About The Book

The text presented here offers a unique insight into the life of one of the greatest spiritual authorities of North Africa, the Sufi sheikh and scholar Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-Zarruq al-Burnusi al-Fasi (d. 846-899/1442-93). Aḥmad al-Zarruq was the founder of the Zarruqi branch of the Shadhili Ṭarīqa, a leading authority in many other Islamic sciences, and the author of numerous major works on Taṣawwuf, Hadith, jurisprudence and other subjects. He is widely believed to have been the Mujaddid, or Renewer of the Muslim Umma, of the ninth hijri century. May Allah be well pleased with him.

Sheikh Zarrūq kept a Kunnāsh or notebook in which he recorded both important aspects of his personal and scholarly life and also his own brief notes and reflections on many diverse subjects. The surviving manuscripts of his Kunnāsh are based on a transcription of his autobiography.

Memoirs of Sufi Master contains a fluent English translation of those portions of the text which concern the Sheikh’s outward life, his spiritual life, and his teachers and companions. Also included are an introduction and a full scholarly commentary providing detailed and wide-ranging background information, much of it never previously published in English. 

Contents:

1 - My Birth

2 - The Deaths of my Mother, Father and Grandfather

3 - My Father’s will, in accordance with the Sunna

4 - My suckling and Journey to Hajj

5 - The number of my wives

6 - Names I was given

7 - My nickname and the Duration of my Suckling

8 - Good news of a fortunate child

9 - Education through storytelling and learning the ritual prayers

10 - Strange Occurrences

11 - Troubles of the Jews in Fez

12 - Some of those I associated with during this period

13 - Some of the virtuous and the righteous whom I met during this period

14 - Addendum: Devoting myself to the pursuit of knowledge

15 - My close attachment to al-Zaytuni; the death of al-Jazuli

16 - Accounts of ‘Umar al-Maghiti

17 - Visiting the tomb of Sheikh Abu Ya’azza

18 - Accused of divulging a secret

19 - The Sufi journey

20- Accused of being a Jew

21 - The perils of travel

22 - Safety, followed by arrival in Tlemcen and a visit to [the tomb of] Abu Madyan

23 - Renewed hardships on the journey back to Fez

24 - The Solicitude of Allah

25 - The theft of the burnouts

26 - The thief is justly requited

27 - Continuation of the journey, under Allah’s care and consoling fellowship

28 - Arrival in Taza, and accusation of espionage

29 - The burnous is given back

30 - Encounter with the Sultan

31 - Arrival in the city of Fez