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Ahmad ibn 'Arus of Tunis

أحمد بن عروس التونسي

c. 1467 CE · c. 871 AH

Ibn 'Arus — 'among the greatest saints of the ecstatic way at Tunis': wild birds came down to eat from his hand, he stretched both hands into the air and produced his fuqara's provender, sat atop a Tunis funduq night and day till death ~871 1.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
mystic
Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Maghreb
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Life in time

135013751400142514501475150015251550 c. c. c. c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Gunpowder Empires · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era Contemporaries: Abd al-Baqi Yazdi · 'Abd al-Haqq al-Sunbati · Abd al-Rahman al-Tha'alibi · Taj al-Din 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn 'Arabshah · Abu Zayyan Muhammad V, Marinid Sultan

Spirituality and Sufism

Overview

Ahmad b. 'Arus of the Maghrib, of Tunis; al-Manawi says in Tabaqat al-awliya' he was among Tunis's greatest saints of the jadhb folk — manifest wonders, dazzling states: wild birds would alight on him and eat from his hand, and when a large company of the poor was with him he would stretch his hands into the air and bring them provision enough; greatly dreaded — not everyone could meet him, the body shivering at the sight of him — he sat on the roof of a funduq in Tunis night and day, and so remained until he died around 871. 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. 311
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ahmad ibn 'Arus of Tunis”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ahmad-ibn-arus/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.

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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.