Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish

Mulay Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish al-Alami عبد السلام إبن مشيش العلمي
Personal
Born	Banu Arrus, neighbourhood of Jabal al-ʻAlam
Died	1227 Jabal Alam, South of Tétouan.
Resting place	Shrine of Moulay Abdeslam, south of Tétouan.
Denomination	Sunni
Jurisprudence	Maliki
Senior posting
Disciple of	Abu Madyan
Influenced by Abu Madyan, Ibn Arabi
Influenced Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili

ʻAbd al-Salām ibn Mashīsh al-ʻAlamī (Arabic: عبد السلام بن مشيش العلمي) (b. ?–1227), was a Moroccan Sufi saint who lived during the reign of the Almohad Caliphate.

Biography

Virtually nothing is known about him except that he was assassinated in 1227/1228 by the anti-Almohad rebel ibn Abi Tawajin.

His genealogy was traced through several ancestors—some of them with typically Berber names—all the way to the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. It is said that he was born to the Banu Arus tribe in the neighbourhood of the Jabal al-'Alam, and that at the age of 16 he travelled to the east to study. On his return, in Béjaïa, he followed the instructions of the Andalusian mystic Abu Madyan. He came back to stay in his native country, where he withdrew to the mountain to live an edifying life as an ascetic. He was the murshid (spiritual guide) of Al-Shadhili, and his only disciple.

Notes

• Muhammad Bennani, Mulay Abd Es Selam El Machich, ed. by África Española – Madrid, 1913 (In Spanish)
• Titus Burckhardt, "The Prayer of Ibn Mashish", Studies in Comparative Religion, Winter-Spring, 1978, Pates Manor, Bedfont, Middlesex
• Titus Burckhardt, "The Prayer of Ibn Mashish (As-Salat al-Mashishiyah)", Translation and commentary, Islamic Quarterly, London, 1978, vol. 20-21-22, no3, pp. 68–75