Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifai

Sidi Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i, the Guide of the Peace, and the Mercy, and the Love to the Way of Allah through the Sufi Path is the Guide of the Shadhdhuliyyah Path, founded by as-Shaykh Ali Abu-l-Hasan as-Shadhili in Egypt in the thirteenth century. The Shaykh is a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, through his ancestor, Shaykh Ahmad ar-Rifa`i. He was born in Tulkum in the Holy Land in 1935. He is the spiritual inheritor through the Shadhili line from his Guide and Master, Shaykh Abdu-r-Rahman Abu-r-Risah of Halab in the land of Syria, and is one who has kept Sufism alive and at work as an institution, and a school of thought and spiritual knowledge. In 1997 he restored the 1000 year old Sufi Council that served in the Holy Land. He is the Head of this Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land and has been a teacher and central figure at the Masjid al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock for many years. The Shaykh has been living on the Mount of Olives in the Holy City of Jerusalem since the year 1959. The teaching from his spirit is very deep and for all those who have a heart and who listen with this heart. His teaching sheds an entirely new light on the reality of Sufism and the significance of carrying this message to everyone in this time. For many years the Shaykh has been a teacher at the sacred sanctuary of al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, which is linked for all Muslims to the Holy House in Mecca in the tradition of the Night Journey (al-Mi`raj) of the Prophet Muhammad from the Ka`ba in Mecca to the al-Aqsa Mosque and from there to the heavens. He is well known to many people both in Palestine and in other countries in the world. Not only is he a teacher and counselor for all those who come to be at al-Aqsa, but he is also its custodian, for through his hand and leadership in these times this Sacred Precinct has been preserved, in the face of many efforts to destroy it, as a place of prayer for the Muslim people who come from all over the world to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem and to take the blessing of the praying in this Mosque. The Shaykh has students and followers in the Holy Land as well as in America and Europe, but it has only been since 1993 that the Order came to his heart to travel to visit other countries. At the same time the Order came from Allah for him to give teachings, to all those in every part of the world who are sincerely seeking for the truth of their existence, the meaning of their life, and to heal their wounds. Up until then the teaching had been reserved only for study in his Zawayyah in Jerusalem. Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal is a distinguished person of international stature. For forty years he has lived in the Holy City of Jerusalem and has worked consistently with great patience to keep the peace between the people there.