The Hilali Family

The earliest person that we identify in relation to that place in al-Jallum is called ʿAli al-Hilali. He was a teacher (mudarris) around 1000/1590 in the Madrasa al-ʿAsruniyya in the Farafra neighbourhood in Aleppo [8]. He came from Iraq and was a shaykh of the Tariqa al-Qadiriyya Sufi order. It is possible that he had already established himself in the small mosque in al-Jallum (based on information from Shaykh Jamal ad-Din al-Hilali), though we lack precise historical evidence of this.

The next shaykh we are able to identify is Mustafa al-Latifi (died 1123/1711-12), who was the teacher of Shaykh Muhammad Hilal ar-Ramhamdani (died 1147/1734-35), the first to be buried in the courtyard of the zawiya [9]. The latter was – citing Shaykh Jamal ad-Din al-Hilali – a member of the Hilali family and originated from the village Ramhamdan, west of Aleppo. From that date onwards, succession in the zawiyaremained within the Hilali family, although not always from father to son. Sometimes it fell to a cousin, like Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Hilali, who succeeded his uncle, Muhammad Hilal ar-Ramhamdani. Worth mentioning from the line of succession is Shaykh Ibrahim al-Hilali (died 1238/1822-23) who is the most renownedshaykh. He was born in 1155/1742-43 in the village DaratʿIzza west of Aleppo and joined the zawiya as a child. In 1178/1765-66, he travelled to Cairo to study at al-Azhar.

There, he was initiated into the Tariqa al-Khalwatiyya that was particularly active in Egypt at that time. After spending more than twenty years in Cairo, he returned to Aleppo in 1198/1783-84 to succeed his uncle Muhammad Hilal al-Hilali in 1204/1789-90. During his time as shaykh, the zawiya flourished, was enlarged by Yusuf Agha ʿArabi Katibi, and benefitted from a large number of endowments (waqf, pl. awqaf). He introduced the ‘khalwa of forty days’ (al-khalwa al-arbaʿiniyya) that he had become acquainted with in Egypt, joined the Khalwatiyya to the Qadiriyya and had a large number of followers which earned him the title ‘ash-shaykh al-kabir’ (the big shaykh) [10].

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the zawiya continued to flourish as one of the religious centers of al-Jallum neighbourhood. A major reason is the continuous attachment of the Hilali family with the zawiya. We can observe a mixing of interest and funds, waqf resources that benefit both the institution and the family. Ottoman jurists were skeptical about this mixing of interests and have formulated their opposition to it [11], but it proved beneficial for the institution.

Footnotes

[8] ʿUrdi, Maʿadhin, 39.

[9] Tabbakh, Iʿlam, 6:452.

[10] Tabbakh, Iʿlam, 7:221.

[11] ar-Ramli, Fatawa, 1:141.