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Abu al-Nur al-Tunisi

أبو النور التونسي

c. June 1525 CE · Ramadan 931 AH

The Tunisian mujawir of Mecca — thirty-five years 'in rapture and longing and awe of God' until fear nearly killed him and his mind wore out; a khatma every fifteen days in two-thirds readings, perpetual fasting, so pure 'they said he never trod the sun'; died Ramadan 931 1.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
mystic · Scholar
Counted among
Sunni
Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Maghreb · Arabia
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

Life in time

14701480149015001510152015301540155015601570158015901600 c. c. c. c. c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Gunpowder Empires · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era Contemporaries: 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ziyad, mufti of Zabid · 'Abd Allah al-Fakihi, the grammarian · Abu al-Su'ud Afandi · Abu Numayy II, sharif of Mecca · Al-Akhdari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad

Spirituality and Sufism

Summary

Shaykh Abu al-Nur al-Tunisi al-Makki, a resident of Mecca. From childhood until he was thirty-five he lived in a state of rapture, longing, fear and awe of God, so intense that terror nearly killed him, and his reason was tested by it 2.

A recitation of the Qur'an every fifteen days

Every fifteen days he completed a recitation of two-thirds of the Qur'an, and he fasted continually. He was so pure that people said he would not walk in the sun and that he had no shadow. He died in Ramadan of the year 931 1.

People and things also explored

Prophetic adab (proper conduct)· Akhi Baba (title of the guild shaykh and tanners' head)· The angelic and the satanic inspiration (lamma)· Asking people for help (al-masala)· The soul (nafs) and the spirit (ruh)· Tabattul (withdrawal from the world)· Intimacy with God (uns billah)· Certainty and its degrees (yaqin)

Sources

  1. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 573-574
  2. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 573
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Abu al-Nur al-Tunisi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abu-al-nur-al-tunisi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-19.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story. Related

Prophetic adab (proper conduct)

The body of proper conduct the believer is commanded in his words, deeds and relations with God and His servants; from the formula 'whoever believes in God and the Last Day' in Abu Hurayra's hadith Ibn Rajab derives that these traits are of the traits of iman and that deeds enter into iman, dividing the hadith's three commands into what belongs to God's rights — speaking good or keeping silent — and what belongs to His servants' rights — honouring the neighbour, withholding harm from him and honouring the guest; he transmits Aswad ibn Asram's report of the Prophet's counsel 'do not say with your tongue except what is good and do not extend your hand except to good', and that the tongue's uprightness is of the traits of iman; Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the Maliki imam of his time, that the conduct of goodness and all its reins branch from four hadiths: speaking good or keeping silent, leaving what does not concern one, 'do not become angry', and loving for one's brother what one loves for oneself.