Ahmad ibn ajiba autobiography of benjamin
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This work is a major addition to the literature of Sufism in the English language.� -------Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University
Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad b. He was a Sharif, a noble descendant of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace).
From his infancy, he felt an attraction to the faith and the religious sciences.
And, yet for some, an account, a life, to which they can relate in some strange and ethereal manner - a life that brings together so much of the mundane, religious and sublime. He also has some brief mystical treatments of the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabi (al-Hatimi).
He spent time in prison and time in ecstasy. His zeal for both intellectual learning and the devotional path are apparent on every page. At that time, Ibn ‘Ajibah changed his life completely, resigning from his post and renouncing all his possessions in order to don the patched cloak and become a faqir.
Muhammad b. He was even imprisoned for some days with other fuqara’ who were accused of heresy.
After this difficult, testing period, in to which Ibn ‘Ajibah entered voluntarily, he achieved the goal of the path and became a Shaykh of the Darqawi Shadhili path.
The Autobiography (Fahrasa) of a Moroccan Soufi: Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba
I've skipped/skimmed the Prolegomenon, and went straight into the Fahrasa!
In 1208 AH (1794 CE), he became a disciple of Shaykh Muhammad al-Buizidi, the direct inheritor of Shaykh Mawlay al-‘Arabi al-Darqawi, the founder of the Darqawi branch of the Shadhili path. Not only has the translator worked extremely hard to document almost every obscure term, historical date, person, event mentioned in the book its also very easy to read.
The translator has been extremely successful in presenting a biography of an 18th century Muslim Saint in a manner that is neither bogged down with historical facts and figures (That would put off the Muslim reader) nor filled with over exaggerated languages that would bore the non Muslim reader.
This autobiography is of the life of ibn Ajiba written by his own hand.
When he was around thirty years old, he returned to Tetouan, where he began to study the Sacred Law and composed works on jurisprudence [fiqh] and Hadiz.
Some time after that, he read the Hikam and, as he said in his autobiography, he dedicated himself completely to the spiritual path. His zeal for both intellectual learning and the devotional path are apparent on every page.
Some such as Martin Ling’s biography of Shaykh al-Alawi are perhaps the better known (And deservedly so) Mostly because of the quality of the biography while others (Such as this book are perhaps less well known)
This book however, deserves to be better known. For some unfortunate souls 'mere ramblings', for others an interesting account of a Sufi aspirant and later Shaykh.
Fist of all it is without doubt one of the best quality translations I have come across. Recommended for historians and anthropologists, general readers, spiritual seekers and Sufi adepts.� -------William C. Chittick, State University New York
�The great Sufi masters of the Maghrib usually wrote little A major exception is Ibn �Ajiba, whose copious writings are for that very reason a unique treasure for the understanding of the whole Maghribi Sufism.
It deals with everything from the little details of everyday life to the mystical states experienced on the path to God. It will be welcomed by everyone interested in the day-to-day workings of Islamic society, the interplay between �exoteric� and �esoteric� learning in the dynamics of Islamic understanding and the place of the Sufi path in the personal and social life of the community.