al-Imam al-Hadrami

Cenotaph of al-Hadrami in Azougui

Al-Imam al-Hadrami or al-Muradi al-Hadrami or al-Sheikh al-Imam al-Hadrami , full name Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Murādī al-Ḥaḍramī ( Arabic أبو بكر محمد بن الحسن المرادي الحضرمي), was an 11th century North African Islamic theologian and lawyer . He died in 1095.

biography

Al-Hadrami was born in Kairouan , in what is now Tunisia, the son of an Arab family from the Hadramaut region in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. Abu Imran al-Fasi was his fellow student. Ibn Bashkuwāl reports that al-Hadrami stayed in Cordoba for a short time in 1094 .

Together with Abu Bakr ibn Umar , the ruler of the Almoravids , al-Hadrami came to Azougui , which was near Atar in what is now Mauritania . There he worked as a kadi until his death in 1095. Al-Hadrami is the author of several political and theological treatises.

In the second half of the 17th century, the memory of al-Hadrami began to appear in the local Mauritanian oral tradition, triggered by the "rediscovery" of his tomb in Azougui. In these folk tales he is described as a mystical marabout and miracle worker.

Works

Al-Hadrami is the author of several treatises on theology and politics. His only surviving work is the prince's mirror Kitâb al-Ishâra . In this work he gives advice on a number of subjects such as good governance, selection of advisers, leadership in the battlefield, and grace and forgiveness.

Legends of al-Hadrami

Due to the "rediscovery" of his tomb in Azougui in the second half of the 17th century by a member of the Smasid tribe, the memory of al-Hadrami began to reappear and miracles were attributed to him. According to local oral tradition, he played a decisive role in the conquest of Azougui by the Almoravids. The primitive inhabitants of Azougui, the mysterious Bafur , hunted antelopes with packs of dogs, which they also used against their enemies. Because of this, the city was known as Madinat al-Kilab , City of Dogs . According to this legend, al-Hadrami miraculously neutralized the dogs so that the Almoravids could conquer the area even though he fell in battle. Popular tradition tells of a second "rediscovery" of al-Hadrami's grave in the 18th century.

Scientists interpret these folk tales as a legitimation strategy of the Chinguetti- born Smasids in a conflict with the indigenous Idaysilli .

The cenotaph of al-Hadrami is still venerated in the cemetery near the ruins of Azougui.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Russell Hopley: Hadrami, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Muradi al- (d.1095 / 1096) in: Dictionary of African Biography , ISBN 978-0195382075 .
2. ↑ Ibn Basquwwal: Kitab al-Sila (La suite) , Cairo 1966.
3. ↑ Abd El Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Bernard Saison: Le théorien et le somnambule: un épisode récent de l'histoire almoravide en Mauritanie , In: Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines , Volume 19, No. 2, 1985, Pp. 301-317.
4. ↑ Mohamed Salem Ideidbi: Traité de politique ou Conseils pour la conduite du pouvoir d'al-Imam al-Hadrami . 2011. ISBN 9782705338510 .
5. ↑ The history of al-Hadrami accessed on April 12, 2020 (French)
6. ↑ Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Bernard Saison: Vie (s) et mort (s) d'al-Imam al-Hadrami. Autour de la postérité saharienne du mouvement almoravide (11e-17e p.). In: Arabica , Volume 34, 1987, pp. 48-79. JSTOR 4056844

literature

• Paulo de Moraes Farias: The Almoravids: Some Questions Concerning the Character of the Movement During its Period of Closest Contact with the Western Sudan , In: Bulletin IFAN , série B, Volume 29, No. 3–4, 1967, pp. 794– 878.
• Mustapha Naïmi: La dynamique des alliances ouest-sahariennes , ISBN 978-2735110605 .
• Pierre Bonté: Figures historiques de sainteté dans la société maure ( online ), accessed on April 12, 2020.