Location: Masjid al-Qabary – in the area of al-Qabaray
He is Abu al-Qasim Muhammad bin Mansour bin Yahya al-Qabary, the Alexandrian, the Maliki.
He was born (may God be pleased with him) in the year 587 AH. He was known for his pious and ascetic character remaining a bachelor with little quittances until the end. Aside from his spiritual endeavors he took time to garden his flourishing garden, which sufficed him in his worldly needs. He (may God be pleased with him) became the student of some of the founding Sufi scholars of his time such as Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili, Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi and others. Shaykh al-Qabary made his pilgrimage to God’s holy house as a young man. He went through a few events that he narrated to his student Ibn al-Munayir to demonstrate to him how destiny takes its course without any planning on the part of the person. Ibn Munayir narrates: “Once al-Qabary was riding on his way back from Mecca on his first pilgrimage when he was still a young man and he said, “I was at the end of my journey when all of sudden a bedouin comes out of nowhere to rob me. At the same time I found myself on a small cliff where my camel was too frightened to descend. Then another bedouin appeared with a sword and struck my calf, which was by the shafts of my saddle. This strike was also my savior since the sound of the swords iron hitting the iron of the shaft startled my camel enough to force him out of his hesitation and down the cliff. This prevented what would have been the second fatal strike.”” So I experienced the well known saying “we saved you from injury with an injury.”
He (may God be pleased with him) was a devoted man of God who was neither excessive nor frugal in his actions. For him the best actions where those that expressed balance and moderation. His earthly life was marked by an independence of people yet never depriving himself of the provision of God that had been made lawful to him. He worshipped God through his manual labor as well as by interacting with people.
In this light, al-Manawy said about al-Qabary: “He is an ascetic who is sincere in his actions, free of false hopes, inclines toward solitude, always prepared for traveling, extremely pious, God fearing, enjoins the good and has a garden where he sustains himself and others.”
He passed away (may God be pleased with him) in the year 662 AH and was buried in his garden where his mosque and tomb are to be found until this day.