani”, d. 1310/1895);

2. From Sidna al-Qacem b. Moulay Idriss (d. in Tahdart, close to Atlantic Asila; the head of the of 11 sharifian prominent families): Sidi Ali al-Jamal Amrani (d. 1193/1778), Sidi Ahmed Shabih Jouti, Sidi Aissa Wakili Makhoukhi, Sidi Mohammed Wakili al-Karmati (d. 1347/1932), Sidi Abdelhafidh Amrani Jouti, Sidi Abul Hassan Ali Manouni, Sidi Mhammad Janati, Sidi Mohammed Ben al-Khayyat Ruq’i (d. 1115/1700), Sidi Ibrahim Ben al-Khayyat (d. 1241/1826);

3. From Sidna Aissa b. Moulay Idriss (d. in Tadla; the head of 10 sharifian prominent families): Moulay Abdellaziz ibn Masoud Debbarh (d. 1132/1717), Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdelhafid Debbarh (d. 1291/1876), Sidi Abdelwahid ibn Allal Debbarh (d. 1271/1856), Sidi Omar ibn Mohamed Debbarh (“Tijani”; d. after 1230/1815), Sidi Mohammed Bu-Tarbush Debbarh (d. 1285/1870), Sidi Abdellaziz ibn Ahmed Debbarh (“Hazz”, d. 1321/1906), Sidi Mohammed ibn Masoud Debbarh (d. 1340/1925), Sidi Abdulmajid Manali Zbadi, Sidi Mohammed Bouzidi (d. 1229/1814 in Teouan), Sidi Mohammed Bouzidi (d. 1328/1913 in Tilimsan), Sidi Omar Amrawi Sanwi, Sidi Sharif Yacoubi;

4. From Sidna Omar b. Moulay Idriss (the head of 12 sharifian prominent families): Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 656/1241), and Sidi Mohammad al-‘Hadri, Sidi Mohammed ibn Ahmed Ghiyati (d. 1318/1903);

5. From Sidna Ahmed b. Moulay Idriss (the head of 8 sharifian prominent families): Sidi Ahmed b. Yusuf Genoun, Sidi Mhammed b. Mohammed Genoun (d. 1326/1911), Sidi Mohammed ibn Mansur Sefyani (d. after 914/1499), Sidi Mohammed al-Hadi ben Aissa Sefyani (d. 933/1518), Moulay al-Arbi Darqawi and his offspring (d. 1239/1824), Sidi Ahmed ibn Ajiba (d. 1224/1809), Sidi Mhammed Kardoudi, Sidi al-Hassan ibn Rahou Laghnimi;

6. From Sidna Abdullah b. Moulay Idriss (the father of 11 sharifian prominent families): Sidi Moulay Ismail Amghar and his offspring, Sidi Abdullah ibn Mansour al-‘Huti, Sidi Mohammad Dawa' Sbai, Sidi al-Makki ibn Abdellah Sbai (d. 1372/1953), Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Mishri Sbai (d. 1224/1809 in Ain Madhi), Sidi Abu Ali Amrou Sharghrushni, Sidi Abdurrahman Sharif Lajjai, Moulay Abdullah ibn A'hsis;

7. From Sidna Dawud b. Moulay Idriss (the head of 4 sharifian prominent families): Sidi Abu Bakr ibn Ataillah Bouanani, Moulay Abdullah Bouazza Qassari;

8. From Sidna Hamza b. Moulay Idriss (the the head of 5 sharifian prominent families): Sidi al-Haj Ali al-Baqqal Aghsawi (d. 980/1565), Sidi Mohammed Shahid Baqqali (d. 1018/1603), Sidi al-Haj Bouarraqiya Baqqali (d. 1130/1715), Sidi al-Arbi Baqqali, Sidi Abdellah al-Haj Titwani, Sidi Mohammed Haskuri Baqali, Moulay Boutayyb Missouri;

9. From Sidi Imran b. Moulay Idriss (the head of 4 sharifian prominent families): Sidi Mohammed al-Mahdi ibn Tumart (d. 524/1130), Sidi Mohammed ibn Ali al-Khattani Sanusi (d. 1274/1859), Sidi Ahmed Abarkan.

