Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
He was born in 978. His family line goes back to Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr
al-Muwaḥḥidī or some have said his line goes back to Muḥammad b. al-
Qāsim b. Idrīs II. Even though he was a descendent of the Prophet , he
counselled his children not to make mention of it before the people,
but rather to conceal it for the next life.
One day after someone had ill-treated him, he said about his
student, “He is like a thorn in the mud.” (I.e. whoever mistreats him,
will be inflicted just as one unwittingly steps on a thorn hidden in the
mud.)
1
as-Salām and was granted permission as he relates regarding himself.
When he returned, he sat in his master Sīdī Yusūf’s zāwiyah in the
Makhfiyyah District where he too lived. Suddenly out of the blue,
people from all around began to visit to take from him. Upon which, he
said with his eyes full of tears, “Take board on this nape of mine for I
have been warned that if I do not come out to you all, I will have this
gift taken away from me.” After this, he began giving instruction even
to the Jinn-kind who would serve him. Sīdī Muḥammad remained in his
master’s zāwiyah for the next six months until he had built his own at
the top of the Makhfiya district on the bank of the River Zaytūn in
1038.
One day one of his companions asked him, “Sir, have you ever
seen the Prophet ?” He replied, “Yes, I have seen him, and he wiped
his hand over my face, and that is why whoever sees me falls in love
with me.”
2
to.” On hearing this, Sīdī ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān was overjoyed. Sīdī
Muḥammad was also known to tell of the fruits of the Paradise and
their qualities as if he were seeing them face-to-face and many other
things that had never been heard of before.
He passed away in 1062 and was buried on the right, close to the
shrine of Sīdī Yusūf. His son, Sīdī Aḥmad, was to take up the teachings
of his father.