"The Most Essential Work of the Awliya Allah is to benefit the slaves of Allah"

Zakiyya Zawanat, a researcher in Sufi Anthropology, began her speech at the recent second international Sidi Shayker conference, on July 10th 2009, by exploring the most ideal method for presenting Tasawwuf to the upcoming generations, as it is in its original reality, without exaggeration or simplification. She also began by asking how to transform the righteous Sufi Awliya into pedagogical personalities so that the realities of Tasawwuf could be ideally imprinted into the minds of our youth?

In her speech entitled "Sufi values and virtues as exemplified by Moroccan masters", Zakiyya Zawanat brought forth some practical examples from the lives of some Moroccan Awliya, emphasizing their most outstanding and distinctive qualities which distinguished them from those Awliya' of other countries. Citing the Qadi 'Iyad as one example, she stated that he was a judge and religious scholar, and did not formally connect himself with a specific Sufi order; and yet at the same time he is counted as the 2nd among the seven primary Sufi personalities buried in Marrakech, the reason for that being - as Zawanat stated - his sincere love for the Prophet (alayhi salat wa salam) and his composing the famous work "al-Shifa", that he may be resurrected by virtue of these among the rank of the Sufis.

In her speech, she also placed great emphasis on the spiritual dimensions of certain Moroccan Sufis, such as Sidi Ahmad Zarruq (who was the measuring-stick of the Sufis par excellence), and Sidi Abu'l Abbas al-Sabti, who could be called a civil servant in modern parlance, who abandoned his great wealth and distributed it among the people, and the righteous lady-saint Lala Aziza, who played a central role in securing the stability of the land and reforming the relations between its rulers.

Zawanat also mentioned that some of the Moroccan Awliya spent their lives serving nature and the environment, mentioning for example Sidi Abu Ya'izza, who was known as the "patron of the environment"; and the wali Abdullah ibn Ihsayin did much to enhance crop cultivation in the village of Tamsaluhit near Marrakech, a village which today is central in providing numerous services to the people. She also mentioned Abu Muhammad Salih, who organized sufi centres (zawaya) along the way from Morocco to the Hijaz, thereby ensuring a way for the Moroccan pilgrims to Hajj.

She closed her speech by mentioning a few of the Moroccan Awliya who did not become famous among the people and who are still relatively unknown, whom she called the "hidden Awliya" because they preferred to stay away from popularity, a path which finds its origin in the Prophetic hadith which states: "It might be that a disheveled dust-covered destitute servant would swear by Allah concerning something, and Allah would vindicate his oath (out of love for him)"; just as at the same time the most important and essential act of all these saints was to provide benefit to the servants of Allah Most High.

Translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Hakim Al Shaghouri
Sidi Ibrahim is an author and translator and a Coordinator for ISRA

TAGS: Sufi