Amid the prominent Sharifian Sufis of Morocco who descends from the nephews of Imam Moulay Idriss ibn Mawlana Abdellah al-Kamil;

1. From Sidna Ahmed b. Mohamed Nafs Zakiyya: The Seal of Saints, al-Qutb al-Maktum Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani (d. 1230/1815) and his offspring:  Sidi Mohammed Lakbir Tijani (d. 1238/1823), Sidi Mohammed al-Habib Tijani (d. 1269/1854), Sidi Allal Tijani (d. 1334/1919), Sidi Mohammed al-Kabir Tijani (d. 1931), Sidi Mahmud b. al-Bashir Tijani (d. 1349/1934), Sidi Mohammed Budali b. Allal Tijani (d. 1382/1967), Sidi Tayyeb b. Allal Tijani (d. 1388/1973), Sidi Ali b. Mahmud Tijani (d. 1405/1990), Sidi Abdeljabbar b. Budali Tijani (d. 1431/2006);

2. From Sidna al-Qacem b. Sidna Nafs Zakiyya: Moulay Ali Shrif Alawi (d. 847/1432), Mawlana Sultan Sulayman Alawi (“Disicple of al-Katm Sidi Ahmed Tijani”; d. 1238/1823), Sidi Abdessalam ibn Mawlana Sultan Sulayman Alawi (“Disicple of al-Katm Sidi Ahmed Tijani”), Sultan Sidi Abdellhafid Alawi (“Disicple of Sidi Ahmed Skirej Tijani”; d. 1366/1940), Sidi Mohammed ibn Abi Nasr Alawi (d. 1273/1858), Sidi al-Arbi Alawi Lamdaghri (d. 1309/1894), Sidi Ahmed Alawi Dbiza (d. after 1230/1815), Moulay Taher ibn Mutawakkil Alawi (d. 1300/1885) , Sidi Abdelmalik Alawi Darir (d. 1318/1903), Sidi Hachimi ibn Abdellqadir Alawi (d. 1280/1865), Sidi Ibrahim Mohammed Yazidi Alawi (d. 1322/1907).

3. From Sidna Musa al-June b. Abdellah al-Kamil: Sidi Mohammed ibn Mawlana Abdellqadir al-Jilani (d. in Fez), Sidi Mohammed ibn Mohammed Qadiri al-Andalusi (d. 950/1535 in Fez), Sidi Ahmed Qadiri Yamani (“Shaykh of Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdellah Ma'in; d. 1113/1689 in Fez), Sidi Mohammed ibn Idriss Qadiri (“Disicple of Shaykh Ma’ al-Aynayn”, d. 1350/1937 in Tangier).

Among the early influential advocates of the cult of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family) was the Maliki jurisprudent, Sidi Abul Fadl Iyad al-Yahsubi (d. 544/1149 in Marrakech), the premier Hadith scholar of the late Almoravid period and qadi al-jama'a of the cities of Granada and Sabta (Occupied Ceuta). His most famous work, Kitab as-shifa bita'rif huquq al-mustapha (The Antidote in knowing the rights of Chosen Prophet), is a tradition based treatise that promotes the veneration of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family), as the universal archetype of humanity. Al-Qadi Iyad asserts that perfection in the imitation of the Prophet is proven by the necessity to love him and his Family.

Know that someone who loves a person prefers them and prefers what they like. Otherwise, he is a pretender, insincere in his love. Someone who has true love of the Prophet will (…) love those who love the Prophet and his Family (…) for his sake. Such a person will also be hostile to those who hate them and curse them. Whoever loves anyone, loves those he loves.  The Prophet said about al-Hassan and al-Hussein, "O Allah, I love them, so love them." In al-Hassan's variant, "O Allah, I love him, so love the one who loves him." He also said, "Whoever loves them loves me. Whoever loves me loves Allah. Whoever hates them hates me. Whoever hates me hates Allah." (al-Bukhari) (…) He said about Fatima, "She is a part of me. Whoever hates her hates me." (al-Bukhari)

Early Moroccan saints such as Sidi Darras ibn Ismail (d. 357/942), Sidi Boujida al-Yazghi (d. 365/950), Sidi Abu Imran al-Fasi (d. 430/1015) and Sidi Ali ibn Harzihim (d. 559/1116), are mostly remembered for their work to introduce the two most important features of Moroccan Islam, the Maliki school of jurisprudence and Sufism. However, it was the sharifian saints who had stronger tendency to regard themselves as the natural heirs of the mission carried by their ancestor, the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family). They have also acted, like other saints, as intermediaries among the segmented tribal peoples by establishing themselves as legitimate imams. Another feature of sharifian saints is their extended migration to the regions surrounding and beyond the Atlas mountains and Saharan oases, where their presence and activities are strongly felt even in remote vicinities. Among the Berbers, sharifian saints are the real bearers of the Islamic tradition, so that the role of the sharifian saints must have seemed to them like a sudden actualisation of blessing that inheres in all the posterity of the Prophet, and as a confirmation of the genuineness of their descent. Good breeding and education were favourable for the spiritual succession, but they were not always enough.

