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3.1.6 - In the City of Ceuta (Ramadan 589/1193)

At the other side of the strait, Shaykh Muhyiddin passed through the Moroccan city of Ceuta, a city that was the starting point for the Islamic armies that crossed towards Andalusia. In addition to its commercial importance, it has great geographical significance because it overlooks all the ships crossing Gibraltar, and that’s why it is called the Door of Jihad. During the Almoravid era, the city of Ceuta became one of their most important centers of war, and Yusuf Ibn Tashefin stayed in it for a period of time to supervise the Islamic army, which he sent to support their brothers in Andalusia at the end of the first era of the Kings of the Sects, as we summarized in Chapter I. The city then witnessed violent resistance to Almohads because its inhabitants, led by the renounced Judge Abu al-Fadl Ayyad Ibn Mousa al-Husaybi al-Maliki (446/1054 - 544/1150) rejected the rule of Almohads who did not follow the Maliki school, which was the doctrine of most of the people of Maghreb at the time.

In addition, the city of Ceuta, during the time of the Greatest Shaykh in Maghreb, was one of the most important centers of scientific movement in the Moroccan coast, and had hundreds of mosques, scientific libraries and Houses for the Sufis and poor people of God.

In this city, Shaykh Muhyiddin met with its scholars, including Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Ubaydullah al-Hajari (died 591/1194), and he attended his lessons and read Sahih al-Bukhari on him. In his introduction to the Meccan conquests, Shaykh Muhyiddin stated that he had visited him in his house and narrated from him the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that he had taken from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, two pots of science; one that had broadcasted and one he kept unrevealed, because otherwise people may accuse him with blasphemy [Futuhat: I.32]