Location: Mahalat Rooh, Shinnu
He is Abu al-Abbas Muhammad al-Shinnawy who held the banner of the Ahmadeyya path inherited through his father. His grandfather, Umar al-Shinnawy took the path of Sufism at the hands of the Qutb and Shereef, Ahmad al-Badawi. He was commanded to go to Shinnu in the province of Kafr al-Shaykh to call people to God. Many people converted or were guided towards the religion at his hands. His tomb is still situated in Shinnu where he past away in 932 AH.
Muhammad al-Shinnawy was an important teacher of Abdul Wahab al-Shaa’rany. He initiated him into the Sufi path an occurrence symbolically taken at the tomb of Ahmed al-Badawi. al-Shinnawy (may God be pleased with him) was a farmer and had a horse ranch. He distributed the money he made from farming to the poor, needy and travellers, while at the same time socially engaging and concerning himself with his fellow townsmen. A fact clearly illustrated by his commitment to travel to Istanbul to meet the Sultan, after taking permission from al-Badawi to appeal to him about the exploitation of barley farmers in the city of “Ibn Yusuf” in Egypt. They were forced to work at almost no wages and suffered heavily. It is said that the night before heading out he had a vision wherein God had assured him that the relief of his comrades would occur on account of his appeal. Strongly convinced by the appeal of this pious man, the Sultan himself proposed a plan to deal with the situation. A wondrous event that echoes God’s words from a Hadith Qudsi:
“The slave continues to draw near to me with voluntary acts of worship until I love him. When I love him then I am the ears, which he hears with, the eyes, which he sees with, the hands that he strikes with and the legs that he walks on. If he asks I give him and if he seeks my protection I protect him.”
He (may God be pleased with him) would counsel anyone no matter what their religious orientation that “the religious path is all about good character.”
Shaykh Muhammad al-Sanjeedy recounts: “When we used to visit Shaykh Muhammad al-Shinnawy in his early days we would return to our homes exhausted from lack of sleep. We would stay at his home two days sometimes four days straight without sleeping during the day or the night. He would read the Qur’an constantly and when he ended he would go into dhikr (Divine remembrance) and when he finished dhikr he would pick up the Qur’an again.
Sayyid al-Shinawy left behind a company of man who upheld and protected the path by their noble and righteous behavior. The present successor is Shaykh is Hasan al-Shinnawy.