The central gesture
How does one speak of a saint without betraying him? That is the wager of this book. In it Lings tells the life of Sheikh Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī (1869–1934), the Sufi master of Mostaganem — a man of whom the West, before this book, knew almost nothing.
Lings's choice is not to judge sainthood from outside, nor to reduce it to psychology or sociology. He gives it to be seen: through the facts, the writings of the sheikh, the testimonies of those who came near him — including the precious testimony of an unbelieving French physician, struck by what he met. The reader draws near by himself, and sainthood ceases to be an idea and becomes a presence.
The key concepts (made plain)
- The living saint as proof — In the 20th century, sainthood is readily held to be a thing of the past. The book sets against this a fact: a real saint, dated, situated, met by contemporaries. Sainthood is not a legend — it continues.
- The ʿAlāwiyya way — Sheikh al-ʿAlawī gave his name to a brotherhood, a branch of the great Shādhiliyya–Darqāwiyya lineage. The book shows a way in act: a master, disciples, a method, a transmission.
- The spiritual method — Lings sets out the practice taught by the sheikh: the invocation of the divine Name (dhikr), retreat (khalwa), concentration upon the One. A pedagogy of inwardness, sober and demanding.
- Islam and Christianity — Through the figure of the physician witness, the book touches on the meeting of the two worlds. Without levelling anything, it shows that a Westerner can recognise sainthood, even where he does not share the faith.
The architecture of the work
The book weaves three threads: the life of the sheikh (childhood, formation, mastery, radiance); the doctrine he taught, set out from his own writings; and the testimonies of those who knew him. From this interweaving is born a portrait that resembles no other — neither pious hagiography nor cold study.
To read it
It is a book that reads like a narrative, and that leaves a lasting trace. It alone made a saint and a way known. To be read alongside the page on Sheikh al-ʿAlawī — and before the other books of Lings, for it is with this one that everything began.
Resonances
- The master in question: Sheikh Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī
- The way today: Khaled Bentounes
- The other great book of Lings: Muhammad
- The practice of invocation: the dhikr