When the noble descendant of the Holy Prophet ﷺ, al-Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī, may divine mercy be upon him, was asked by the sages (mashāyikh) of the Zāwīya of Cape Town, “What is our path (ṭarīqa?),” the scholar replied: “Ṭarīqa ʿUlamāʾ Makka”—the Way of the Sages of Makka. In that short reply lay an entire world of spiritual heritage—one stretching across continents, centuries, and multiple traditions of Islamic scholarship. This essay explores the roots of that heritage, tracing the lineage that connects the Zāwīya mosque of Cape Town to Makka, and examining how a community forged under the pressures of apartheid came to embody a tradition of spiritual renaissance and scholarly depth.
The Makkan Connection
The way of the Zāwīya is rooted in two realities. The first is in the centre and the heart of the Muslim world—in the Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Ḥarām) of Makka, the blessed and ennobled city. For three generations, the scholars of the Zāwīya have been linked to the sages of that city, primarily, but not exclusively, through the Mālikī family, beginning with the caller (dāʿī) al-Sayyid ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mālikī, who first identified the potential of Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Hendricks during a visit to Cape Town.
Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ would then go with him in 1888 to Makka, and study with al-Sayyid ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mālikī, the jurisprudent (muftī) and judge (qāḍī) of Makka, who was also considered to be the prayer leader (imam) and preacher (khaṭīb) of the Sacred Mosque.[^1] He held that position during the Ottoman era, then continued it in the Hashemite times, and proceeded to hold it after the Saudi kingdom was established, by virtue of the respect that all had for him. The founder of the Zāwīya, Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Hendricks, studied with al-Sayyid ʿAbbās; and then the next generation of Hendricks studied with the Mālikī family also. Shaykh Muhammad and so that relationship of learning continued to a third generation of Hendricks when two sons departed for Makka in 1981 to study under al-Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī.
The relationship between the Hendricks and Mālikī families deepened across generations. After Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, the next generation of Hendricks also studied with the Mālikī family, and in 1980, two sons departed for Makka to learn under al-Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī himself. The Mālikī family thus served as both the focal point and the gateway through which the Hendricks entered the vast scholarly ocean of Makka’s learned class. The spiritual path that the Mālikīs espoused became the path of the Hendricks family and, through them, the Zāwīya of Cape Town.
There is more on Shaykh Muhammad Ṣāliḥ Hendricks and his son in this article.
A Community Forged by Resistance
As mentioned above, the Zāwīya of Cape Town is rooted in two realities: the first is the Makkan lineage discussed above, and the second, also deeply important reality, was the environment in which the Hendricks family resided. The Muslim community was battle-hardened, in that it existed as a demographic minority and for most of its existence, had suffered under severe repression in the country that upheld apartheid. That implanted a certain emphasis in and consciousness of all kinds of justice among the Zāwīya shaykhs—and that continued after the ending of apartheid, and also among those who took the spiritual path from lands far beyond Cape Town and South Africa.
In this spirit of principled resistance, the Zāwīya shaykhs carried forward a tradition modelled by their own teacher. Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī, in his defence of the Ashʿarī theological tradition and the pure Sufism of his intellectual and genealogical ancestors, faced tremendous opposition from authority figures in his native land. He held firm, faithful to the principle that one remains on what is right, even when it means standing against the prevailing order. So it was, so it is, so it ought to remain.
The Spiritual Inheritance: Shādhulī, Bā ʿAlawī, and the Melting Pot of Makka
To understand the character of this way, three aspects of Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī’s spiritual heritage must be recalled.
