Pure Gold from the Words of Sayyidi ‘Abd al-'Aziz al-Dabbagh: Al-Dhahab al-Ibriz min Kalam Sayyidi 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Dabbagh

Around 1720 in Fez Ahmad b. al-Mubarak al-Lamati, a religious scholar, wrote down the words and teachings of the Sufi master ‘Abd al-'Aziz al-Dabbagh. Al-Dabbagh shunned religious studies but, having reached illumination and met with the Prophet Muhammad, he was able to explain any obscurities in the Qur'an, hadiths and sayings of earlier Sufis. The resulting book, known as the Ibriz, describes how al-Dabbagh attained illumination and access to the Prophet, as well as his teachings about the Council of the godly that regulates the world, relations between master and disciple, the darkness in men’s bodies, Adam’s creation, Barzakh, Paradise and Hell, and much more besides. This 'encyclopaedia’ of Sufism with its many teaching stories and illustrations provides a window onto social life and religious ideas in Fez a generation or so before powerful outside forces began to play a role in the radical transformation of Morocco.