Sharifian lineage
Mimoun Abu Wakil (Boukil)
1050 – twelfth century · Tadla and Tafilalet · founder of the Bani Wakil
Mimoun Abu Wakil, known as Boukil, is the founder of the Bani Wakil tribe, which brings together several families of Idrisid sharifs. A disciple of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali for several years, he ended his life in the Tafilalet, where his mausoleum is still visited.
Birth
He was born in 442 AH (1050) in the Tadla region, in the Middle Atlas, where his forefather Moulay ʿImrane ibn Salem had emigrated. He grew up in a troubled period, marked by tribal rivalries and the struggle between the Fatimids and the Berber chief Musa ibn Abi al-ʿAfiya, until the advent of the Almoravid Yusuf ibn Tashfin.
The pilgrimage and al-Ghazali
Around 1096 he set out on pilgrimage with his brother ʿAbd ar-Rahman. There they met the imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, whose teaching they followed for several years, until the death of ʿAbd ar-Rahman in Medina. Mimoun returned to Morocco at the time of the first Almohad uprisings against Almoravid rule.
Family and death
He married his cousin, with whom he had five children, and was buried near Errachidia, in the village of Zaouiat Sidi Boukil, in the Tafilalet, where his mausoleum stands. The family trees of Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi Al Karkari and of his wife meet at Mimoun.
The Bani Wakil
After him, the Bani Wakil tribe divided into four groups of Idrisid sharifs: Ankad, Trifa, the Bani Wakil al-Mawakhikh (who take their name from his son Sidi Mkhoukh) and the Ouled Sidi Moussa. His distant descendant Muhammad ibn Qaddour bears the name “al-Wakili” or “al-Boukili” in reference to him.