Functions of Sharifian Saints in Morocco   Religious functions: -          Disseminating of Islamic doctrine among groups and tribes living in areas that were not conquered by Muslims; -          Disseminating of Islamic teachings among tribes whose knowledge of -          Islam did not go beyond the mere statement of belief; -          Organizing religious gatherings for the benefit of society; -          Organizing the national struggle at crucial times, particularly when the nation comes under foreign threat, -          The organization of pilgrimages to Islam's Holy sites.   Educational and cultural Functions: -          Teaching the Quran to the community; -          Building and managing learning centres; -          Building of libraries; -          Providing incentives to authors; -          Disseminating oral culture.   Social functions: -          Strengthening social solidarity by providing food and shelter to the needy, particularly during famine; -          Provision for the safety of thoroughfares; -          Protection of provinces in case of abuse by unfair governors; -          Regional economic balance by providing assistance to poorer communities; -          Monitoring peaceful arrangements between neighbouring communities involved in a potential conflict; -          Removing obstacles that may divide tribes; -          Social integration for misfits and foreigners; -          Disseminating information and improving communication.   Some economic functions:  -          Crop development; -          Tree planting; -          Rise spring water; -          Trade and craft organization in the cities; -          Security in marketplaces; -          Harmonization of regional cooperation; -          Protection of Saharan trade caravans.   Some political functions:  -          Urging for allegiance to the Imam, -          Cooperation with the makhzen, -          Constructive meditation between rulers and citizens.

Literally, baraka means blessing, in the sense of divine favour. In broadest terms, baraka is not as it has so often been represented, a paraphysical force, a kind of spiritual electricity—a view which though not entirely without basis, simplifies it beyond recognition. Like the notion of al-qudwa al-hasana, it is a conception of the form in which the divine reaches into the world. Implicit, uncriticized, and far more systematic, it too is a “doctrine”. More exactly, it is a form of interpreting— emotionally, morally, intellectually— human experience, a cultural lustre on life. Rather than electricity, the best signal for baraka is personal presence, force of character, moral vividness. Saints have baraka in the way men have strength, courage, dignity, skill, beauty, or intelligence. It is a gift which some men have in greater degree than others, and which sharifian saints have in superlative degree.

Supporting the Idrissids in creating a sharifian paradigm for sainthood and religious authority in Morocco were the legists (fukaha) of Sabta, who used the celebration of Prophet's birthday (Eid al-Mawlid an-Nabawi) as means of promoting the cult of Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him and his family). Although the origins of the festival go back to the Shiite Fatimids, who celebrated the birthdays of the "Five Impeccable Ones" (al-khamsa al-ma'sumin) –the Prophet, Sidna Ali, Lalla Fatima Zahra, Sidna al-Hassan and Sidna al-Hussein –the mawlid was supported by the Sunni elite of Sabta because they thought it would lessen the influence of Christianity on uneducated Muslims and new converts.

The most influential proponents of this feast was Sidi Ahmed al-Azafi (d. 633-1236) -author of Kitab Di'amat al-yaqin fi za'amat al-muttaqin (The Pillar of certainty in the leadership of the God-conscious), a sacred biography of the Berber saint Sidi Abu Yaaza Yalnour (d. 572/1157). In his Kitab ad-dhur al-munazzam fi mawlid an-nabi al-mu'adham, al-Azafi advocates the celebration of the Prophet as an antidote to the Andalusian practice of observing non-Muslim holidays such as Christmas, Nawruz, and Mehrejan. Using the Maliki concept of maslaha (public interest) as a justification for this innovation, he primarily view the mawlid as an opportunity for spiritual consciousness raising. Its central ritual in Sabta was a procession of parents, who would visit all of the Quranic schools of the city in turn, singing songs in praise of the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him and his family, and bearing gifts for their children.

In 648/1259, the mawlid was made an official holiday in Sabta by al-Azafi's son the "Supreme Jurist" (al-faqih al-a'dham) Sidi Abul Qacem al-Azafi. To promote it further he sent a copy of his father's book to the Almohad caliph Omar al-Murtada (d. 665/1266), who ordered the mawlid to be celebrated in Marrakech as well. These efforts were supported by another scholar from Sabta, Sidi Abu Ali ar-Rahuni who composed a poem of 6300 verses, Nadm ad- durar bi-ay Ahmed ajall al-bashar (The Arrangement of pearls in the Quranic verses about Ahmed, the greatest of human beings). This work received its first public recitation at the Marrakech mawlid in 661/1263.  In 691/1292, Sidi Abul Qacem al-Azafi's son Abu Talib decreed that the mawlid be celebrated throughout the Rif region (northern Morocco). He also convinced the Marinid sultan Abu Yacoub Yusuf an-Nasir to order its celebration in Fez.

