2.9.17 - Shaykh Abu Ali Hasan al-Shakkaz

He was one of our group in Seville and died in that city. Being one of those who served our Shaykh al-Adawi (see section [ref:al-adawi) until he died, this man was very prone to weeping and tears were seldom absent from his eyes. He used to keep company with an uncle of mine on my father’s side who was one of the elites of the Folk of God.

One night while I was at his house, he put down a new mat to pray on and, as he prayed, tears fell upon the mat. On the second day he took the mat away from that place, and the spot where his tears had fallen had begun to rot. I kept company with him from the time I entered the order till the day he died.

He was very attached to the married state and could not do without it. Our Shaykh al-Shubarbuli (see section [ref:al-shubarbili) wanted to arrange a marriage between him and a niece of his. One day, Umm al-Zahra came to him and told him of the Shaykh’s wish. The day was a Sunday. When he heard the news he bowed his head for a time, as if engaged in secret conversation. Then he got up and said: Of all men I would dearly like to be related to the Shaykh al-Shubarbuli, but I have already married and after five days I will produce my bride. When he was asked to whose daughter he had become married, he replied: You will soon see! Having returned to his house he retired to his bed for five days and died.

He would take the most bitter-tasting plants and feed them to you as if they were sweetmeats. He was possessed of many spiritual graces and I benefited much from my association with him. His method was that enunciated in the Forty Traditions of al-Suhaili. He was a man of great courage and lived by his own labors after his death his brother saw him in a vision and asked of him how God had treated him, to which he replied, Everyday he gives me work enough for eight days.

He was always fasting and often followed the practice of connecting day-and-night fasting. He prayed much and avoided the company of all save his own kind. He was endowed with a great sense of humor for things spoken in a truthful spirit, but he hated falsehood and could not tolerate liars.

One day he went to the quarter of the (Banu Salih) to soak some skins in the river and then to stretch them out in the sun. As he was doing this a woman of Seville passed by. The Sevillians and their womenfolk are a witty and graceful people. She called her companion over to her and suggested to her that they enjoy a joke at the fellow’s expense, since he was a tanner. It must be explained that among us the word Shakkaz means one who is engaged in the bleaching and softening of skins and that the people of the locality use the word as a nickname for men who want nothing to do with women, in other words men who are soft-limbed like the skins they work with. The woman came and stood by him, but he was absorbed in Invocation which he performed tirelessly. She said, Peace be upon you, brother. He returned the greeting and immediately went back to his Invocation. Then she asked him what he did for a living. He told her to leave him alone, knowing very well the object of her question. Then she said, You are not going to get away as easily as that. Then he smiled and said, I soak what is dry, soften what is stiff and pluck what is hairy, (thus avoiding the use of the word Shakkaz). Thereupon she laughed and said, We wanted to catch him out, but he was outwitted us instead.

He was a man of great spiritual influence, sound of heart, who never bore anyone a grudge. He was blissfully unaware of the ways of men and could not imagine how anyone could disobey God.

Then in al-Durrah al-Fakhirah, he says: He never uttered the word T, nor did I ever hear him utter it. Because of an uncle of mine would often stay with us during my period of ignorance before coming to the order.

We had sought a lady’s hand for him in marriage and had resolved to see it through. I became ill, however, and when he came to visit me I spoke with him on the matter. He said, My brother, I am already married and on Thursday I will enter my bridal home. This was on Saturday. Then he left me. Sometime after Umm al-Zahra came to see me, a woman dedicated to the Way of God. I mentioned to her what was afoot. When she had left me she went to him and discovered that almost as soon as he had left me he had fallen ill. When she spoke to him on the matter of the marriage, he said, O Fatimah, after five days I will enter my bridal chamber, as I told my brother Ibn all Arabi. She asked, With whom will you marry, and how is it that you have a secret from us? He replied, My sister, you will know on Thursday. On Thursday he died, was buried and entered heaven, if God wills, a bridegroom on the night of Friday.