Muhammad al-Jazuli

Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli al-Simlali(ar:محمد إبن سليمان لجزولي السّملالي الحسني ) (died 1465), often known as "Imam al-Jazuli", was a Moroccan Sufi leader of the Berber tribe of the Jazulah. He is best known for compiling the Dala'il al-Khayrat, an extremely popular Muslim prayer book. This book is divided into 7 sections for each day of the week. Many Moroccans consider al-Jazuli to be one the seven saints of Marrakesh.

Biography
Al-Jazuli lived in the historic Sous area of Morocco, situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlas Mountains. He studied locally and then went to the Madrasat As-Saffarîn in Fes where his room is still pointed out to visitors today. In Fes he memorized works of usul al-fiqh and Maliki law, such as Ibn al-Hajib’s Mukhtasr al-Far’i and Sahnun’s Al-Mudawwana al-Kubra. He also met the famous jurist and mystic Ahmad Zarruq. After settling a tribal feud he left the area and spent the next forty years in Makkah, Medina and Jerusalem. After his long journey, he returned to Fez where he completed the prayer book Dala'il al-Khayrat.

He was initiated into the Shadhili Tariqa, a Sufi order, by a descendant of Abu Abdallah Mohammed Amghar, the sheikh of the Banu Amghar. He spent fourteen years in Khalwa (seclusion) and then went to Safi where he gathered around him many followers. The governor of Safi felt obliged to expel him and later poisoned him which led to his death in 1465. He is said to have died during prayer. His tomb in Afoughal became the center of the Saadi dynasty Saadian resistance against the Portuguese. His deep respect for al-Jazouli was the reason that Abu Abdallah al-Qaim chose Afoughal as his residence.

It is claimed that in 1541, seventy-seven years after his death, his body was exhumed to be transferred to Marrakesh and found to be uncorrupted. In the northern part of the Medina of Marrakesh the Saadi sultan Ahmad al-Araj (1517–1544) had a mausoleum built for al-Jazouli. The mausoleum was enlarged and partly rebuilt during the reign of the sultans Moulay Ismael and Mohammed Ben Abdallah.