Soufisme.org
EN

Royal offerings at the sanctuary of Moulay 'Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish

By Rédaction soufisme.org · October 6, 2026 · 5 min read

A report from the Moroccan press, reproduced from the tariqa.fr press review.

The Sufis of the Kingdom

It is the tradition of Moroccan sovereigns to celebrate the true saints in the course of one-day commemorations at which, for the happiness and serenity of all, there are mingled prayer in all its forms: reading of the Book, orisons, dhikr, blessings (futuhat); offerings to the saint’s descendants; vows and sermons; but also more earthly pleasures, rich feasts honouring the emissaries bearing the Sultan’s Hadiyya.

These days are the symbol of the necessary remembrance of those great saints, predestined men whose exemplary life we do not, alas, meditate enough; those men who wrote eternal pages in the book of the history of Western islam, fulfilling the word of the Prophet (peace be upon him) collected by Muslim concerning the faithful of the Maghreb, in which Sidna Muhammad said: “A part of my people will remain in the Maghrib, preserving the truth until the coming of the Hour.”

Morocco, in this instance, is that land of spirituality which saw the birth of saints of rich and varied temperament, all of whom inscribed their names in letters of gold in the register of the history of Islamic sanctity in Dar al-Islam as a whole. Besides the innumerable ones rooted there, there are also those who entered it coming from Andalusia, or from other neighbouring countries, or even from the distant Mashriq. Their coming was due to the search for a shaykh, or to the quest for knowledge, or more essentially their initiatic journey had unavoidably led them onto this sacred soil where they were to attain a higher maqam, or receive a decisive vision.

Such is the case of Muhyi’l-Din ibn ’Arabi (560-638/1155-1240), known as “al-Shaykh al-Akbar”: it was on the soil of Guisser (Settat province) that he attained the Abode of proximity, the summit of the spiritual ladder in Sufism, and on that of Fes that he received essential visions for his initiatic journey. (1)

Meditating this traditional action of the Kings of Morocco leads us to affirm that through these days devoted to offering, not only do they partake of a fundamental rite of Religion, but even today this age-old action calls us to rediscover what the colonial night vainly attempted to hide, veil and obfuscate.

For the saints of Morocco are not those “marabouts” buried under white cupolas, favourite places for a superstitious population, described by a distorting literature in search of exoticism.

They are above all those masters of Sacred Science, of Knowledge in its highest sense, al-Ma’rifa, that gnosis of which all authentic traditions speak. That an Abu’l-’Abbas al-Sabti (524-601/1130-1205), who had made giving, or charity, the doctrine of his life, should have succeeded in acting upon the created world through his generosity (as a philosopher of antiquity rightly formulated it), experiencing “scientifically” (in the sense the moderns give to that word) that “al-wujud yanfa’ilu bi’l-jud” (Existence has no other basis than generosity), is an edifying example in this respect.

Morocco has not only given birth to the most prestigious chains of saints, it has also exported sanctity, so to speak. Numerous Moroccan saints have spiritual outposts in the Eastern and Western worlds. Examples abound.

Take that of Mawlay ’Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish (559-624/1140-1223), spiritual father of the celebrated Tariqa Shadhiliyya, which knew an exceptional expansion throughout the countries of islam and beyond; his beautiful Tasliyya upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), al-Mashishiyya, is recited daily in all the lands where the Tariqa has implanted itself, and it has given rise to an incalculable number of interpretations and commentaries by masters of different countries. Here is a saint who belongs to the positive and doctrinal history of Islamic mysticism, and not only to legend and folklore.

Or again that of Ahmad al-Badawi (596-675/1200-1276), for a long time the greatest saint of Egypt, where the people vow such a veneration to him that he is regarded as the “deliverer in all distresses”.

Or again that of the other Idrisid saint, Ahmad ibn Idris (1163-1253/1750-1837), who left Morocco laden with titles and licences acquired in Fes, the city of Knowledge par excellence in his time, and who, as soon as he arrived in Mecca, was given a chair from which he dispensed his teaching to Muslims from diverse regions of the globe; hence his radiance almost everywhere in the world: Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Bosnia, Italy, Indonesia, India…

Or again all those immortalised in different countries of the Middle East, including Palestine and notably al-Quds, the other holy city of islam, and a favourite place of establishment for men of Muslim piety in general, and Moroccans most particularly.

To exalt the memory of these perfect Men is not to forget that our history is also that of a country which gave exemplary men. Some have left us books, of which a few are edited and others, more numerous, remain to be explored; others have left a Way with disciples, a heritage for those who come after; others still have left prayers, deep and beneficent. But all contributed to perpetuating the prophetic ideal, al-Uswa al-Hasana.

The commemoration of the Pole of Jabal La’lam is a royal occasion for us to remember our spiritual masters, fascinating, luminous figures possessing the wisdom of the universal Traditions, and to make our youth aware of this inestimable heritage, for it is doubtless there that one of the essential keys will be found that will help it understand deep and interior islam, a spirituality with universal accents, and modern in what modernity has that is superior.

Zakia Zouanat ** Author of a work on this subject entitled “Ibn Mashish, master of al-Shadhili”. (1) See on this Claude Addas, Ibn ’Arabi ou la quête du Soufre Rouge, Gallimard, p. 210, n2. (2) EI, art. Ahmad al-Badawi.

Le Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb, Friday 2 July 1999, no. 10,389

Further reading

Further reading