Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and 

Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran

(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1989); Denis 

MacEoin, Rituals in Babism and Bahaism (London: Brit-

ish Academic Press, 1994).

al-Badawi, Ahmad

 

(ca. 1200–1276)  one of 

the most popular Sufi saints in Egypt; honored every 

year by two commemorative festivals

According to reverential accounts of his life, 

Ahmad al-Badawi (the b

edoUin

) was born to a 

family in F

ez

,  m

orocco

, that traced its ancestry 

back to the 

ahl

 

al

-

bayt

, m

Uhammad

’s family. This 

is why many Egyptians call him al-

sayyid

 (master), 

which implies descent from the Prophet. Legends 

portray him in two different ways in his youth: as 

a saintly child who memorized the entire q

Uran

and studied Islamic law and as a noble Bedouin 

horseman. Together with his parents, he traveled 

on pilgrimage from Morocco to m

ecca

. After 

being instructed by a mysterious voice, he went 

to i

raq

 with his brother to visit the tombs of two 

leading Sufi 

saints

,  a

bd

 

al

-q

adir

 

al

-J

ilani

 (d. 

1166) and Ahmad al-Rifai (d. 1182). On his way 

back to Mecca, according to legend, he defeated 

a beautiful genie and her demon army and con-

verted her into a pious devotee, thus demonstrat-

ing his superior saintly power. While he was in 

Mecca in 1238, a voice once again spoke to him 

while praying in a cave as Muhammad used to 

do. This time the voice told him to go to the delta 

town of Tanta, e

gypt

, where he resided for the 

rest of his life, claiming to receive guidance from 

Muhammad himself. In Tanta, Ahmad al-Badawi 

surpassed all other rivals in his acts of 

asceticism

and demonstrations of his 

baraka

 (saintly power). 

Egypt’s rulers honored him, and it is even said that 

he battled Christian crusaders. After his death in 

1276, his followers organized themselves into a 

Sufi brotherhood known as the Ahmadiyya, one 

of the largest in Egypt today, and they converted 

his tomb into a shrine. He is considered to be one 

of the four primary holy men (qutbs) of Egypt, 

and he has been the subject of Egyptian folktales, 

novels, and television dramas.

Every year millions flock to his shrine to par-

ticipate in his mulids (commemorative festivals). 

Prior to the modern period, the main festival 

was in August, at the height of the Nile flood 

season. Now that dams and levees have ended 

the annual inundation, it is in October, at the 

end of the harvest season. The second festival is 

held in the spring. Sufi brotherhoods gather in 

Tanta to perform their dhikrs (religious chants) 

and other rituals, while ordinary pilgrims come 

to seek his blessing to cure an illness, become 

successful in school or business, gain debt relief, 

or satisfy some other personal need. Many have 

their sons circumcised in booths near the Ahmadi 

Mosque hoping to alleviate the danger of infec-

tion. Visitors return home with mementos of their 

pilgrimage, such as trinkets, sweets flavored with 

rosewater, and chickpeas. These are distributed to 

friends and relatives in the belief that they contain 

some of Sayyid Ahmad’s baraka. The Egyptian 

government closely regulates the shrine and its 

festivals, and despite the saint’s widespread popu-

larity, reform-minded and conservative Muslims 

condemn the mulids and the practices associated 

with them because they think it is 

bidaa

, a corrup-

tion of what they believe is the true Islam.

See also 

circUmcision

; 

crUsades

.