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Founder of Rifa'i Sufi Order

Ahmad ibn Ali al Rifa'i (أَحْمَد ابْن عَلِي ٱلرِّفَاعِي) was a Sunni Muslim preacher, ascetic, mystic, jurist, and theologian, known for being the eponymous founder of the Rifaʽi tariqa (Sufi order) of Islam. The Rifaʽi order had its greatest following until it was overtaken by the Qadiri order. The Rifaʽi order is most commonly found in the Arab Middle East but also in Turkey, the Balkans and South Asia. His tomb and shrine is located at a mosque bearing his namesake in Al Rifai, a town at southern Iraq near Baghdad.

Shaykh Ahmad al Rifāī was born in the Hasen Region of Wasit, Iraq, during the first half of Rajab of the lunar months. When he was seven years old, his father Sayyid Sultan Ali al Batahi died in Baghdad. After that, his uncle Shaykh Mansur al Rabbani al Batahi took him under his protection and educated him. Shaykh Ahmad al Rifāī was a Husayni Sayyid and his lineage is recorded as follows: He is Ahmad bin Ali, bin Yahya, bin Thabit, bin Ali, bin Ahmad al Murtada, bin Ali, bin Hasan al Asghar, bin Mahdi, bin Muhammad, bin Hasan al Qasim, bin Husayn, bin Ahmad al Salih al Akbar, bin Musa al Thani, bin Ibrahim al Murtada, bin Musa al Kazim, bin Ja'far al Sadiq, bin Muhammad al Baqir, bin Ali Zayn al Abidin, bin Husayn, bin Ali bin Abi Talib and Fatimah al Zahra, the daughter of Muhammad. He learned the Quran from Shaykh Abd al Sami al Hurbuni in Hasen, his birthplace. He committed to memorising the whole of the Quran at the age of seven. During the same year, after the death of his father, his uncle Mansur al Batahi transferred him and his family to Dikla region. There, his uncle sent him to Abu al Fadl Ali al Wasiti who was an expert in the canon law of Islam, a commentator on the Quran and a preacher. While attending dhikr meetings of his uncle Shaykh Mansur al Rabbani, he also attended the courses of his other uncle Shaykh Abu Bakr who was a major scientific figure at the time. He memorised the book “Tanbih” concerning Fiqh (Muslim canonical jurisprudence) of Imam Al Shafi'i which belongs to Shaykh al Islam Imam Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ali al Shirazi. He also wrote an explanation about such a book (however this explanation was lost during the Mongol invasions).