`Ayyashi, Al-, `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad

(1628-1679)

   His full name is Sidi Abdellah Ibn Mohammed Al-`Ayyashi, known also as Abu Salem Al-`Ayyashi. He was a Moroccan author, born of a family of the Aït `Ayyash tribe living in the High Atlas Mountains region. He was a devoted member of the Dila religious order. Al-`Ayyashi studied religious sciences in Fès, especially the Sufi or mystical aspects, and then traveled about in the Arab East with long stays in Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Cairo, either teaching or attending religious seminars given by the prominent scholars of the day. He wrote numerous treatises on religious and philosophical topics, but his claim to fame rests on his Ma'u al Mawa'id, a travel book (al rihla al `Iyyashiya) containing information on scholars, theologians, and intellectual activities of the places he visited. Abu Salem is buried in Zawiya Sidi Hamza, northeast of Rich, as are the other members of the zawiya, or religious lodge. Zawiya is still active as a pilgrimage center, and the offsprings of the zawiya still hold an agdud (festival) every year during the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.