The Joy of Spiritual Connection: A Tale of Two Sayyids

Sayyid Muḥammad bin al-ʻAlawī al-Mālikī related this beautiful story about Sayyid al-Makkī al-Kattānī in a gathering of luminary scholars:

“My father, Sayyid al-ʻAlawī, once ordered me to seek ijāzah from Sayyid al-Makkī. It was my father’s habit to push us toward goodness and encourage us to connect with the ʿulamāʾ and pious predecessors.

So I wrote to Sayyid al-Makkī seeking ijāzah from him. He wrote back, and it said— ‘I, so-and-so, have given ijāzah to Sayyid al-ʻAlawī al-Mālikī’ — but he didn’t write ‘Muḥammad bin al-ʻAlawī al-Mālikī’!

When the letter came with the name of my father, he said to me— ‘Praise be to Allah who has blessed me with this ijāzah. This is unexpected—I didn’t even request it!’

I said — ‘It was the ijāzah I sought!’ [smiling]

My father replied— ‘You are Muḥammad bin al-ʻAlawī, not just al-ʻAlawī. Go seek your own ijāzah!’

Seeing that my father was so overjoyed by this, I wrote again to Sayyid al-Makkī for ijāzah — even though I had already received it!”

The Eagerness for Spiritual Connection

Subḥānallāh, such was the eagerness of our noble shuyūkh for nisbah (spiritual lineage) and ṣuḥbah (companionship) with other noble masters. Both Sayyid al-ʻAlawī and Sayyid al-Makkī—their ancestors and descendants—were among the foremost scholars and spiritual guides of the Ḥijāz and the Maghrib, respectively.

Sayyid Muḥammad al-Makkī al-Kattānī was one of the greatest scholars of ḥadīth and isnād of his time. He exchanged ijāzāt with nearly one hundred scholars globally and was an instrumental transmitter of the works of Shaykh Ibn ʿArabī.

Beyond the classroom, he was a skilled leader, adept in archery and weaponry, who actively supported resistance against occupation in Morocco, Algeria, Palestine, and Syria. He departed from this world in Dhū al-Qaʻdah, 1393 AH. May Allah have mercy on him and allow us to benefit from his legacy.