Ahmad Zarruq

Ahmed Zarruq (or Sheikh Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmed b Ahmed b Muhammad b Isa al-Barnusi al-Fasi Zarruq) (1442–1493) was a Shadhili Sufi Sheikh and founder of the Zarruqiyye branch of the Shadhili Sufi order (Tariqa). He was born on the 7th June 1442 (846 of the Islamic 'Hijra' calendar) - according to Sheikh Abd Allah Gannun - in a village in the region of Tiliwan, a mountain area of Morocco.^[1] He was a contemporary of Muhammad al-Jazuli. He was a Berber of the tribe of the Barnusi who lived in an area between Fes and Taza.

He took the name 'Zarruq' (meaning 'blue') and he studied the traditional Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, Arabic, traditions of the Prophet and wrote extensively on a number of subjects. His most famous works are first of al his Qawa’id al-Tasawwuf (The Principles of Sufism), his commentaries on Maliki jurisprudence and his commentary upon the Hikam of ibn 'Ata Allah.

He travelled East to the Hijaz and to Egypt before taking up residence in Misrata, Libya where he died in 899 (1493).

Anecdotes of Zarruq's childhood, travels and education appear in an untitled fahrasa and Al-Kunnash fi ilm ash, both still in manuscript. Selected passages appear in translation in: Zarruq the Sufi: a Guide in the Way and a Leader to the Truth by Ali Fahmi Khushaim (Tripoli, Libya:General Company for Publication, 1976)

Notes

1. ^ Scott Alan Kugle, Rebel Between Spirit and Law, Inidiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34711-4, p. 8

Bibliography

• Scott Alan Kugle, Rebel Between Spirit And Law: Ahmad Zarruq, Sainthood, And Authority in Islam, Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-253-34711-4
• Ali Fahmi Khashim, Zarruq, the Sufi: A guide in the way and a leader to the truth : a biographical and critical study of a mystic from North Africa
• Salah Hussein Al-Houdalieh, "Visitation and Making Vows at the Shrine of Shaykh Shihab Al-Din," Journal of Islamic Studies, 21,3 (2010), 377-390.

External links

• Zaineb S. Istrabadi, Qawa’id al-Tasawwuf, The Principles of Sufism, annotated translation with introduction, Phd thesis with extensive information on his life, times, contemporaries and interpretation of the text (pdf-file) [1]
• Foundations of the spiritual path by Sidi Ahmad Zarruq, translated by Hamza Yusuf (pdf-file) [2]