Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari
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 and living founder of the Karkariya Tariqa, a newly formed branch of the prominent Shadhili order; whose mother zawiya is located in Al Aaroui, Morocco.
al-Karkari’s Karkariya tariqa is physically distinguished by the practice of the wearing of the muraqqa˓a, a colorful patched cloak intended to generate humility in the disciple, as well to revive a Sunnah of Muhammad.
Shaykh al-Karkari’s tariqa has spread beyond Morocco to other regions of the Maghreb, and is beginning to proliferate internationally with burgeoning presence in France and North America. 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. 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, and other aspects of spiritual wayfaring unique to his tariqa. During his second tour of the United States in July 2024, Shaykh al-Karkari was invited by Stanford University’s ATMA Club to speak in an interfaith dialogue on the topic of the spiritual life and the necessity of teachers in spiritual development.
