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Visit to Mawlay Abdessalam ibn Mashish
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين
Visit to Mawlay Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish
The Journey
We went to Tangier crossing the mountains of the Moroccan Rif. It is a journey of only 440 km but, given that the road is very winding, it took us no less than a day to reach our destination. Getting from Lille to Marseille is less painful! A lunch break around bissara (split-pea soup), grilled sardines and so on, in short little moments that we mark in pictures and above all in our hearts… The order is on its way!
Dhuhr and ‘Asr prayer break by the seaside, in the company of our Shaykh… what more could one ask!?
As with all prayers, we finish with a series of personal invocations (guidance, forgiveness, etc.), then we ask forgiveness for our deceased parents and our Muslim brothers, then invocations for all the Shuyukh of our silsila, before finishing with the prayers upon the Beloved – peace and blessings be upon him.
A short break in the forest, in the mountains bordering the site of Mawlay Ibn Mashish.
His modest dwelling
We arrive at the entrance door of the house that saw the birth of Sidi Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish… and as you can see, this dwelling remains to this day of a simplicity that lets us picture the way of life of the people of the time, far from our present comfort, often ill-suited to spiritual flourishing…
An immense tree borders the house. Perhaps it was already there when Mawlay ibn Mashish trod this land with his noble feet…
O Lord, make us disciples of Sidi Shaykh Mohammed Fawzi el-Karkari as You made Imam ash-Shadhili a disciple of Mawlay Abd as-Salam Ibn Mashish – may their Secret be sanctified.
The mountain of the encounter
When the ‘arifin seek divine proximity, they go to the mountains, for when Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) asked to see his Lord, Allah answered him: “You will not see Me, but look at the mountain” [7:143]. On the other hand, when they seek Knowledge, they head for the sea, in accordance with the story of Sayyiduna Musa, who set out in search of Sayyiduna al-Khidr (peace be upon them both), whom he found at the “junction of the two seas” [18:60]…
At the foot of the mountain (not visible in the photo) is the spring where Imam Abu l-Hasan ash-Shadhili performed his ablution three times before his Shaykh accepted him as a murid… At the summit of the mountain… A place where the futility of modernity has found no room, which lets us feel and realise the level of spirituality that this place radiates.
The tomb of Mawlay Abd as-Salam
A few Qur’an recitations and invocations marked our visit. I specify that this is in accordance with Sunni Islam and that there is no request made of the dead in any way with us. (A subject of divergence)
One or two times a year we go to this great Shaykh. This time we were in the company of French people and an Australian.
The Mosque of the Angels
It is a little higher up… and it is after a short climb through large rocks that we reach it…
We prayed 2 rak‘ats together. The mosque has no roof and its floor is covered with a carpet of a kind of cork, taken from the tree trunks that grow on these mountains…
Why the “mosque of the angels”?: The murids of Mawlay Abd as-Salam once had a doubt about the direction of the qibla, and at that very moment they saw a line of Light going from where they were to the Ka‘ba… and while they were praying, birds came circling in the air above their heads. Their Shaykh then informed them that angels were there, and from then on this mosque was named “masjid al-mala’ika – the mosque of the angels”.
…and before closing this gathering with du‘a, we of course did not fail to recite the salat al-Mashishiyya…
The Spring where Imam ash-Shadhili performed his Ablutions
In the distance, one sees the route taken by Imam ash-Shadhili to redo his ablutions at the request of his Shaykh. To tell it is quick, but it took the murid no less than a day to climb and descend the mountain three times before at last presenting himself before the Shaykh, having performed the ablution that he demanded of him in order to make him his disciple…
Next to the tree one sees a small building of white stones… that’s it, we are there: the famous spring!
…to benefit from the baraka of this place, we perform the ablution and take a little water from the blessed spring…
When Sidi Shaykh asked us to redo our ablutions, no one understood that he was asking us to perform the same ablution as the one asked of Sidi Abu l-Hasan ash-Shadhili… he understood on the third time, but we, knowing the story and moreover being at the very place where it unfolded, were not able to grasp these deep meanings… who knows whether a whole lifetime will be enough for us to understand how to become a murid…
The end of our journey
…Time to get back on the road…
