Visit to the shrine of Lalla Sati in Tlemcen

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و الصلاة و السلام على أشرف المرسلين
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين

Visit to the darih of Lala Sati in Tlemcen

Today, Tlemcen is honoured. It is always in a modest and remote place that these great names who carried Muslim spirituality down to our day lie at rest. Today we have the honour of presenting the darih of a holy woman, daughter of Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (qaddasa Allahu sirrahu). She rests in the heights of Tlemcen (Algeria) in a place called Lala Sati. Here is the entrance of this modest place, and a most astonishing meeting is about to take shape…

After this photo, we went inside this blessed place, and as we passed through the door we came face to face with a man still unknown to us. It was later that we learned that the guardian of this place is called, like me, Mustafa!

Here is what can be read as information on the epitaph set into the floor in the entrance corridor: “Lala Sati was a saint, daughter of Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (may Allah sanctify his secret). She is present in the initiatory chain of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). She came from Baghdad to settle in Tlemcen. She lived there between the 6th and 7th century of the Hijra and died between the 12th and 13th century CE. She had wonders and there are many popular legends about her. After her death she was buried in the place where she practised / invoked, which later took the name “Hasba Lala Satti” (the meaning is unknown, a call to the people of Tlemcen), beside which a mosque was built for religious practice and which also serves as a place of residence for visitors (see photos below)”

After reaching the place where the Saint is buried, for a little souvenir photo, brother Sidi Abdellah of the Hibriyya Tariqa was approached by this same Mustafa, who said to him about the muraqqa‘a, I quote: “I saw in this garment he wears the heavens and the earth, and that he is sent on a mission.”

When brother Abdellah reported these words to me, they produced a very particular resonance. What had just come out of the guardian’s mouth was exactly the words of our Shaykh… I then decided to go and greet him to tell him what I had heard from the mouth of Sidi Shaykh Mohammed Fawzy El-Karkari (may Allah sanctify his secret), who says: ““Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth (Qur’an)” therefore whoever wishes to clothe himself in the Light of the heavens and the earth, let him dress also in the colours of the heavens and the earth.” The words of our Shaykh touched him and the current passed immediately between us…. Mustafa wanted to immortalise this moment with a photo, and we sent it to him through Sidi Abdellah.

As for his remark about our mission, what we can say is that all the fuqara of the Karkariya tariqa are emissaries of the Light that Sidi Shaykh Mohammed Fawzy (may Allah sanctify his secret) gives by the permission of Allah ta‘ala. And what Mustafa saw is neither more nor less than our Shaykh.

The mosque built next to the darih.

From left to right: Sidi Ahmed el-Qadiri, my brother (yes, I have a brother!), and Sidi Mustafa El-Karkari, the “globe-trotter” of the Tariqa. As we can see, the mosque is, like its surroundings, simple and modest.

And here is a little personal “kiff”, with my legendary smile (a wink to Sidi Mohammed of Lille)!