The story of the seven men: Al-Jazouli..expelled by the rulers and embraced by the common people
Amina El Mestari
Marrakech is the city of “seven men” and the kingdom of the prophets…it was considered the burial place of a group of jurists and righteous people, who were able to impose their presence among hundreds of righteous people, as it is said in Marrakesh that “every foot of a poly” is evidence of hundreds of saints, and almost every neighborhood is associated with the name of a righteous guardian .
Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr bin Suleiman al-Samlali al-Jazuli, who hails from Sousse, is one of the righteous people who became famous in the East and the West, and the author of the book “Dala’il al-Khayrat wa Shawariq al-Anwar fi Remembrance of Prayers upon the Chosen Prophet.”
He was born in the city of “Tankert” in Sousse, he does not know the exact year of his birth, but it is certain that he was born in the 15th century, he grew up in it, and when he reached the stage of youth he went to Fez, where Souss was known for internal conflicts and refused to submit to the authority of the store.
He studied in Al-Qurainen before going to Al-Saffarin School, there he lived a life of solitude, closed to himself, which was the beginning of his asceticism, before he traveled to the East in search of knowledge and returned after 7 years to Fez.
She studied at the hands of Sheikh Amghar Al-Saghir, a guest in Rabat Tit, a village on the coast of Azemmour. After a period of time, he decided to do the seclusion, which lasted 14 years, after which he went out to the people calling for a guide, and his method was distinguished by praying for the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, and his book “The Guide to Good Things” is nothing but consolidation of his method and establishing its approach, focusing on veneration and glorification of the Prophet and on alerting him to the role he played The Messenger in spreading this true religion.
His move to the city of Safi was the beginning of his troubles, as there his spiritual influence emerged, after he sensed the readiness of its people to accept his method and the fact that the region has a deep history in Sufism and reverence for saints.
He held the political and religious structures responsible for the ordeals suffered by Moroccans, after the rulers and jurists were unable to defend their religion and revive its teachings.
Al-Jazouli embraced the armed and popular resistance against the colonialists, and he was the mastermind and planner of a group of resistance operations.
With the passage of time, his followers multiplied, which made the Marinid authorities annoyed with him, so the governor ordered him to leave my regrets. The same situation he encountered in a group of cities to which he moved. His followers multiplied with the entry of Portuguese and Spanish colonization, and after his departure to Massa Bsous he met the same situation.
And he was forced to leave, so he had no choice but to go to Afogal in Al-Shayazma… and to silence him, those who were lying in wait for him had nothing but to kill him with poison. After his death, there were many places for his burial, as it was stated in the book of Al-Janboubi that he was buried first in Tasurt and Tafogalt, before he was buried in Marrakesh.
And it came in the book “Al-Istiqsa” by Al-Nasseri that one of Al-Jazuli’s followers, “Amr bin Suleiman Al-Shaizmi Al-Mughiti, nicknamed “Al-Muraidi”, decided to take revenge on those who poisoned his Sheikh Al-Jazuli, and led the armies for about 20 years.
And in every battle, he carried the coffin of his treacherous sheikh at the front of the army, seeking blessing from him, just as the disciples of al-Jazuli carried with them his book “Dala’il al-Khayrat” in their wallets whenever they went to battle, seeking help from him.
And when Abu Al-Abbas Ahmed Al-Saadi took over, he dug a grave in Marrakesh and buried the body of Sheikh Al-Jazouli in the Riyadh Al-Arous neighborhood, and built a thick wall over it so that his followers would not exhume his grave.
