3.3 - His First Stay in Tunisia 590/1193

In the same year 590/1193, Shaykh Muhyiddin arrived in Tunisia, where he stayed for a short period, and the goal of this visit, as we said above, was to meet with the great Sufi Shaykh Abu Muhammad Abdul-Aziz al-Mahdawi al-Qurashi, but he did not stay there long because he returned in the same year to Seville via the same road that he took during his forward trip, along the coast, and without penetrating into the lands of Maghreb, perhaps because of the unrest that prevailed in the region because of the war between the Almohads and the Ghanaians (Banu Ghania).

In Tunisia, the Greatest Shaykh had a noticeable status with the Sultan Abu Zayd Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abu Hafs, the Almohad prince on Tunisia. Many people sought him to mediate their requests from the Sultan, as did Ibn Maeteb, one of the elites in Tunisia, who invited him for a big feast and prepared many gifts for him, but when the Shaykh knew that he wanted him to proceed with his request to the Sultan, he did not accept the gifts, and did not eat his food, but he answered his request and helped him to get his right back. In this regard, Shaykh Muhyiddin affirmed:

Never accept the gift intended for the intercession, because this is a kind of usury, which was forbidden by the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. We have been in similar situation in Tunisia, from the African countries, when I was invited by one of the elites, called Ibn Maeteb, and he prepared a great feast, but when I entered his house and he asked my intercession with the ruler of the country, and I had an acceptable status with him, thus I answered his request but I did not eat from the food, and did not accept his gifts, although I had not been acquainted with this prophetic hadith yet, but that was a virility and dignity and infallibility gifted from God in taking this divine care and preventing me from falling in this mistake.

[Futuhat: IV.489.].

3.3.1- Marsa Abdoun in Tunisia 590/1193

3.3.2- Shaykh Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Khamis al-Kinani

3.3.3- Shaykh Abdul-Aziz Ibn Abu Bakr al-Mahdawi

3.3.4- A Letter to the Companions of Shaykh al-Mahdawi

3.3.5- The Scholar Ahmad Ibn Dawud al-Malfawi

3.3.6- The Book of Khalaa al-Naalayn

3.3.7- Seeing the Almighty Allah

3.3.8- His Second Encounter with al-Khader (Tunis 590/1193)

3.3.9- The Vast Earth of Reality

3.3.10- The Quran and the Seven Dualities

3.3.11- The Oratory of Ibn al-Muthanna