The mawlid was particularly popular among members of the Majiriya Sufi order of Sidi Abu Mohammed Salih Majiri Dukkali (d. 631/1234) in Ribat Safi, who spread it along the pilgrimage routes between Morocco and Egypt in the second half of the fifth/thirteen century. A member of this order, Sidi Abu Marwan al-Yuhanisi (d. 667/1268-9), introduced the celebration in Spain. Sidi al-Yuhanisi's biographer Ahmed al-Qashtali reports that by the time this Sufi left his native city of Guadix to take up residence in Sabta, the mawlid at his ribat attracted more than 10,000 participants. By the sixth/fourteenth century, al-mawlid an-nabawi had become an institution among Sufis of the Maghreb in general. In 769/1368, the hagiographer Ibn Qunfudh was a present at a mawlid in Dukkala that was sponsored by  Banu Amghar, the sharifian saints of Ribat Tit al-Fitr (eleven kilometres from current El Jadida). Saying that so many Sufis attended this celebration that his eyes "went out of focus", Ibn Qunfudh states that just the grapes provided for the disciples filled ninety large baskets and cost thirty gold dinars.

Post-sharifian dynasties in Morocco

Although sharifism attained its own glory under the rule of Moulay Idriss II, the Idrissid dynasty did not stay in power for long (788-974). As a result Morocco entered into ciaos and rule of shattered states notably the ones of Barghwata, Maghrawa and Bani Yafran. The age of the Berber dynasties was soon to be launched. The heyday of Moroccan history corresponds to the rule of the three Berber dynasties that succeeded to the throne from the fifth/eleventh to the eighth/fourteenth centuries: the Almoravids (“al-Murabitun”; 1061-1147), the Almohads (“al-Muwahhidun”; 1130-1269), and the Marinids (“al-Mariniyun”; 1244-1398) corresponding to the three major Berber tribes Sanhaja, Masmuda, and Zenata. Political authority of these dynasties were characterised by three main factors: religious allegiance and fervour, group feelings (‘asabiyya), and a strong royal power. The consolidation of ‘asabiyya contributes to the rise to a new civilization, and their subsequent diffusion into a more general civilization gives way for the rise of a new ‘asabiyya and ultimately a new civilization. After the demise of the Marinid dynasty at the end of the eight/fourteenth century, Sufi masters appeared on the political scene to compensate for the absence of a central government, decline of the cultural influence of the cities and moral uncertainties. This period spanned the entire ninth/fifteenth century and is generally referred to as the maraboutic crisis. 

Reputation is not gained through possessions or sons. Instead, reputation comes from one's repute before the Lord of Lords. One is not great because of the glory of wealth and children. Rather, one is great because of the glory of God and His attributes. One is not great because of the greatness of his tribe or his love of high rank. Instead, one is great because of the greatness of nobility (sharaf) and lineage (nasab). I am noble in lineage (ana sharifun fi-n nasab). My ancestor is the Messenger of God (peace and blessing be upon him and his family) and I am nearer to him than all of God's creation. My reputation is eternal, dyed in gold and silver. O you who desire gold and silver, follow us, for he who follows us dwells in the heights of 'illiyyun in this world and the Hereafter! Past nations (umam) have asked to be included in our polity (dawlatuna). Yet no one can be included in it unless he has already attained salvation (sa'ada). Our polity is the state (dawla) of those who strive (mujtahidin) and struggle (mujahidin) in the path of Allah—fighters against the enemy of Allah. The sultans of the earth are in my hands and under my feet!

Tell our lords the sharifs, as well as their legal scholars and fuqara: We love you with all of our heart and soul, and desire to look upon your faces… May God maintain ourselves and you in the manifest way of His Awliya —through the axial sainthood that is the legacy of your ancestor Moulay Abdessalam ibn Mashish, the path of honour (tariqat al-ikram) of Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili, who chose it for our lord (sayyidina) and source of grace (barakatina) Sidi Mohammed Jazouli, out of all the Sufi paths. He inspired us with the truth and passed it on to us as a legacy from the lord of the God-fearing and the people of his age, the force of truth in all of God's manifestations, Sidi Abdellaziz Tabba'a. These Shaykhs are our true means to God and our exemplars in loving the Messenger of God, our Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him and his family), both outwardly and inwardly.

