Prophetic Praise and Sufi Hearing in Morocco     

 

Introduction

There is no doubt that the beginning of the Prophetic Praise started with the the emergence of the Islamic Call(daawa).No wonder,the first recital texts that crosses our minds in this respect was what Banou Najjar and the supporters(Al Ansar) welcomed the Prophet (pbuh= with when He reached the Madinah

O the white moon rose over us
From the valley of Vida thus

Gratefulness is compulsory for us to show
Where the inviter is towards Allah anyhow

 

It is mentioned in Sirat Ibn Hicham tha the Prophet(pbuh) when he was guest of Abi Ayoub Al Ansari, He ordered to build the first mosque in Islam(Al Quba’a).He was contributing to the building with enthusiasm and devotion.When some of  His Companions saw Him working with vividness and happiness in digging the basis and moving rocks,while some of them went to have some rest after hard work,they started chanting:

 

While we sat down and the Prophet works

That’s a shame and unworthy deed

So, they stood up to resume building while chanting:

Oh Allah, there si no welfare as in the other world

May Almighty bless the Supporters and Emigrants

 

And in, Al Ahzab Battle , when the Companions were digging a trench, they were singing to urge each other for more work, and The Prophet(pbuh) was also participating.They were reciting The Companion Abdullah ben Rawahah’s poetry

We swear without Almighty we wouldn’t  be guided

Wouldn’t pray nor would we dole

Keep us in peace

 Guide us if we miss the path

We were tempted to engage in

disorder and mess but we refused

 

While talking about the beginning if Islam,we shouln’t forget to mention some poets whose poems were a valuable inexhaustible source to the art of Prophetic Praise both in old times           and recently.We mentioned earlier some of  Abdullah ben Rawahah’s poetry recited while digging the trench.We add some more:

 

I sacrifice my soul to whose morals witnessed

He is the best born of humankind

His virtues overwhelmed all people

As sun and moon submerge earth

 

And what chanters have kept repeating up to our modern days ,what Hassan Ibn Thabet said when his people sent him to lampoon The Prophet (pbuh)

 

When I saw his light shining forth, 
In fear I covered my eyes with my palms, 
Afraid for my sight because of the beauty of his form. 
So I was scarcely able to look at him at all. 
The lights from his light are drowned in his light 
and his faces shines out like the sun and moon in one. 
A spirit of light lodged in a body like the moon, 

 

What is widely known among channters these verses of Hassan Ibn Thabit

 

 

Cut from his name to make it more solemn

The owner of the Throne is worthy of thanks and this id Muhammad

A Prophet came to us after long despair and moment

Of messengers and idols people worshiped

He became an illuminating light and guide

Sparkles like glimmers the glittering sword

 

 

We cannot forget to mention Kaab ibno Malik and Kaab Ibno Zohair.It is known that this latter had already written vilifying poems about  the Holy Prophet(pbuh) when his brother Bujayr sent him a message about the compassion and leniency of the Messenger(pbuh) asked him to embrace Islam The Prophet(pbuh) ordered his killing,but soon he came to meet the Proghet regretting and asking for mercy and forgiveness by reciting his poem the Cloak(Al Burdah) that starts:

 

Su'ad is gone, my heart stunned,

lost in her traces, shackled, unransomed.

 

Apologizing to The Prophet saying:

They say God's messenger

threatens me. Before the messenger of God

one hopes for pardon.

Then I came to him toapologize  for my slip.

And apology to The Messenger is appreciated

 

He continues praising the Prophet(pbuh):

The prophet is a gleam that illuminates

One of the swords of God at anytime is unsheathed

 

Then He moves to talk about The Prophet’s Migration:

 

Some young men of (Kuresh) their spokesman had said

Who, they confess their Islam at once they were exiled

 

He praises the Prophrt’s Companions:

Haughty, high-nosed champions, who on battle day

Don shirts of David’s weave,

They never will be at rejoicing if their javelins caught something.
And never become worry when they are beaten at the battle.

