Sidi Mahrez

Sidi
Mahrez ben Khalaf
سيدي محرز بن خلف
Mosque and Mausoleum of Sidi Mahrez in 1899
Personal life
Born951
Aryanah
Died1022
Tunis
Resting placeSidi Mahrez Mausoleum
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceMaliki
CreedAsh'ari
Muslim leader
Influenced by
  • Abu Bakr al-Abhari
Influenced

Sidi Mahrez ben Khalaf or Abu Mohamed Mahrez ben Khalaf ben Zayn (Arabic: سيدي محرز بن خلف; 951–1022) was a Tunisian Wali, scholar of the Maliki school of jurisprudence and a Qadi. He is considered to be the patron-saint of the city of Tunis.

Life

He was born in Ariana to a father of Arab origin who traced his lineage to Abu Bakr.[1] He studied in Kairouan and then in Fatimid-Egypt and became a teacher of Maliki jurisprudence upon his return. At the age of 57, he left his home-town (Ariana) and went into seclusion in Carthage. In c. 1014 he settled in Tunis, in a house in Bab Souika, which would become his mausoleum and later the Sidi Mahrez Mosque.[2]

He proposed to his teacher Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (922 – 996 CE) to write a aqidah and fiqh education book, and his proposal was concretised under the title Risala fiqhiya.[3]


See also

References

  1. ^ Sadok Zmerli, Figures tunisiennes. Les précurseurs, éd. Bouslama, Tunis, 1967
  2. ^ (in French) « Sidi Mahrez, pour toujours », La Presse de Tunisie, 17 septembre 2007 Archived 2012-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "كتاب الجامع فى السنن والآداب والمغازى والتاريخ". January 1983.