Abu Salim al-Ayyashi

Abu Salim 'Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-'Ayyashi, a Sufi scholar, was born among the Berber tribe of the Ayt 'Ayyash in the middle Moroccan Atlas, at the end of Sha'ban 1037 AH (April-May 1628). After travelling through Morocco 'in search of knowledge', he obtained an ijaza from 'Abd al-Qadir al-Fasi. In 1059 AH (1649) he made his first pilgrimage to Mecca, by way of Touat, Ouargla and Tripoli. On his second pilgrimage, in 1064 AH (1653-4), he wrote his Rihla, called Ma' al-Mawa'id. He died in the plague in Morocco on 10 Dhu l-Qa'da 1090 AH (13 December 1679). ¹

The Rihla is among the most important accounts of the road that caravans took from the Maghrib to Mecca. The author gives less space to describing the lands he crossed than to listing the famous men he met, especially scholars and Sufis. Outside the passages on Sufism its style is fairly simple, though lacking colour and vivacity. The work is very popular in the Maghrib and has been only partly translated into French. A second travel account, in the form of a letter, was translated by M. Lakhdar. ¹

He wrote a verse treatise on sales with a commentary; Tanbih dhawi al-himam al-'aliyya 'ala al-zuhd fi al-dunya, a treatise on Sufism; a study of the law; a work on the disagreements among the jurists of Sijilmasa (its title needs checking on the page); a biographical collection; and Ithaf al-akhilla bi-asanid al-adilla, the biographies of his masters, which probably forms his Fahrasa. ¹