Abu al-'Abbas al-Hariri al-Misri

Abu al-Abbas al-Hariri al-Misri. He grew up in worship and in study, and read the Qur'an in the seven canonical readings. He then served Sidi Muhammad ibn Anan, from whom he took the Sufi path. Ibn Anan gave him his daughter in marriage and drew him closer than all his other companions. After him he kept company with Sidi Ali al-Marsafi, who licensed him to guide others. He did not guide anyone until he heard voices telling him to do so. He then called people to the way of God and gave the spiritual instruction to about ten thousand disciples ².

He built a Sufi lodge for him in Egypt and several mosques in Damietta, al-Mahalla and elsewhere. Many marvels are attributed to him. One of them is that he sat with al-Sha'rani after the sunset prayer in Ramadan and read five complete recitations of the Qur'an before the night prayer, and he fasted for forty days. He bore the worries of people so patiently that he seemed like a worn-out waterskin. Even so he did not count himself among the people of the path. When death came to him he said: "We left this world without a companion on the path." He died in the port city of Damietta and was buried in the lodge of Shaykh Shams al-Din al-Damyati, where his visible tomb is still visited ¹.