Sīdī Qāsim al-Khaṣāṣī

(d. 1083)
Masters of the Shādhili Path Series

Translated by Sidi Idris Watts

He was born in around 1001 IE. His family roots were in

Andalusia but he was born and raised in Fez. His family were originally
from a city in Morocco called Khaṣāṣah close to Mount Qalʿiyyah, hence
his surname. His father passed away early and he was raised by his
mother. In his youth, he used to mix with the local young boys of the
neighborhood. He would later relate what he used to get up to in those
days in order that people know how God had graced and blessed him.
One day he felt the urge to repent of his actions and he was drawn to
the shrine of Sīdī Yusūf al-Fāsī without any prior intention of going there
as he did not know of him or his name. There at the shrine he called
out, “O companion of this grave, if you are truly a man of God I ask
though your blessing that God bring me together with a master of the
path that I can serve for the sake of God alone.” Soon after God
acquainted him with his first teacher, who he instantly fell in love with
when he saw him, a dark old man called Sīdī Mubārak b. ʿAbābū al-Kūsh,
who he met in the Qarawiyyīn, and is buried today outside Gate Gīsah
in Fez. He accompanied him until his death and then took the company
of Sīdī ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān al-Fāsī and stuck by his side, placing his full trust
in his judgment for the next ten years. It was through his direction that
he achieved his strongest opening. His teacher would say to him, “You
are mine and you do not belong to anyone else (alluding, and God
knows best, that his opening had come through him and no-one else)”
He would also say to him, “You are a stranger without a brother.”
(Alluding to the fact that he has no equal in the path and his
knowledge and understanding)

After his teacher passed away, he followed his successor Sīdī

Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh Maʿan, remaining in his company twenty one
years. He was to be the successor of his Master after as his declared
himself and attested to by his teacher’s son Sīdī Aḥmad. One day Sīdī
Qāsim was sitting alongside the other students of Sīdī Muḥammad b.
ʿAbd Allāh Maʿan, confused as to who shall be the inheritor of the path.
Suddenly Sīdī Aḥmad said to them, “Here is the lion in your midst yet
where is he, who will draw him out and realize it?”

It is said that he took from around twenty six masters but these
three were who he depended on.

He had very powerful states whereby he would become

engrossed in the oneness of God. Around five days in every month a
state would come to him where he would not be able to distinguish the
earth from the sky. He would not eat or drink; however he would ask
about the times of the prayers at every moment. If these states came
to him he would not leave his house.

His method was of love of the Divine and utter extinction therein.
These would be the topic of his discourses. He would not speak or
allude to the doctrine of fear of God nor would he like others to indulge
in this topic fearing that it would prevent people from journeying to
God. He was moved by the odes of the path. On hearing them he
would stand in one place near the singers and sway to their tunes. He
was vehemently adherent to the practice of the Prophet . He was
utterly abstinent from the world and cautious in matter of religion. He
only liked to eat from the labor of his own hands. He never liked to take
from others especially his own students. In fact, he had a shop of his
own in the market place whereby he used to earn his living. The only
one he would accept from was his teacher’s son Sīdī Aḥmad. He had
intense love for the Prophet’s  family and would hold them in high
veneration.

He had many a miracle and abundant revealings. He once met

with al-Khaḍir  and informed others of this meeting. Alongside these
states certain actions and words would issue from him that would bring
others to criticize him who did not have a deep understanding of the
path.

One day he was sitting in his shop, sewing with his head bowed
down as was his habit when all of a sudden a heavy rain began to fall.
People were unable to walk in the streets and they waited by the
waysides for it to stop yet it continued for some time. At one point, Sīdī
Qāsim raised his head to the sky and got up shouting as if irritated,
“Enough of this rain!” as if he were addressing some peer. As soon as
he had finished speaking the rain stopped as if it had never been and
then he went on with what he had been preoccupied with.

He passed away on the nineteenth of Ramaḍān 1083 IE at the

age of eighty two. He was buried beside his teacher Sīdī Muḥammad b.
ʿAbd Allāh Maʿan and his student Sīdī Aḥmad built a dome over his
grave which is still there today.