Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari (born 1974) (in full: Sīdī Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh Mohamed Faouzi b. Ṭayyib al-Karkari al-Idrīsī al-Ḥasanī) is a Moroccan Sufi shaykh[1] and living founder of the Karkariya Tariqa,[2] a newly formed branch of the prominent Shadhili order;[3] whose mother zawiya is located in Al Aaroui, Morocco.[4][5]
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al-Karkari's Karkariya tariqa is physically distinguished by the practice of the wearing of the muraqqa˓a, a colorful patched cloak[6] intended to generate humility in the disciple, as well to revive a Sunnah of Muhammad.[7][8]
Shaykh al-Karkari's tariqa has spread beyond Morocco[9] to other regions of the Maghreb,[10][11] and is beginning to proliferate internationally with burgeoning presence in France and North America.[5] His tariqa is spiritually distinct from other Sufi orders and spiritual paths by being centered on the witnessing of the Light of God, as attested to by a multitude of the Shaykh's disciples.[1][3] His disciples address him by the title Sīdī Shaykh.
Shaykh al-Karkari made his first visit to the United States in May 2023, on invitation from the University of Chicago's Divinity School, lecturing on artificial intelligence from the perspective of Sufism,[12] and other aspects of spiritual wayfaring[13] unique to his tariqa.[14]
Shaykh al-Karkari was born on Wednesday July 2, 1974, inside of a zawiya in Temsaman, Morocco.[15]
Born to a Sharīf—Sīdī Mūlāy Ṭayyib al-Karkarī al-Idrīsī al-Ḥasanī—making Shaykh Al-Karkari a descendent of Muhammad.[15]
His recent ancestors were themselves masters of Tasawwuf under the Shadhili, including his paternal grandfather Sīdī Mūlāy Ṭāhir al-Karkarī (initiated by Shaykh Ahmad al-Alawi himself), and his uncle and own spiritual master Shaykh Mūlāy al-Ḥasan al-Karkari.[15]
Due to a trying experience in his late teens, al-Karkari left home, wandering across Morocco on foot. During this ten year physical and spiritual journey, termed a siyaha, al-Karkari learned tajrid or disengagement from other than God as well as total trust in God (tawakkul).[13]
After receiving a dream beckoning him to return home, al-Karkari returned to his family in Nador, Morocco.[13] Burning with the desire for repentance, al-Karkari formally entered into learning the sciences of tasawwuf, entering into ba'yah with his uncle and murshid Shaykh Mūlāy al-Ḥasan al-Karkari.[15]
He would be one of only a few disciples of Shaykh al-Ḥasan, initiated into the central science of Sufism: the invocation and reading of the name of Allah.
Prior to his passing, Shaykh al-Ḥasan would give Shaykh al-Karkari permission to transmit the tariqa and train disciples as a shaykh.[15]
