Isawiyya

'Isawiyya Sufi order
Founder
Mohammed al-Hadi ben Issa
Regions with significant populations
Maghreb
Aissawa performance in Meknes during Ramadan 2023
Aissaoua ceremony
Issawa sabre dance in Algeria

The Isawiyya (also Aissawa, Issawa, Aissaoua, Issaoua, Arabic: الطريقة العيساوية) is a religious Islamic mystical[1] brotherhood founded in Meknes, Morocco, by Sheikh al-Kamil Mohamed al-Hadi ben Issa (or Aissa) (1465–1526), best known as the Shaykh Al-Kamil, or "Perfect Sufi Master". The terms Aissawiyya (`Isawiyya) and Aissawa (`Isawa), derive from the name of the founder, and respectively designate the brotherhood (tariqa, literally: "way") and its disciples (fuqara, sing. to fakir, literally: "poor").

They are known for their spiritual performances, which generally comprise group recitation of religious psalms, accompanied by the use of the oboe ghaita (similar to the mizmar or zurna) and polyrhythmic percussion.

Complex ceremonies, including symbolic dances to bring the participants to ecstatic trance, are held by the Aissawa in private during domestic ritual nights (lîla-s), and in public during celebrations of cultural festivals and pilgrimages, called moussem-s. Other occasions are religious festivities, such as the Eid holidays or mawlid, celebration of the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

  1. ^ Martin Lings, What is Sufism? (Lahore: Suhail Academy, 2005; first imp. 1983, second imp. 1999), p.12: "Mystics on the other hand-and Sufism is a kind of mysticism-are by definition concerned above all with 'the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven'".

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