Abu Salim al-Ayyashi

Abu Salim 'Abd Allah ibn Mohammed ibn Abu Bakr al-'Ayyashi (May 4, 1628[1] – December 13 or 18, 1679[2]) was a well-known travel writer, poet, lawyer, and Sufi scholar from Morocco.[3]

Abu Salim al-Ayyashi
Born	May 4, 1628
Died	December 13 or 18, 1679
Occupation	travel writer, poet, lawyer, Sufi scholar

Biography

Abu Salim al-'Ayyashi was born on 4 May 1628 in the Berber tribe of ait Ayyash living in the Middle Moroccan Atlas.[4][5] His father was the head of a zawiyya. Al-Ayyashi lived and studied in Fez and joined the Sufi order of the Nasiriyya in Tamegroute. He travelled three times to the Hejaz in 1649, 1653 and 1661 and stayed for long periods in Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Cairo.[6]

Works

He wrote a two volume rihla about his journeys: Ma’ al-Mawa’id (Table Water). Al-'Ayyashi is, moreover, the author of several further works:[5]

• Manẓuma fi ’l-Buyuʻ, a treatise in verse on sales, with a commentary;
• Tanbīh Dhawī al-Himam ’l-ʻAlīya ʻala al-Zuhd fī ’l-Dunyā al-Fānīya, treatise on Sufism;
• a study on the particle law,
• al-Ḥukm bi-’l-ʻadl wa-al-inṣāf ’l-Dāfiʻ li ’l-khilāf fī-mā waqaʻa bayn baʻḍ Fuqahāʼ Sijlimāsa min al-ikhtilāf
• Iqtifa’ al-Athar ba’d Dhahab Ahl al-Athar, biographical collection;
• Tuḥfat (Itḥāf) al-akhillāʼ bi-ijāzāt al-mashāyikh al-ajillāʼ, biographies of his masters (these last two works probably forming his Fahrasa).

References

1. Lévi-Provençal, Évariste (1922). Les historiens des Chorfa: essai sur la littérature historique et biographique au Maroc du XVIe au XXe siècle (in French). Paris: Émile Larose. p. 262.
2. Lévi-Provençal, Évariste (1922). Les historiens des Chorfa: essai sur la littérature historique et biographique au Maroc du XVIe au XXe siècle (in French). Paris: Émile Larose. p. 264.
3. Jennifer Speake, Literature of Travel and Exploration: A to F, 2003, p. 53.
4. Ilahiane, Hsain (2006-07-17). Historical Dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen). Scarecrow Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780810864900.
5. Ben Cheneb, M.; Pellat, Ch. (1986) [1960]. "al- ʿAyyās̲h̲ī". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. I (2nd ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers. p. 795. ISBN 9004081127.
6. Eickelman, Dale F.; Piscatori, James (2013). Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination. Routledge. pp. 76–78. ISBN 9781136112607.

Further reading

• Abu Salim Abd Allah ibn Muhammad Ayyashi, Iqtifa al-athar bada dhihab ahl al-athar: Fihris Abi Salim al-Ayyashi, 11 H/17 M (Manshurat Kulliyat al-Adab wa-al-Ulum al-Insaniyah bi-al-Rabat. Silsilat Rasail wa-utruhat), ed. 1996 by al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah, Jamiat Muhammad al-Khamis, Kulliyat al-Adab wa-al-Ulum al-Insaniyah bi-al-Rabat, ISBN 978-9981-825-70-3
• Arrihla Al Ayachiia, Abou Salim Abdellah Ben Mohamed El Ayachi. Vol. 2. Edition révisé par Saïd El Fadhili et Solaiman El Korachi. Dar Essouaidi Linachr Wa Attawzie, Abou Dabie, EAU. 2006.