Reaching the Purpose and the Goal in the Virtues of the Pole Sidi El-Haj Abdel-Salam

About this book

Between time's folds, and in the heart of Morocco that never ceased birthing secrets, the curtain of oblivion rises off a manuscript that remained prisoner of dusty shelves for decades, to return today in a rigorous scholarly dress revealing an exceptional face of Sufi and political history. This book is no mere narration of a saint's virtues, but an investigative journey into the life of "the Pole Sidi El-Haj Abdel-Salam El-Wazani," that personality who lived in the storm's heart during the second half of the nineteenth century. In a style blending "clay and religion," author Mohamed El-Arabi El-Wazani traces the noble lineage and miracles transmitted about the sheikh, while at the same time opening a half-closed window on an era when Morocco stood at a crossroads between authenticity and modernization waves coming from beyond the seas. The book sails into the world of the Wazzaniyya zawiya, that beacon not contenting itself with spiritual education, but a pivotal player in momentous events, from Tetouan's battles to the complexities of the Protectorate.