The spear does not pierce them except in the throat,

Nor do they shrink from death’s water troughs

 

 

 

Prophetic Praise and Sufi Hearing in Morocco: 

 

According to Pr. Abbas Al Jirari talking about a Moroccan Prophetic Praise leads automatically to mention some pioneering poems in this respect and their artistic connotation.Pr Jirari mentions the Chakratissia poem attributed to Abi Muhammad Abdellah Ibn Yahya Achakratissi Attouzari who died the year 46 Hijri in which He says:

Thank God the sender of Messengers

Guidance by Ahmed to the best of paths

 

Dr Jirari also cites the poem “Ascention of virtues and platform of piercing lineage” of Abou Abdellah bnou Abi Al KIhissal who died the year 540 Hijri.It starts

 

To You my understanding and my heart is in Yathrib

Though I am far away from Hirae

        In his introduction to the book of” Poem of the Cloak” (Quassida Al Burdah) coordinated and presented by the pioneer of Prophet praisers late Sidi Abdellatif Benmansour Dr Jariri mentions the Prophetic Praise flourished because it was associated with the Sufi Trends in the 17^th Century, maily with the emergence of a school in Egypt that he labeled Moroccan whose  on e of its masterminds  was Abou Al abbas Al Morsi student of Abou Al Hassan Achadili who himseft was pupil of Moulay Abdessalam Ben M’chich,who is buried in Al Alam Mount.

            It goes without saying that Abou Al Abbas Al Morsi had taught Charaf Eddine Al Boussiri originally from Morocco but was born in Egypt.He belogs to Sanhaja Tribe whose poem Al  The Mantle (Al Burdah) became the pillar of the art of Sufi Hearing in Morocco.

            What, also was pointed at during this same century(17^th),was the celebratioàn of The Birth of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) by tha Al Azfiyine family in Ceuta.The prince of Ceuta at the time ,Abou Al Kassem Al Azfi, realized his father ,Abou Al Abbas’s invitation to those festivities ,because the latter didn’t  appreciate seeing Muslim people celebrating Christians’ceremonies so He drew complete attention and concern to  the Birth of The Master of all Humankind,The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh).

            Abou Al Kassim finished his father’s book ‘The structured perals in praising the

Holy Prophet”

 

And He offered a copy of the book to the  Al Mohades’ Khalifa Omar Al Mortadha who in his turn started commemorating the night of The Prophet’s Birtth (pbuh) in Marrakech

 

During the era of Banou Marine, the commemoration of the Prophet’s Birth (pbuh) became official especially with Abou Al Hassan Al Marini and his sons Abou Inane , Abou Salem and Abou Fares the 1^st. In his book ‘The righteous Datum…” Abou Marzouk described the celebrations  ‘Once everyone is seated and silence overwhelms the atmosphere, an intoner starts reciting some verses of the Holy Quran,then he was followed by the dean of chanters  who presents his performance”.One of the characteristics of The Merinides’ concern with the Birth of the Prophetr(pbuh) was that Abou Inane used to strike a golden  coin which He presented as a gift to one of the prestigious guests of the occasion.

 

It is worth mentioning that the celebration of the Birth of the Prophetr(pbuh) spread widely in the Western Islamic country with Banou Ziane in Telemsane on the ear of the Sultan Abou Hammou Moussa the 2^nd, and the Hafsiyine Family in Tunisia and also in Andalusia, , and starting from the 8^th century of  Hijra.

        We mentioned earlier that  the Al Mohades’Kahlifa Omar Al Mortadha celebrated night  Birthday feast of  of the Prophetr(pbuh) in Marrakech,which references have described as a source of welfare and blessings. And on which the scholar Ahmad Ibn Assabbagh Al Jodhami Al Andaloussi wrote a praising poem saying:

.It bestows with the memory of the Holy  Prophet

And in His praising the best of  living

Ô chanter praising the Prophet

Your Hearing is healing

May God bless you re-praise Muhammad

The souls are delighted, the self is relaxed

 

In this same poem when chanters reach the verse that recites the birth of the Prophet (pbuh), they stand up saying:

Standing on feet on behalf of our Master

Tha Angels,the demons and humans glorify Him

 

It is as well very important to say that by the end of the Al Mohavides’ era and the beginning of The Merinides, many poets lived in the Maghreb ,East and in Andalusia whose poetic performances were a fertile soil to the  lords of the Prophetic Praise and the Hearing in Morocco.As an example,Abou Al Hassan AChichtari , Omar Ibn Al farid , Al Imam Al Bussiri,Abou Madine Al Ghouth,Mohyiddine bnou Arabi,Malik bnou Al Murahal and Lissa Eddine Bnou Al Khatib who said

 

Muhammad the best human being and Allah’s most beloved

His good manners spread and overwhelmed the universe

Before His birth the most Merciful honored Him

And with Intercession on Doomsday god satisfies Him

 