However, although the Jazouliya played an important part in the victory of the Saadian sharifian ruler Mohammed Shaykh (d. 910/1495), its aftermath proved to be a bitter disappointment for the masters of the Sufi Shaykhs and Marabuts. No sooner had Mohammed Shaykh seized power in Fez in 876/1471 than the Sufis of Morocco realised that they had been outdone by a monster of their own making. In 958/1552 Saadian suspicion fell on the followers of Sidi Mohammed al-Jazouli’s famous disciples Sidi Abdelkarim al-Fallah (d. 933/1518) and Sidi Abdelmoumin al-Hahi (indirect master of Sidi Ahmed ibn Achir (d. 764/1349), who were accused of withholding from the state the valuable entrusted to them by the Wattasid officials. Many of the Jazoulite figures were either executed by the Saadians or driven out of Morocco on the pretext of heresy. The ruler Mohammed Shaykh's persecution of the masters of the Jazouliya prompted a remarkable letter to the Shaykh Sidi Moussa ibn Ali Wazzani (d. 970/1562), a disciple of the Jazoulite Sidi Abdellah Habti (d. 963/1548). This response to the actions of the Saadian autocrat provides a fitting symbolic epitaph to the Jazouliya's involvement in Moroccan political life. It also illustrates the role that pertains when both Sufi saint and sharif lay maintain to the same Prophetic Inheritance.

In his letter, Shaykh Moussa Wazzani uses the metaphor of the tree of life to describe the relationship between the Sufi saint and state. He begins by quoting the Qadirite Shaykh Sidi Mohammed ibn Yajbash Tazi (d. 920/1505), who stated that, "The obedience of a land and its people depends on a leader to whom they can turn in all affairs." According to Shaykh Wazzani, the leader referred to by Ibn Yajbash is the Qutb—the Pole, the very person whom Mohammed Shaykh and his advisers most feared as a potential rival. Rather than fearing the Qutb, he responds, the just Islamic ruler should welcome this saint and cleave to him. Comparing the state to a tree, Shaykh Wazzani argues that the Qutb is the water that brings the state to life. Were it is not for the water, the soil around the tree would not soften, thus preventing the tree from taking nourishment. Were it is not for the life-giving soil, the tree's roots would not remain fixed and its branches would not grow. Were it is not for the branches, the tree would produce no fruit. In this way every part of the tree acts in concert with the other members to maintain the life of the tree as a whole.

Thus, says Shaykh Wazzani, the place of the Qutb in the overall scheme of things is not to inform the state its outward form, but rather to provide its life giving essence. Every leader, concludes Shaykh Wazzani, is a Qutb, a pole figure for those who depend on him. For this reason, it is fully proper to consider the Awliya and Sufi masters who sustain Morocco with their baraka as the Aqtab as-Dawla (poles of the state). The same is true of the major Sufi orders such as the Jazouliya, which provide the means by which the Awliya circulate their baraka to others.

Rather than been enemies to the state, the Sufi orders help sustain and preserve it by keeping its political leaders on the right path, so that the state may benefit the land and its people for generations. The greatest source of this spiritual sustenance is Qutb az-Zaman —the Pole of the Age— who derives his powers alchemically from the light of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him and his family).  Next to prophecy itself, there is no other light that can illuminate the face of earth.

Sharifian Alawid Morocco

It is significant for the strength and political relevance of the Jazouli order in Morocco at that time that the dominant power centre in the state before the rise of the Alawid sharifs (after the Qutb Moulay Ali Shrif b. al-Hassan b. Mohammed b. al-Hassan al-Qadim; d. 847/1432) was based on the Dilaiya headquarters in central Atlas. Founded in the late tenth/sixteenth century by the Qutb Sidi Abu Bakr Majjati Dilai (d. 1021/1620), this was the centre of an order based on the Jazouliya order, and exclusively concentrated among the Sanhaja Berbers.  When succeeded by his son Sidi Mohammed ibn Abi Bakr (d. 1046/1631), the Dilai Zawiya became more politically-motivated. From around 1640 to the late 1660's it controlled most of northern Morocco, including Fez, with which it had an ambivalent relationship. However, the might of Dilai rulers did not last. Their power was impaired by been neither sharifs nor even Arabs, like the Saadians and Wattasis they replaced. At the end of 1660's, the Alawi Imam and admirable warrior Moulay Rachid I ibn Mohammed II (d. 1087/1672) was able to seize power. He completed the conquest of the major part of today's Morocco and Mauritania and the Eastern Desert of today’s Algeria (including Tuwat) and organised the administration of this immense empire after he raised the Jazoulite headquarters of Dilaiya and that of Tazrerwalt headed by Sidi Ahmed ou Moussa in 1668 and 1670 respectively. He also repeatedly threatened the prominent Sufi Sidi Ahmed Ben Nasir Dar'i  (d. 1129/1714), though he did not live long enough to carry out these threats.

