Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish al-Alami

‘Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish al-‘Alami (Arabic: عبد السلام بن مشيش العلمي) (also spelled, Ibn Manish, Ibn Machich, Ben Mshish) was a Sufi saint who lived during the reign of the Almohad dynasty. He was born in the region of Beni Aross near Tanger and lived from 1140 to 1227 AD.[1] At one point in his life he withdrew to the mountain Jabal al-`Alam, near Larache, where his mausoleum now is situated. He was the spiritual guide of Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili also Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili was His' only Disciple.His own spiritual legacy was connected with that of Abu Madyan, the great formulator of Moroccan Sufism. He is the ancestor of Ali ibn Rashid, founder of Chefchaouen.[2]

He is the author of a collection of reflections about religious and political life in his time and of a famous eulogy of the prophet Mohammed (taslya) on which a commentary was written by Ahmad ibn Ajiba. He also wrote a metaphysical paraphrase of a widely known prayer, in which the believer calls on God to bless the Prophet to thank him for having received Islam through him. It is called As-Salatul-Mashishiyyah. In it, Ibn Mashish sees in the prophet Muhammad an expression of the one Spirit from which all revelation comes and which is the eternal mediator between the ungraspable Godhead and the world.

References

  1. ^ Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm Ibn Abbād, Ibn ʻAbbād of Ronda: letters on the Sūfī path, Paulist Press, 1986, p. 34
  2. ^ Al-Huwwat, Sulayman: Al-rawda al-maqsuda wa-l-hulal al mamduda fi ma âthir Bani Suda vol 2, p. 602

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