Ahmad al-Badawi

Ahmad al-Badawi, of Tanta in Egypt, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Badawi al-Sharif. His biography says his origin was the Banu Bari, one of the tribes of western Syria. His father settled in the Maghrib, and he was born in Fez about 596 AH. His father then took him on pilgrimage in 606 AH, and they stayed in Mecca. ²

He was called al-Badawi for his constant wearing of the veil, as he wore two veils and never took them off. He did not marry. The biography relates that he would remain forty days without eating, drinking or sleeping, and that he heard a voice ordering him to go to Tandata (Tanta), where he would settle. He then travelled to Iraq. The account says that al-Jilani and al-Rifa'i offered him the keys of the lands and he refused to take them except from God. It says that he entered Egypt in 634 AH, and that al-Zahir Baybars received him and honoured him, and that he stayed on the roof of a house in Tanta for about twelve years. ¹

The biography says that after a time his followers began the mawlid, and people came to it from distant lands. Some scholars and rulers tried to abolish it, and succeeded only in one year. Ibn al-Imad gives this briefly, taken from the "Tabaqat" of Abd al-Ra'uf al-Manawi. ¹

His biography is placed under the events of 675 AH, from which his death is approximately dated. ²

What scholars say about these reports is not set out here and needs an additional source.