Being a sharif in the sharifian Alawid State entitled one to tax immunities, justice by one's peers, and in the chase of certain prominent sharifian families, made one eligible for pensions and grants of the usufruct of land or buildings by the authorities (makhzen). Idrissid sharifs also received an annual share in the offerings made at the sanctuaries of the Moulay Idriss I, Moulay Idriss II, and other sanctuaries. Moulay Rachid, for instance, who is himself buried in the Fez shrine of Sidi Ali ibn Harzihim has issued the Idrissid Debbarhs the attributes of this shrine (King Moulay El Hassan II ibn Mohammed V (d. 1414/1999) has his son, the current king of Morocco, Mawlana Emir al-Muminin Mohammed VI, circumcised in the shrine of Sidi Ali ibn Harzihim. In 1422/2007 Mawlana Emir al-Muminin circumcised his Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan in the shrine of Moulay Idriss II). Yet there were also beggar sharifs, and sharifism was no guarantee to wealth, power, or high status.

Sharifian pedigree of women was no doubt considered to be a positive asset when a man asks for a woman’s hand in marriage. Yet Alawid sultans forbad this tradition and even punished marriage of sharifian women from non-sharifs. Successive sultans issued decrees (dahirs) to the leaders of sharifian families (naqibs) that authenticated their sharif pedigree. These facts indicate that the sharif pedigree in Morocco was an important basis for the symbolic system of authority that was closely linked to the interrelationships among various political powers. This typical Moroccan phenomenon is best perceived in the following dramatic event between Sidi Ahmed Ben Nasir’s disciple, the Idrissid sharif, Sidi al-Hassan ibn Masoud al-Yusi (d. 1102/1687) and the sultan Moulay Ismail (1672-1727), the second king of the Alawite dynasty and founder of the city of Meknes, who extended the borders of the Moroccan empire south to Ivory Coast, during which it is often reported that during his reign a woman or a Jew could travel alone from the farthest south of the country to its farthest north without being in fear about his/her safety. The scene occurred while the sultan was busying himself with the construction of his new city’s wall,

When al-Yusi (…) arrived in Meknes, Moulay Ismail received him as an honored guest, fed him and housed him, and brought him into his court as his spiritual advisor. The Sultan was at the time building a large wall around the city, and the people working on it, slaves and others were being treated cruelly. One day a man fell ill while working and was sealed into the wall where he fell. Some of the workers came secretly to al-Yusi to tell him of this and to complain of their treatment generally. Al-Yusi said nothing to Moulay Ismail, but when his supper was brought to his chamber he proceeded to break all the dishes, one by one, and he continued to do this, night after night, until all the dishes in the palace had been destroyed. When the sultan then asked what had happened to all his dishes, the palace slaves said, “that man who is our guest breaks them when we bring his food.” (…) The Sultan ordered al-Yusi to be brought to him:
- “Salam ‘Alykum.”
- “‘Alykum Salam.”
- “My Lord, we have been treating you like the guest of God, and you have been breaking all our dishes.”
- “Well, which is better—the pottery of Allah or the pottery of clay?” (…) and he proceeded to upbraid Moulay Ismail for his treatment of the workers who were building his wall. (…) The Sultan was unimpressed and said to al-Yusi, “All I know is that I took you in, gave you hospitality [a deeply meaningful act in Morocco], and you have caused me all this trouble. You must leave my city.” Al-Yusi left the palace and pitched his tent in the graveyard just outside the city near where the wall was being built. When the Sultan heard of this he sent a messenger to the saint to ask why, since he had been told to leave his, the sultan’s city, he had not in fact done so.
- “Tell him,” al-Yusi said, “I have left your city and I have entered God’s.” Hearing this, the Sultan was enraged and came riding out himself on his horse to the graveyard where he found the saint praying. Interrupting him, a sacrilege in itself, he called out to him, “Why have you not left my city as I ordered?” And al-Yusi replied, “I went out of your city and am in the city of God, the Great and the Holy.” Now wild with fury, the Sultan advanced to attack the saint. But al-Yusi took his lance and drew a line on the ground, and when the sultan rode across it the legs of his horse began to sink slowly into the earth. Frightened, Moulay Ismail began to plead to God, and he said to al-Yusi, “God has reformed me! God has reformed me! I am sorry! Give me pardon!” The saint then said, “I don’t ask for wealth or office, I only ask that you give me a royal decree acknowledging the fact that I am a sharif, and that I am a descendent of the Prophet and entitled to the appropriate honors, privileges, and respect.” The Sultan did this.

