Abu al-Abbas al-Azafi

Abu al-Abbas al-Azafi or in full Abu al-Abbas Ahmad abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Lakhmi al-Sabti (1162–1236) was a religious and legal scholar and member of the Banu al-Azafi who ruled Ceuta in the 13th century. Al-Azafi was an expert in the analysis of oral tradition (riwaya wa diraya). He wrote a biography of the Berber saint Sidi Abu Yaaza Yalnour ibn Maymun ibn Abdallah Dukkali Hazmiri al-Gharbi (d. 572/1157): Di'amat al-yaqin fi za'amat al-muttaqin (The Pillar of certainty in the leadership of the God-conscious).^[1] His most important work is Kitab ad-durr al-munazzam fi i ‘l-mawlid al-mu’azzam. It was completed, after his death, by his son Abu l’Qasim. Al-Azafi established the custom of celebrating Mawlid in Ceuta. His son Abu'l-Qasim propagated it throughout the Maghreb.^[2]

References

1. Abu al-'Abbas al-'Azafi , Da'amat al-yaqin fi zi'amat al-muttaqin (Manaqib al-shaykh Abi Ya'za), ed. A. al-Tawfiq, Rabat 1989
2. Marion Holmes Katz, The birth of the prophet Muḥammad: devotional piety in Sunni Islam, Routledge, 2007, p. 10 and throughout