Autobiography of a Moroccan Sufi Ahmad Ibn 'Ajiba [1747 - 1809]

by Ajiba, Ibn; Streight, David; Michon, Jean-Louis

• ISBN13: 9781887752206
• ISBN10: 188775220X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: Fons Vitae

Summary

Ibn 'Ajiba wrote his "fahrasa," or autobiography, not for the pleasure of talking about himself but "to celebrate God's kindness." It details his travels in search of both secular and spiritual knowledge, his entrance on a Sufi path strongly based within the Islamic tradition, and the social, intellectual, and spiritual struggles he encountered. This new English translation by David Streight is based on a contemporary French translation from the Arabic by the Swiss scholar Jean-Louis Michon.

Author Biography

Ibn 'Ajiba was an 18th century Moroccan saint of the Darqawi Sufi lineage; he wrote to lead disciples in their search for both secular and spiritual knowledge.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(28)
Prolegomenon	35	(2)
On Our Ancestors and On What Concerns Our Genealogy	37	(12)
Birth and Early Education	49	(3)
My Beginnings in the Study of Exoteric Knowledge	52	(6)
Regarding What We Use as a Basis to Report the Words of the Prophet (Hadith) and Canonical Teachings (Fiqh), Going Back to the Time of the Prophet	58	(4)
Regarding the Licenses Received from Our Teachers	62	(3)
On the Works That We Have Composed With the Help of God and His Strength	65	(4)
On Our Orientation Toward Devotional Practice and Exclusive Concentration on Adoration	69	(7)
On Our Passig to Esoteric Knowledge	76	(4)
How We Served the Shaykh By Paying Personally and With Our Goods	80	(4)
Regarding the Wandering We Did in Our Beginnings to Practice and Teach Dikr	84	(5)
Regarding the States We Experienced in Our Progress and the Trials Encountered on the Way to Deliverance	89	(6)
On What I Underwent in Prison and My Departure from My Homeland	95	(6)
Regarding Our Supports on the Sufi Way, up to the Prophet	101	(10)
Regarding Shaykhs and Other People Who Have Borne Witness to Our Special Qualities	111	(7)
Regarding Spiritual and Sensorial Charisms That We Have Witnessed	118	(6)
On Those Who Have Received from Us the Way of Prophetic Initiation, Fuqara-c Retired from the World or Living in the World	124	(3)
Regarding Women We Have Married and the Children that Have Resulted from These Marriages	127	(14)
Regarding What We Have Acquired in the Matter of Exoteric and Esoteric Sciences	141	(23)
Regarding Words and Bits of Wisdom Which God Has Made Run Through Our Tongue, in Verse and in Prose	164	(16)
Appendix 1.	180	(1)
Appendix 2.	181	(1)
Appendix 3.	182	(3)
Appendix 4.	185	(1)
Index of the Principal Names of People and Places, of Technical Terms and Works Cited	186