The story illustrates the traditional distribution of sharifian baraka in Morocco. The king’s baraka manifests itself primarily through the use of force whereas the saint’s is displayed through the performance of miracles. This distribution, however, is not rigid. The two manifestations of baraka overlap. Popular imagination, for example, endows the saint with a lance that appears mysteriously in the final scene. The saint now possesses a weapon that he can use to defend himself against the sultan’s assault. Symbolically, however, the lance turns out to be a tool in the hands of personal baraka. Al-Yusi uses it to perform a miracle rather than to display physical power. With the lance, he draws a line on the ground dividing his and the sultan’s domains. The sultan’s horse starts sinking only when it has crossed the line and trespassed the saint’s domain which corresponds in the story to the domain of the divine (God’s city). Significantly, only a miracle could overwhelm Moulay Ismail’s pride and impatience. He finally repents and addresses himself to God and al-Yusi at almost the same time. He pleads to God and asks al-Yusi for pardon while repeating, “God has reformed me.” It is clearly implied in Moulay Ismail’s reaction that he has come to consider al-Yusi as an instrument of God’s will. God has reformed him through al-Yusi whose personal baraka becomes an instrument for the intervention of the divine in the temporal world in order to set it right. Ever fascinated with the extraordinary interventions of saints to set things right in this world, popular imagination understandably grants final victory to al-Yusi.

Certainly the fact that the Alawid sultan of Morocco claimed to be a sharif greatly enhanced his positions in the eyes of his subjects. The sharifian baraka of the sultan has a spiritual aspect as he tempers the show of force by promoting an ideology that is centred around his person as a descendent of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family). The sharifian sultan makes use of a number of symbols and rituals to assert his religious authority, consolidate faith in his sharifian baraka, and indirectly legitimize his temporal power. In popular culture, the moral grace of the sharifian sultan’s baraka is responsible for blessing the inhabitants of his dominion with good crop and earth. Furthermore, the sultan has to answer for his title as “commander of the faithful” (Emir al-Mouminin) by promoting religiosity and overseeing that the Islamic tradition thrives in the abode of Islam. As shown above, the Idrissid concept of Imamate has long considered the Moroccan sharifian sultan himself the caliph of Western Islamdom. A strong government and a well-faring, religiously observant society are signs of the strong baraka of the sultan and the benediction of God. 

Sharifian baraka is an inconstant power, then, in the sense that it can diminish, lose its effectiveness, or even turn into its opposite if the conditions of its operation are not maintained. The sultan was especially unfortunate for having a far more difficult task of preserving his baraka than the sharifian saint had. He had to maintain the territorial integrity of a country that was object to the expansionist aspirations of both the Europeans to the North and the Ottomans to the East. He also had to keep the recalcitrant Berber tribes in control in order to avoid fitna, and to secure social welfare in a country that was frequently inflicted with both plague and drought. Conversely, the sharifian saint had an easier task maintaining the prosperity of his descendents, zawiya and community, and curing the sick. While it would seem that the inherited baraka of the sharifian sultan in whose veins runs the blood of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family) is more resistant, indeed perfect, it in fact proves to be more prone to deterioration. This is the case not only because of the aforementioned reasons but also because sharifism itself has spread out from its primary genealogical denotation to become a legitimizing ideology. 

However, this symbolic capital was not the only aspect of sharifism on which the Alawite sultans capitalized. As a post-maraboutic-crisis political ideology, sharifism solved one of the thorniest problems in Moroccan history; namely, the conflict between the Islamic/Arab and the Berber conceptions of government. The Islamic conception of government, which came to be identified by Berbers as the Arab conception, relies on the religious bond of the Islamic community Ummah, whereas the Berber conception relies upon the bond of kinship within the context of the tribe.  The sharifian sultan, then, rules by virtue of his blood descent from the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him and his family), and his title as Emir al-Mouminin and protector of the creed (‘aqida). From the Berber conception sharifism retained the bond of blood as a principle of government and merged it with the Islamic conception to create a distinctly Moroccan form of government. 

What was left out of the Berber conception, however, was the tribe, a landmark of Berber cultural and political identity prior to the rise of the sharifian state. Throughout a significant part of its history, Morocco was divided into the so-called blad s-siba and blad al-makhzen, the former referring to the recalcitrant Berber tribes, and the latter to central government. By superseding the tribe and the Berber/Arab opposition in the name of Ummah ruled by a blood descendent of the Prophet, the sharifian sultan aspired to the exclusive management of power. 

