Encyclopedia of Islam

Shadhili Sufi Order

  

615  J

---

duties such as pilgrimage, 

prayer

, and fasting. For 

example, al-Shadhili performed the 

hajj

 to m

ecca

every two years, and he promised to protect and 

assist any of his followers who accompanied him. 

Equally important is living a full work and fam-

ily life within the larger Muslim community. This 

sober and pragmatic approach to Sufism has made 

this movement attractive to middle- and upper-

class Muslims to the present day.

Few Sufi tariqas have had as widespread an 

influence as the Shadhiliyya. Shadhiliyya move-

ments rapidly spread throughout Egypt and across 

North Africa, and they reached i

ran

 during its 

first century. Though it was initially associated 

with elites in urban settings, subsequent leaders 

from around the Islamic world transformed the 

orientation of the movement leading to the devel-

opment of popular movements with mass appeal. 

Subsequently, Shadhiliyya movements appeared 

in West and e

ast

  a

Frica

  and the islands of the 

Indian Ocean. Today new branches of the Shad-

hiliyya continue to form and attract new follow-

ers such as the Burhaniya Disuqiyah, founded by 

Shaikh Muhammad Uthman Abdu (d. 1983) in the 

s

Udan

, which subsequently spread to Egypt and 

s

yria

. The 20th century has also seen Shadhiliyya 

branches established in new regions of the world 

such as e

Urope

, North America, and South Asia.

Shauna Huffaker