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Sayyid Ahmad al-Rifa'i (512–578 AH / 1118–1182) was born in the marshlands of southern Iraq and became one of the great Sufi masters of his age, a…
Sayyid Ahmad al-Rifa'i (512–578 AH / 1118–1182) was born in the marshlands of southern Iraq and became one of the great Sufi masters of his age, a contemporary of Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. He was a Shafi'i scholar and a sayyid of Husayni descent, and he is remembered for his humility and his care for the poor and for animals. The Rifa'i order, which spread from Iraq to Egypt, Syria, Turkey and beyond, is named after him. He is buried at Umm Ubayda, where he lived and taught, and his shrine now stands in open country in the west of Maysan. On Thursday and Friday nights his followers gather here for dhikr with the daf.