Ahmad ibn Idris

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The Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idrīs Al-Fāsī was a Muslim saint and founder of the Ahmadiyyah Idrīsiyyah Sufi order. He was born in a suburb of Fez, Morocco (Al-Maghrib) in 1163 AH and died in 1253 AH in Sabya, which was then in Yemen but is today part of Saudi Arabia. He was noted for his deep scholarly knowledge and high spiritual station, and was credited with many miracles (karāmāt). He was also noted for his reform work in Islam and Sufism.

Al-Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idrīs Al-Fāsī travelled extensively in North Africa, Egypt and Yemen. Due to opposition from the jealous exoteric scholars, he had to migrate from Makkah Al-Mukarramah in 1244 AH to Yemen.

After the death of Al-Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idrīs Al-Fāsī, the Ahmadiyyah Idrīsiyyah Sufi order split into many orders. The most important of these were Al-Tarīqah Al-Sanūsiyyah, founded by Al-Sayyid Muhammad ibn 'Alī Al-Sanūsī and Al-Tarīqah Al-Khatmiyyah, founded by Al-Sayyid Muhammad ibn 'Uthmān Al-Mīrghanī. Al-Sayyid 'Abd Al-'Āl, son of Al-Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idrīs Al-Fāsī, founded Al-Tarīqah Al-Idrīsiyyah, which today is a very popular Sufi order in Sudan.

[edit] Bibliography

Rex S. O'Fahey, Enigmatic Saint, Ahmad Ibn Idris and The Idrisi Tradition. Published by Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois by arrangement with C. Hurst and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London, 1990.

Einar Thomassen and Bernd Radtke (General Editors), The Letters of Ahmad ibn Idris. Published by Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois by arrangement with C. Hurst and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London, 1993.

Radtke, Bernd; O’Kane, John; Vikør, Knut S.; and O’Fahey, Rex S. The Exoteric Ahmad Ibn Idris: A Sufi’s Critique of the Madhahib and Wahhabis. Brill, Leiden, 2000.