ORIGINS OF THE IDAW ALIThe Idaw ‘Ali are one of the two most prominent and influentialzuwaya groups in Mauritania, the other being the Kunta, disseminatorsof the Qadiriyya tariqa in West Africa who claim to be descendants ofthe great Arab hero and conqueror of North Africa, Uqba b. Nafi. Thebasis of the prestige of the Idaw ‘Ali rested in part on their widelyrecognized sharifian origin. Another basis of their prestige was theirintroduction of the Tijaniyya tariqa in Mauritania As descendants ofProphet Muhammed, the Idaw ‘Ali occupied a noble and privilegedposition in the society that placed them above the other zawaya and laygroups in Mauritania.The Idaw ‘Ali traditions, as reported by Sidi Abd-allah b. al-HajjIbrahim al-‘Alawi (d. 1818) in his treatise, “Sahihat al-Naql fi AlawiyatIdaw ‘Ali wa Bakriyat Muhammed Ghull” (The Authenticity of theDescee Idaw ‘Ali from Caliph ‘Ali and that of Muhammed Ghull fromCaliph ‘Abu Bakr al-Siddiq), state unequivocally that the Idaw ‘Alidescended from ‘Ali b. ‘Abu Talib (d. 661), son-in-law of the Prophet andfourth Caliph, through an eponymous ancestor ‘Ali b. Yahya. SidiAbdallah maintains that:. . .the Idawa ‘Ali are the descendants of ‘Ali b. Yahya and to bereckoned the progeny of ‘Ali b. ‘Abu Talib (May God bepleased with him). We know of no disagreement between thosewho are learned in that which has been handed down, bothwritten and spoken, and those who have been favored withspiritual illumination regarding it.This genealogy is said to have been examined and declared sound by SidiMukhtar al-Kunti, the founding father of the Qadiriyya-Mukhtariyyabrotherhood in West Africa. Furthermore, the author of “Sahihat al-Naql” adduced numerous quotations which he related to genealogistsand scholars of Mauritania and the Orient to prove the validity of theIdaw ‘Ali’s claim to shar(fian ancestry.Sidi Abdallah relates in “Sahihat al-Naql” that he was informed bySidi Ahmed al-Daymani, the famed scholar of the Awlad Daymanzawaya group, that the Idaw ‘Ali descended from the house of theProphet. According to al-Daymani, the Idaw ‘Ali. . .are the progeny of ‘Ali and.. . both their young and their oldcontinue to trace their lineage to him in spite of the paucity ofthat which God has allotted to them in support of their claim.Sidi Abdallah also relates that a member of the Idaw ‘Ali made thepilgrimage to Mecca where he met Sidi Ahmed al-Habib of the Idaw‘Ali. Sidi Ahmed is said to have told the pilgrim:If you are in straightened circumstances, then say-ohforefather, oh Messenger of God-for in truth you are hisdescendant.The pilgrim asked Sidi Ahmed how he acquired this informationconcerning the lineage of the Idaw ‘Ali, and Sidi Ahmed replied:I saw that in a book in Cairo, but if you return there, askSheikh al-Murtada about the lineage of the people of Shinqit.Sheikh al-Murtada is the saint of Egypt and its sun . . .On the pilgrim’s return journey he passed through Cairo and asked ...
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