Nevertheless, the tribes responded through their local saints who claimed sharifian origin and thus contested the sharifian sultan’s authority. Claiming sharifian descent became a common practice among Moroccan saints who aspired to consolidate their personally acquired baraka through the additional capital of sharifism. Indeed, sharifian saints represented a kind of nobility of blood who exercised their influence at all levels of the society. Unlike any other Muslim country, Moroccan sharifian saints assumed a political significance to accompany its religious one. In the seventeenth century, the sultan Moulay Ismail proceeded against the influential Idrissid Sufi Moulay Tuhami b. Mohammed b. Ali Wazzani (d. 1127/1721), who was based in the mountainous region of Wazzan. The Idrissid hagiographer Sidi Mohammed b. Jaafar Kattani (d. 1345/1930) reports in Salwat al-anfas that a saint from Fez called Sidi al-Haj Mohammed al-Khayyat (d. 1115/1700), a disciple of Moulay Ali Sharif Wazzani Shadhili (d. 1089/1674), appeared after his death to the sultan to prevent the further maltreatment of the Wazzaniya order:

The Sultan Moulay Ismail, issued a search order for Moulay Tuhami. Moulay Tuhami however came from Wazzan to Meknes (the residence of the Sultan) and there entered the Green Mosque, so that the people feared for his safety. When, one morning, the Sultan had just breakfast, the Shaykh al-Khayyat stepped into the bay with a sharp sword in his hand, held it over the Sultan's head, and said: 'if a single hair of my Shaykh' son is harmed, I shall cut you in pieces with this!' The Sultan asked: "Who are you?' and he replied: 'Al-Khayyat'. The Sultan asked further: 'And who is the son of your Shaykh?' He replied: 'Moulay Tuhami who even now is in the Green Mosque.' Thereupon he disappeared. The Sultan stood up and called for the guards on the doors; they maintained, however, that no one had got past them. Everyone in the castle said the same: no one had seen the man with the sword. The Sultan became angry, called for his horse, and wanted to ride to the mosque. But the horse went backwards and would on no account allow itself to be driven forwards. At that the Sultan had Moulay Tuhami informed that he could returned home, with God's peace. The Sultan called for Abdellah ar-Rwisi, the governor of Fez, and asked him: 'Is there in your city a man named al-Khayyat?' 'Yes' replied ar-Rwisi, he is buried in the Zrabtana district and is called the lord of the valley.'

The sharifian sultan’s authority was also contested by urban saints, especially those belonging to prestigious sharifian families like the Idrissids. The shrine of Moulay Idriss II in Fez and the Idrissite sharifs who were associated with it constituted a pervasive force in Fez society. Since the Idrissite sharifs were the most numerous and most deeply rooted of all the sharifian groups in Morocco, they were a political check upon all centralising ambitions of all Alawi sultans. Since many of the members of the saints and scholars of Fez and the other major cities of Morocco claimed sharifian decent, their position was thereby strengthened. Their example is best described in the observations of Berque (1949) in his book entitled “Ville et Université: Apercu sur l'histoire de l'École de Fés”,

The scholar walks along the street, his eyes lowered, his prayer rug under his arm. Unctuous, his step expresses disdain for the sights of the world about him. Rather it seeks and obtains the advantageous veneration of the masses. The devoted teacher has been attached always, by a thousand years tradition, to the affairs of the city. Only rarely has he given himself over to the brutal asceticism or ill-bred pedantry. The master of religious science is at the same time the master of the right tone. His slippery courtesy, his nerves of old city dwellers, his ruse of an old courtier, his attachment to ornamental velvets and the fashioned display of magnificent houses, make him the intellectual champion of a culture that expresses itself equally well by the erudition of scholastic, the fine hand of the craftsman, or the moistness of its cuisine. Everything beyond is no more that barbarism. The personality was shaped within the horizons of the city. It became so expressive of a distinctive character—one on the defence and under the attack of time—that it became almost unintangible to the outsider. 

If baraka then is a power, sharifism is what best legitimizes power in Moroccan society. Yet, however distinct baraka and sharifism might be at the theoretical level, they actually overlap. Sharifism confers baraka, and the possession of baraka warrants claims to sharifism. Neither of the two, however, not even both of them, guarantee that a certain Moroccan would be either sultan or saint. It is how one deploys them and puts them to use in specific historical conditions that raises one to the status of either sultan or saint. Baraka and sharifism are best read, at least for the purpose of analyzing the relationship between saint and sultan, as highly malleable concepts that have a constant symbolic capital in Moroccan history, but whose content and operation are highly versatile. The content and operation of baraka and sharifism are negotiated among sultan, saint, and the historical conditions which offer a range of possibilities that the saint and sultan must exploit.

Links

Morocco's Most Known Sharifian families

Photo gallery of Moroccan Sufis shrines (Moroccan Sufism Forum)