Abu Shu'ayb al-Doukkali

Abu Shu'ayb ad-Dukkali as-Sadiqi (1878–1937) was a Moroccan scholar, minister and educator, and a pioneer of Salafism in Morocco, referred to by the title Shaykh al-Islam.¹

He was born in 1878 to a modest family at al-Sadiqat, a rural area near al-Gharbiya in Doukkala; the Arabic article dates his birth to 25 Dhu al-Qa'da 1295 AH.^{1 2} His family was affiliated with the Darqawiyya Sufi order.¹ He studied at al-Azhar in Cairo for a long period, taking knowledge from its scholars among them Salim al-Bishri and Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i, and he lectured at al-Azhar and at al-Zaytuna in Tunis.^{2 1}

He gave lessons at the Meccan Haram and gave fatwa across the four madhhabs, and in Morocco he served as minister of justice and of education.^{2 3} He headed the programme of scholarly lessons at the royal palace under Sultans Abd al-Hafid, Yusuf and Mohammed V, and among his students were Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Susi and, in Fez, Muhammad ibn al-Arabi al-Alawi.^{1 3}

With scholars such as Allal al-Fassi and Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Susi, he led a nationalist, reformist Salafi movement intellectually affiliated with the Moroccan nationalist movement against French colonialism.¹ The French article credits him, together with Muhammad ibn al-Arabi al-Alawi, as a founder of neo-Salafism (al-salafiyya al-jadida), and records that he fought religious charlatanism, notably against the Sufi confraternity of Sidi Ali Amhaouch.³ He died at Rabat on 17 July 1937.³ Chouaib Doukkali University in El Jadida bears his name.¹