Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi

Ahmad ibn Idris was born in 1760 near the city of Fez, Morocco. He studied at the University of al-Qarawiyyin. In 1799 he arrived in Mecca, where he would "exercise his greatest influence, attracting students from all corners of the Islamic world". In 1828 he moved to Zabid in the Yemen, which historically had been a great center of Muslim scholarship. He died in 1837 in Sabya, which was then in Yemen, and later was the capital of his grandson's country, but is today part of Saudi Arabia. He was the founder of the Idrisiyya order. adopting the same methodology as Ismail Dehlavi, who remarked that the agenda of the new order known as Tariqa Muhammadiyya was to purify Islam and reject what they deemed to be Bid'ah or Shirk. The Idrisiyya is not a Tariqa in the sense of an organized Sufi order, but rather a methodology, consisting of a set of beliefs and practices, which according to the order's members, aimed at nurturing the spiritual link between the disciple and Muhammad directly. == Teachings ==

Ibn Idris' teachings centred on the moral and spiritual education of the individual Muslim. He emphasized the importance of piety, prayer, religious learning (especially the Prophetic traditions), and close following of Muhammad's example. He would send his students to revive the Prophetic Sunnah in different lands. Ibn Idris called for a revival of Ijtihad. His rejection of following of a school of jurisprudence (Madhhab) was based on three concerns: First, the need for following the Prophetic traditions. He therefore rejected any attempt to fill a silence deliberately left by God, and so to "abrogate one of His mercies". == Followers ==

Ibn Idris' teachings were spread by a group of highly influential followers, among whom were: • Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani al-Khatim, founder of the Khatmiyya path in Sudan and Eritrea. • Mowlana Abd al-Rahman Nurow. A Somali disciple of ibn Idris who spread the Tariqa Muhammadiyya in Somalia. • Abu'l 'Abbas Al Dandarawi, Egyptian Sufi and founder of the Dandarawiyya path in Saudi Arabia. • Muhammad Abdullah Hasan, follower of the Salihiyya path which rejects seeking intercession from Saints in one's invocation of God, which it labels as Shirk. • Shaikh Muhammad Said al-Linggi, who introduced a path of this order into Singapore by the followers of al-Linggi. • Shaikh Hafiz Muhammad Amin bin Abdul Rehman from Multan. Idrisiyya was introduced in Pakistan by him. ==Descendants==

Ibn Idris's grandson, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Idrisi, established a short-lived state, the Idrisid Emirate of Asir. == See also ==