Muhammad ibn al-Habib

Moroccan writer (1876–1972)

Muhammad ibn al Habib ibn as Siddiq al Amghari al Idrisi al Hasani (1876–1972), was a Moroccan Islamic teacher, author, and shaykh of the Darqawi tariqa in Morocco.

Muhammad Ibn al Habib was born in Fes in 1876. At the proper age, he went to the Qur'anic kuttab at Qantara Abu'r Ru'us where he studied with Sidi al Hashimi as Sanhaji, learning Quranic reading, writing and recitation. He also studied with Sidi Ahmad al Filali in the school of Qasba an Nawwar and memorised the Qur'an under him. In about 1894, he began studies at the Abu'l Junud Mosque, studying with Sidi Mahmad al Irari, concentrating on the Ajrummiyya, the Alfiyya, as Sullam by al Bannani and at Tirmidhi's Shamā'il. Then in the Al Qarawiyyin mosque, he studied Khalil's Mukhtasar including its commentaries by az Zurqani, al Bannani and al Kharashi, with Sidi Ahmad ibn al Jilali al Amghari. He studied the Tuhfa with the commentary of Shaykh at Tawudi ibn Sawda and the Collection of the Adab of the Teacher and Student by Shaykh Khalil with Sidi Abu Bakr ibn al 'Arabi Bannani. He studied part of Sahih Bukhari and the Hikam of Ibn 'Ata Allah with Ahmad ibn al Khayyat az Zargari. He studied az Zaqqaqiyya with the margin which the shaykh himself wrote, with Sidi 'Abdu's' Salam al Huwari; the Alfiyya with the commentary of al Makudi and al Muwaddih with Sidi Khalil al Khalidi; part of the Jami' al Jawami' and part of the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal with Muhammad ibn Jaafar al Kittani; Khalil's Mukhtasar, a summary of the Mukhtasar as Sa'd, and part of Tawhid al Murshid with the commentary of Shaykh at Tayyib ibn Kiran with Sidi J. Muhammad Fatha Junun. From Moulay 'Abdullah ibn Idris al Badrawi, he learned Sahih Bukhari, part of Khalil's Mukhtasar, al Isti'ara of Shaykh at Tayyib ibn Kiran, and part of the Hamziyya by al Busiri with the commentary of Ibn Hajar. He learned part of Khalil's Mukhtasar, ash Shifa' by Qadi Iyad ibn Musa and part of al Murshid al Mu'in by Mayyara from Sidi Hammad as Sanhaji. He also studied al Murshid al Mu'in from Sidi Muhammad ibn 'Abdu'r Rahman al Filali.

He stopped his studies in 1901 and began voluntary instruction at the Qasba an Nawwar mosque, teaching al Murshid al Mu'in, Khalil's Mukhtasar, the Muwatta of Imam Malik, as Sanusiyya, and tafsir. He continued to undertake the tasks of his educational and secondary work until he immigrated to Meknès in 1936. There he continued his scholarly activity by giving lessons in the Zaytuna Mosque on tafsir and fiqh using the Risala of al Qayrawani, and in tasawwuf using the Hikam, al Murshid al Mu'in, the ash Shifa of Qadi Iyad, Bennani's commentary on Imam al Akhdari's as Sullam (a short poem on logic), and al Makkudi's commentary on the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik, a 1000 lined poem on the sciences of the Arabic language.

Badr ud din ad Dismishqi gave him a written ijazah in Damascus and he also received one from the Qadi of Tlemcen, Sidi Abu Shu'ayb, and oral ijazahs from Ahmad ibn al Jilali al Amghari, and Sidi Abu Bakr ibn al 'Arabi Bannani. In 1931 he went to Mecca for hajj and met with many scholars, including Shaykh Bakhit al Muti'i and Shaykh as Simaluti. In Syria he met Tawfiq al Ayyubi and Badur'd din ad Dimishaqi. Later he travelled to Algiers and met Sidi Muhammad ibn Jalul and Sidi Ahmad in Blida, and Sidi Muhammad al Qadi in the Oujda area. While there, he gave lessons on Sahih Bukhari and al Murshid al Mu'in with the commentary of Shaykh at Tayyib ibn Kiran. He left Meknès, in the company of his wives, intending to performing a third hajj in December of 1971, but died in Blida on January 10, 1972. He was buried on the same day in the Darqawi zawiya which he himself had inaugurated. On January 31 of the same year he was re buried at Darb al Pasha (Meknès), in his zawiya near the Zaytuna mosque.