Abstract
This paper deconstructs the relationship between tariqa and intellectual trends in pre-modern Morocco, focusing on al-Ṭarīqa al-Jazūlīya through the writings of its members and contemporaries. In the context of research into Sufism in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Morocco, Aḥmad Zarrūq, a juristic Sufi known for his harsh criticism of his contemporaries, and his disciples were known as “Sufis with a legal background who were ‘intellectual’ and ‘respectful of social order’,” while the Sufis of al-Ṭarīqa al-Jazūlīya, tracing their lineage to Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī, are viewed as “‘ecstatic’ and
‘antisocial’ Sufis without intellectual background.” A common issue in many previous studies is that they uncritically rely on biographical historical records written in later periods (from the second half of the seventeenth century to the modern period); and accept the authors’ perspectives at face value. By focusing on the writings of members of the tariqa, this study demonstrates that some Sufis within al-Jazūlīya criticized the order in similar ways to Zarrūq, while others exhibited unconventional behavior and ecstatic speech, drawing public affection but also criticism. This paper reevaluates how the tariqa was perceived in pre-modern times by exploring its connections with intellectual trends and principles, which have been treated as undisputed until now.