At the era of Saadiens:

The arrival of the Saadiens to power was the result of their fights against the Poruguese who occupied the Moroccan coastal areas.It is known the role of the Jazouli zaouia,branch of The Saadiens’Chadili Sufi Trend, who are of arab origins and pure lineage.It is crystal clear that the role of the Zaouia Addilalia was crucial in promoting the cultural life in Morocco at that time.It was set up by the Cheikh Abou Bakr Ibn Muhammad Ibn Said who died the year 1021 Hijri in Addalae village near the town of Khenifra.His son Muhammad was known for his keenness on Sufi Hearing and its melodies to the point that his teacher ahmed Ibn Al Kadi blamed him by saying:

 

I knew you wouldn’t get younger with one grey hair

But why after you got old you became childish

The Dallai replied:

Yes the lightening of beauty loomed in horizon

and I obeyed after I resisted

 

Abdelaziz Al Fachtali,in his book “Pureness sources in the news of noble kings”(Manahil Safa fi Akhbar Al Molouk Achorafa) drew a thorough description of the celebration of the Birthday of the Prophet (pbuh) by Ahmad Al Mansour Assaadi.He said

‘Once flowers are settled and rows are established,the chanters and intoners start up and the audience  repeat sounds with soft and coherent rhythms special to the occasion of praising the Holy Prophet(pbuh) which they name the Birthday melodies’ He continues “ Once souls have satisfied their thurst of hearing the holy Birthday melodies,the chanters  step forward  to to recite from Sheikh Abou Al Hassan Achichtari words and from what those of  Sufis.all this is crossed by the chanting of the intoners from the two verses mentioned above,ceasing the opportunity to excel and perform perfectly.

We deduce from the description of Abdelaziz Al Fachtali(956/1031Hijri) who benefited from Ahmed Al Mansours hospitality ,the fact that urged him to say about Al Mansour “ We are proud of him more than all other kings on earth and we compete him with Lissan Eddine Ibn Al Khatib, who was a minister of Al Mansour.We deduce clear features of how the night of the Birthday of the Holy Prophet(pbuh) was celebrated during the Saadiens era:They started with praising the Prophet(pbuh) through reciting the birthday melodies the they moved to the Sufi Hearing. We also find in this description a saying on chanting the two verses, and this is one kind of chants used in the instrument rapture (Tarab Al Ala) as in panegyric and Hearing, that we’ll explain later on. In this description We also come across the technical term “Occasion” whose terminological background will be thoroughly discussed later on.

 

The Alaouites Era.

 

                After Morocco had witnessed a chaos the end of the Saadiens rule,mainly after the death of Ahmed Al Mansour Adhahbi and the mutual affray between his sons on seizing power,God sent to this peaceful country Moulay Abdellah Acharif to use weapon to unite the whole country.This matter will be realized by three of his sons,Moulay Mhammad,Moulay Rachid and Al Mawla Ismail.Terefore,the art of Panegyric and Hearing flourished and gained satisfaction, embodied in several writings either those researching in permitting or forbidding it or those related to its rhymes and melodies and those gathering its poems and its usefulness.In this respect we mention book “Shading lights on showing what helpsin  praising the Chosen Prophet”(Fath Al Anwar fi bayani ma yaain ala madh annabyi al mokhtar) written by Muhammad Ibn Al Arabi Addilai Arribati who died in 1869.

                 The sources declare that when Al Mawla Muhammad Ibn Abderrahmane had finished building his new castle which is the present Palace in Al Machwar Assaid,He set up a gorgeous ceremony to which He invited the intoners chanters from Rabat and Salé.Abderrahmane Ibn Zidane,in his book”Cherishing nobles” describes  the night of the Holy Birthday on the presence of Al Mawla Al Hassan 1st saying: “When the Sultan came in, He invited the intoners to sit in front of Him and started listening to and enjoying colorful diversified excerpts of the Cloak(Al Burdah ) and Al Homazia and others from the Prophetic Praise chants and poems.When chanters reach the verse in Al Bussiri’s Cloak that says ‘Safety, Safety”,the sultan stands up and the chanters intoners stop chanting till dawn of the next night the chanters caom back and resume from where they paused

 

 

 

Abdessealm Al Khalloufi

Teacher of Moroccan  Musical heritage

At the Regional Center of the Professions of Sducation and Training,Rabat