Chain of transmission
ʿAbd ar-Rahman al-Majdhub
1506 – 1568 · Meknes · poet and Sufi master
ʿAbd ar-Rahman al-Majdhub is one of the best-known popular poets of Morocco. His quatrains in colloquial Arabic, still quoted throughout the country today, gave rise to many proverbs. A Sufi master of Meknes, he had Abu al-Mahasin al-Fasi as his disciple.
Birth and childhood
He was born in March 1506 in the village of Tit, near Azemmour. In 1508 he followed his father to Irgan, near Meknes. He grew up in a Sufi milieu: his father had been a student of Ibrahim Afham al-Zarhuni, himself a disciple of the jurist and Shadhili master Ahmad Zarruq.
Education
He first studied in Meknes, under several scholars (Abu Ruwayin, Ahmad al-Shabih, Saʿid ibn Abi Bakr al-Mishnaza'i, ʿAbd al-Haqq al-Zalliji, Jaʿran as-Sfyani, ʿUmar al-Khattab al-Zarhuni), then in Fez, notably under ʿAli as-Sanhaji.
The “majdhub”
His nickname, “al-Majdhub” (“the one drawn”), designates in the Sufi tradition the mystic seized by ecstasy, who lives on the margins of social conventions. This state explains the free, sometimes disconcerting character of his speech.
The quatrains
A popular poet, he left quatrains that mix moral reflection, social criticism and spirituality. His verses denounce injustice and the failings of society and are among the most widespread oral texts in Morocco. Many have become proverbs, such as “doubt is the beginning of wisdom”.
Legacy
His disciple Abu al-Mahasin Yusuf al-Fasi had the dome of his tomb built, in Meknes, and transmitted his teaching through the Zawiya Fassiya of Fez. His mausoleum attracts many visitors.
Death
He died on 26 May 1568, aged 62, in the village of Marshaqa, in the Habt region.