Biography of Sayyidi `Abd al-Salam Ibn Mashish

He was `Abd al-Salam ibn Sulayman, known as Ibn Mashish, whose lineage goes back to Sayyiduna Idris, the founder of the city of Fas and descended of Sayyiduna al-Hasan, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (sallAllah aleihi wa sallam). He was was born around 559 or 563 H. in a village on the `Alam mountain near Titwan, an ancient city in the region of Habt (Ghumara) in northern Maghrib, where one of his forefathers came to settle among the Berbers. He studied the Quran and Maliki law under the Idrisite sharifs of Banu Arus, in addition to prominent Sufi scholars such as Sidi Salem of Qabilat Bani Yusuf and sharif Sidi al-Hajj Ahmed Aqatran Asalani of Qabilat Bani Abraj, near modern Taza. He supported himself by the work of his own hands, tillign the earth ². For some time he lived for some time in Sabta, teaching Quranic recitation to children. He and waged jihad , fighting with the Almohad army in al-Andalus. ³

He took the spiritual sciences from `Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Husayn al-`Attar, a spice merchant from the city of Sabta, who was called "az-Zayyat" or "al-Madani" because he resided in the oil sellers' quarter of Medina (where his tomb is still found). His first encounter with Sheikh `Abd al-Rahman al-`Attar took place when he was at the age of seven. He was in a state of jadhb (spriritual attraction) when the Sheikh came to him, dsiplaying the signs of the people of Allah, and said to him: "I am your Sheikh". He fortold him of his rank, his spiritual states, and mentioned each of his maqams one by one. Then he said: "I am your intermediary (wâsita) in every state and maqam". ¹

The last twenty years of his life Sayyidi Ibn Mashish devoted to worship and contemplation on the heights of Jabal al-`Alam (Flag Mountain), a period which culminated in his encounter with his only disciple, the fellow Idrisite Imam Abul Hasan Shadhili (d. 656 H.)

From him the al-Salat al-Mashishiyya, on which the Wazhifa of Imam Abul Hasan al-Shadhili is based.

He died as a martyr year 622 H., when he Spanish, led by their missionary Ibn Abi Tawajin Laktami, headed to Jabal al-Alam and killed the Shaykh in the very place where he initiated Imam Abul Hassan Shadhili. He was buried on the moutain.

Burial place of `Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish
on the `Alam mountain. Marokko