3.3.2 - Shaykh Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Khamis al-Kinani

Shaykh Abu Abdullah al-Kinani al-Jarrah, who was a surgeon, , also known as Ibn al-Murâbi? “the persisting”, is one of the prominent shaykhs who learned under Shaykh Abu Madyan who also lived in Tunis for while on his way back from Mecca. His spiritual attainments were such that Abu Madyan once said, when he was at Pechina: “If I had janah (a wing) I would fly to al-Jarrah”.

After he arrived in Tunis, Shaykh Muhyiddin went to visit him in his house, the ma?ras where he was retiring or persisting (Murâbi?), and he made the journey bare-footed despite the intense heat, following the example of his two Shaykhs Abu Yaqoub and Abu Muhammad al-Mawruri who told him that they had made their visit to him in this fashion, because of the spiritual grace that he possessed.

However, Shaykh Muhyiddin explains in al-Durrah al-Fakhirah that when he had traveled half the distance, he met a man coming in the opposite direction who said to him: “In the name of God, the Shaykh told me to meet you and tell you to put on your sandals again, because he knows of your intention (to visit him) and has prepared food for you.” Then, when he arrived he found that the Shaykh came out to receive him at some distance from his house, and he was leaning on a stick because of his advanced age. When they met, he showed great pleasure at seeing Ibn al-Arabi, who sat with him for many days discussing the gnostic sciences. He remained in his company less than a year, and shortly after that he passed away, may Allah have mercy upon him.

In the Holy Spirit, Shaykh Muhyiddin also says that Shaykh Muhammad Al-Kinani was retiring in Marsa Abdoun, a marina or a light-house on a hill-top close by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Tunis. He was a prominent man among the people, and one of the Shaykhs of Abdul-Aziz al-Mahdawi, whom we shall mention in following section, yet he did not realize his true worth, since the Shaykh concealed much of himself from him. Nevertheless, when Shaykh Muhyiddin, young as he was at this era, knew his elevated statues, and before he leaves him, al-Kinani urged him not to tell Abdul-Aziz al-Mahdawi of his true state, nor anyone else. He even bade to put it out from his mind.

In the Meccan Revelations, Shaykh Muhyiddin mentions his story of meeting the Khader for the second time here in Tunisia, where alludes that this saints used to visit al-Kinani frequently in his ma?ras in Marsa Abdoun. We shall mention the details of this story in section

ef(khader2 below.