The first is that, as Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks confirms, the original heritage of Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī, his father Sayyid ʿAlawī al-Mālikī, and his grandfather, Sayyid ʿAbbās al-Mālikī, was undoubtedly Shādhulī [4] in terms of spiritual path. Closely connected to this were later Shādhulī manifestations, particularly the Idrisi One might even consider that the way in which Sayyid Muḥammad inherits that Shādhulī way is specifically the Shādhulī-Idrīsī [5] view of it—perhaps indicating why Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī was so keen on the formulae of the declaration of faith (taḥlīl) of Sīdī Aḥmad b. Idrīs. [6]
The second aspect is the Bā ʿAlawī dimension. Early in his life, having recognised his extraordinary scholarly and spiritual promise, the sāda of the Bā ʿAlawī [7] in Makka publicly adopted him from his father. This gave the Sayyid a particularly deep Bā ʿAlawī identity, especially of the distinctly Makkan rendition of that spiritual path—one that emphasises a strong Shādhulī character and consider themselves inwardly Shādhulī. (It should be noted, the ṭarīqa of the Bāʿ Alawī sāda, whether the Makkī or the Ḥaddādī, is always going to be Shādhulīan inwardly and Ghazālīan outwardly (Shādhulīyyun bāṭinan wa Ghazālīyyun ẓāhiran), as that is part of their way). It is this second aspect that explains why so much of the ṭarīqa is enveloped and protected by the teachings of Imam al-Ghazālī, whom the Bā ʿAlawī sāda cherish and uphold passionately.
Hence why, in a hal that the Sayyid had, he said to his son-in-law, which was then narrated to Shaykh Dr Hisham:
أنا إدريسي ، شاذلي ، علوي ، إلى أن يأذن لي رسول الله بغير ذلك
“I am Idrisi, Shadhuli, ʿAlawi; until the Messenger of God permits me by other than that.”
The third aspect to recall is the surrounding scholastic-ṭarīqa environment of Makka that the Sayyid inherited. The different ṭuruq of the umma flowed into Makka, and some of our shaykhs mastered their methods to the point that they became, essentially, independent interpreters (mujtahids) in the sciences of Sufism. As Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks reminds with regards to these great knowers of Allah, “for them to drop the names of Bāʿ Alawī, Qādirī, Shādhulī, Naqshabandī [or others] is perfectly in order. They are, in effect, saints and knowers of Allah in the highest sense of the word.”[8] Shaykh Aḥmad also relays that, “when all the spiritual paths then poured into Makka, the need for a name seemed to have disappeared.”[9]
Since all these schools and approaches reached Makka, the mashāyikh of Makka gradually combined the different approaches to Sufism. It was why the litanies (wird pl. awrād) and the remembrance text(s) (dhikr pl. adhkār) of the various paths were, and are, handed down to the students of the lofty ʿulamāʾ of Sufism in Makka. Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks further narrates:
“All the litanies of those various paths are handed down to the students of scholars in Makka. The litanies of the Bāʿ Alawīs, Qādirīs, Rifāʿīs, Shādhulīs, Naqshbandīs, Khalwatīs, etc., are recorded in the licenses they gave the student. This is easily verifiable if you look at the license books from as far back as you can go in Makka. Even the ‘Salafī’ Sufism of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyya (d. 751/1350) was also absorbed in Makka.”[10]
The Melting Pot of the Ṭuruq
In this work, we concentrate on the essence of the Way, particularly the lines emanating from the Shādhulīs and the line of the sāda of the folk of the Bāʿ Alawī. Nevertheless, there are other lines that are inherited. Sayyid ʿAbbās al-Mālikī mentioned his Suhrawardī chain of transmission (silsila), as Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī also referred to his Khalwatī silsila. Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ also taught, with diagrams, the seven laṭāʾif sulūk of the Naqshbandiyya.
It is known that Shaykh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Hendricks also received an ijāza in the ṭarīqa of Sayyid Aḥmad Rifāʿī from Shaykh Abū al-Hudā Muḥammad b. Ḥasan Wadī al-Sayyādī, who was one of the advisors to Sultan ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd of the Ottomans. Shaykh Abū al-Hudā was perhaps the closest of the four religious counsellors to Sultan ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, the last sultan of the Ottomans, and he was also, for a time, representative of the Prophetic families (naqīb al-Ashrāf) of Aleppo.
Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks mentions also Shaykh Fāliḥ al-Ẓāhirī, who died in 1328 Hijri in Madina, one of the iconic shuyūkh of Madina. The Zāwīya shaykhs transmit all his works through Sayyid ʿAlawī al-Mālikī, via his teachers: ʿUmar Ḥamdān, ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Kattānī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saqqāf, ʿAbd al-Ḥafīẓ al-Fāsī and the shaykh’s son Sayyid ʿAlī Fāliḥ al-Ẓāhirī, all of them to Sayyid Fāliḥ al-Ẓāhirī, also known as Abū al-Yasr. Shaykh Fāliḥ spent some seven years with Imam Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Sanūsī, read all six books of hadith with him, and transmits from him. Sayyid ʿAlawī also met and read some books with Imam Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Sanūsī’s grandson, Sharīf Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Sanūsī. Thus, the Sanūsīyya is also transmitted from this line.
Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī carried on with that huge combined spiritual inheritance. Or, as Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks referred to it: ‘this melting pot of ṭuruq‘; and the Sayyid referred to this as, ‘the Way of the Sages of Makka (Ṭarīqa ʿUlamāʾ Makka)’.
A forerunner of that pooled and amalgamated Makkan spiritual path, even though Sayyid Muḥammad was the first one to give it that name, was Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Muḥammad ʿAlī Quds (d. 1334/1916), author of the illustrious Treasures of Success and Happiness (Kanz al-Najāḥ wa-l-Surūr).[11] In giving a taste of what the spiritual way is, Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks notes that it seems that Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd was associated with the Makkī ʿAlawīyya (the iteration of the ʿAlawīs of the Banī ʿAlawī[13] that found its fruit in Makka), and with influences from others, including the Idrīsīyya (the rendition of the Shādhulī way by Sīdī ʿAḥmad b. Idrīs (d. 1253/1837)); the Ḥaddādī ʿAlawīyya of the ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād (d. 1132/1720) (which had remained predominant in the Yemen); and the Sanūsīyya (another inheritance of the Shādhulīyya through Sīdī Aḥmad b. Idrīs). And thus emerges the ṭarīqa of the ʿulamāʾ of Makka.[12]
It is relevant to see how the sāda of the Bā ʿAlawī fit into this so seamlessly. A contemporary exponent of the ṭarīqa of the sāda of the Bā ʿAlawī, al-Habīb ʿUmar b. al-Ḥāfiẓ, summarised the philosophical meaning of this formulation when asked:
“It is possible to combine the two methodologies, and this is manifested in the Bā ʿAlawī path. This is achieved by being aware of Allah’s blessings, showing gratitude to Him and seeking to be present with Him from the outset, while at the same time seeking knowledge and performing outward actions. Thus, the outward aspect of the Bā ʿAlawī path is to seek knowledge, act upon it, and strive outwardly—which then has an impact upon the inward. At the same time, the inner aspect of the path from the outset is based upon witnessing Allah’s blessings, being present with Him, and showing gratitude to Him. Since the Bā ʿAlawī masters combined the principles of both paths, their path was described as being inwardly Shādhulī and outwardly Ghazālīan.
Most spiritual paths have a foundation that is either Shādhulī or Ghazālīan. Both paths are founded upon spiritual striving (mujāhada), but the Ghazālīan method begins by focusing on the external aspect and then works towards the internal, whereas the Shādhulī method begins internally.Both methods agree that obligatory actions must be performed, prohibited actions must be avoided, and supererogatory actions should be performed in abundance. But the Shādhulī method does not place great emphasis on outward actions. Mujāhada according to the Shādhulī method focuses on attaining constant presence of heart with Allah, awareness of His bounty, and showing gratitude to Him. The Ghazālīan method emphasises seeking knowledge and acting upon it, thereby attaining constant presence and the station of gratitude.
Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī inherited this vast, combined spiritual legacy—what Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks called “this melting pot of ṭuruq”—and gave it the name it carries: the Way of the Sages of Makka (Ṭarīqa ʿUlamāʾ Makka). While the shaykhs of this way referred to it with different names, at its heart it remains what the Sayyid called it: a way born from the convergence of many rivers into one ocean, at the centre of the Muslim world. Thus, predominant within it is a true joining of the Shādhuliyya and the path of the Bā ʿAlawī sāda. While Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī described the ṭarīqa as the “way of the ʿulamāʾ of Makka,” he and the Zāwīya shaykhs were not opposed to using names in certain circumstances. Sometimes, for purposes of convenience, we call it the Ṭarīqa al-ʿAlawiyya al-Shādhuliyya—emphasising its crucial basis within the Shādhuliyya, though enveloped in a way with the ʿAlawīyya. At other times, we refer to it simply as Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī did: the Ṭarīqa ʿUlamāʾ Makka.
Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks, one of the khalīfas of Sayyid Muḥammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī, summarises the spiritual heart of this path:
“Our spiritual path emphasises the light of Muhammad, the Holy Prophet and the deeper meanings of oneness (tawḥīd) of Allah. That, in essence, is what this way is—and through that, spiritual openings (futuḥat) for people occur.”
Footnotes
[^1]: More can be found on this history in Yusuf da Costa and Achmat Davids, Pages from Cape Muslim History (Pietermaritzburg: Shooter and Shooter, 1994) and Shaykh Seraj Hendricks’ unpublished Master’s thesis, “Taṣawwuf: Its Role and Impact on the Culture of Cape Islam” (unpublished, 2005).
[^2]: When it comes to normative religious practice, Sunni Muslims follow four extant ‘schools’ (madhāhib)—the Ḥanafī, the Mālikī, the Shāfiʿī, and the Ḥanbalī schools. There are similar approaches when it comes to belief or theology. As Imam Muḥammad al-Saffārīnī al-Nabulsī al-Ḥanbalī (d. 1188/1774) wrote in a medieval text, Lawāmiʿ al-anwār al-bahīyah: “Ahl al-Sunna [the Sunnis] are in three divisions: the Atharīs, and their leader [imam] is Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, may Allah be pleased with him; and the Ashʿarīs, and their leader is Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī, may Allah’s mercy be upon him; and the Māturīdīs, whose leader is Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/934).” Cf. Muḥammad al-Saffārīnī, Lawāmiʿ al-anwār al-bahīya wa-sawāṭiʿ al-asrār al-atharīya li-sharḥ al-Durra al-muḍīya fī ʿaqd al-firqa al-marḍīya (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2008).
[^3]: A khalīfa in this context relates to an authorised and independent representative of a particular shaykh in ṭarīqa.
[^4]: Shādhulī in this regard referring to the ṭarīqa of Imam ʿAlī Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhulī. More can be read on Imam al-Shādhulī via the following reference works: Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhulī, The School of the Shadhuliyyah (Madrasat al-Shādhulīyya), vol.1 Orisons, ed. and trans. ʿAbd al-Halim Mahmud and Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee (Cairo: AUC Press, 1993). See also Elmer H. Douglas, The Mystical Teachings of Al-Shadhīlī: Including His Life, Prayers Letters and Followers—A Translation from the Arabic of Ibn al-Sabbāgh’s “Durrat al-Asrār wa Tuḥfat al-Abrār” (SUNY, New York: 1993).
[^5]: Idrīsī in this context refers to the ṭarīqa of Sīdī Aḥmad b. Idrīs (d. 1253/1837).
[^6]: The formulation in Arabic is: Lā ilāha ʾilla Allāh Muḥammadun rasūl Allāh fī kulli lamḥatin wa nafasin ʿadada mā wasiʿahu ʿilmu Allāh “There is no divinity but the Divine, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah—in every glimpse of the eye and every breath, as numerous as all that is contained within the knowledge of Allah.”
[^7]: There are several books that expound more on the sāda of the Bāʿ Alawī and the related ṭarīqa. In English, see Sufi Sage of Arabia: Imam ʿAbdallah ibn ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād, by Mostafa al-Badawi (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2005).
[^8]: Citation directly from Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks.
[^10]: Ibid. It should be noted here that Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks in this regard is not according the purist Salafī movement of Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, a pedigree that goes back to Ibn Qayyim; rather, he is citing the Atharī or Ḥanbalī approach of Ibn Qayyim, which many describe as ‘Salafī.’
[^11]: This is a pre-eminent book used by scholars in spiritual practices. See ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Muḥammad ʿAlī Quds, Kanz al-Najāḥ wa-l-Surūr fī al-adʿiya al-maʾthūra allatī tashraḥ al-ṣudūr (Beirut: Lebanon, 2009).
[^12]: Citation directly from Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks.
[^13]: Bāʿ Alawī is a contraction of the terms Banī ʿAlawī, or ‘Clan’ of ʿAlawī.
[^14]: al-Ḥabīb ʿUmar b. Ḥafīẓ “How is the Bāʿ Alawī Path inwardly Shādhulīan and outwardly Ghazālīan?” April 29, 2013.
