#Seed038: Zawiyas, Agriculture, and Right Livelihood
Production and the Spirit of Agricultural Renewal
“One who does not cultivate cannot call to the Truth.” - Imām Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī

If you’ve ever eaten cheese from France or Quebec, it is highly likely that it has a religious provenance. It is commonly assumed that Christian monasteries are subsidized by the Church; however, that is far from the truth. Monasteries usually serve as economic hubs, producing goods that are sold to cover day-to-day expenses. Food journalist Michael Pollan, in his documentary series Cooked, featured the Abbey of Regina Laudis, a monastic community in Connecticut with a 400-acre working farm. The Benedictine nuns manage hay fields and pastures, harvesting up to 8,000 hay bales a year, process firewood, harvest and preserve fruits, vegetables, and honey, sell dairy products, make cheese, and raise cattle for meat and leather. Indeed, they are answering St. Benedict’s call, who wrote, “...for then are they truly monks when they live by the labour of their hands.” This monastery is a contemporary reminder that religious institutions have always been at the intersection of civil society, governance, economics, and community life. Throughout many religious institutions, especially those devoted to the spiritual path, have served as beacons for right livelihood.
In the Islamic tradition, especially in North Africa, the spiritual lodge, known as the zawiya, once served as not only a place of spiritual retreat but as a necessary civil society institution and a hub to practice right livelihood. A zawiya is a religious, historical, and social institution within the Islamic tradition. Literally translated as corner, the zawiya became frequently associated as a place of prayer, devotion, spiritual practice, and religious education. They are also known for providing various forms of charity and social services, not unlike a monastery, such as food, accommodation, relief programs, and financial assistance. Additionally, the zawiya is also a place to mediate and arbitrate tribal disputes.1 Some sources point to the ribat as an early form of the zawiya. The ribat were originally fortified structures, often located in frontier regions, as a garrison for soldiers and ascetics. Hence why futuwwa is at once associated with spiritual and military chivalry.2 Over time, the ribat took a more religious character, becoming places exclusively for spiritual retreat.
The development of the zawiya is quite complex. By the 15th century, the zawiya had become an important institution, though not without its corruption, throughout North Africa. At this time, the Maghreb was marked by significant political, economic, and social upheaval. The strong centralized governance of the Marinid Dynasty, which eventually fell in 1465, had weakened significantly due to infighting and ineffective rulers. Meanwhile, Portugal and Spain, Morocco’s northern Iberian rivals, began capturing key Moroccan coastal cities, disrupting trans-Sahara trade routes. Trade disruption, alongside prolonged droughts, led to crop failures, food shortages, and famine, forcing rural communities to move into urban centers. As the Marinid Dynasty was falling, Imām Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī (d.1465), a prominent scholar and spiritual leader known for composing the Dala'il al-Khayrat—one of the most widely read devotional texts—launched a programme of important social reform. He “exhorted his followers to combine their religious pursuits with a direct concern for the material welfare of the communities to which they had been sent to carry out their mission. […] Al-Jazūlī instructed his disciples to extol the virtues of agricultural labour among nomad tribes and persuade them to adopt the cultivation of land as a means of eradicating poverty and the constant uncertainty of an adequate livelihood inherent in pastoralism.”3 Furthermore, his disciples—mostly urban and educated—would undergo a rigorous spiritual training that not only included worship (e.g. fasting, prayer, litanies, etc.) but also physical work such as ploughing, reaping and gleaning. Once initiated, the disciples had the “necessary expertise to integrate into rural society with relative ease.”4
One of Imām al-Jazūlī’s prominent students, Shaykh Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh al-Ghazwānī continued his teacher’s legacy by supervising the foundation of lodges throughout the northern regions of the country, especially where lands had become barren from neglect. Renowned for his skill in setting up irrigation systems, the Shaykh would set up a zawiya, inculcate in his disciples an interest in agricultural matters, and imbue them with missionary zeal and a sense of moral obligation for their community. The results were astounding: local communities assisted in the upkeep of new establishments, donated plots of land, and relinquished their water rights on wells or streams for the common good. In times of scarcity, harvests would be distributed among the poor of the town, not only preventing famine but also keeping communities intact.5
Centuries after al-Jazūlī’s reforms in North Africa, the zawiya tradition continued to inspire communities across the Islamic world, such as in West Africa through the teachings of Shaykh Amadou Bamba. Shaykh Amadou Bamba (d. 1927) founded the Mouride Brotherhood in Senegal and the Gambia. He taught, “Be like the earth – it absorbs all the unwanted waste of mankind but in return, it only gives back good: plants, flowers and fruits.” Under his guidance, he established rural daraas (places of religious instruction) where disciples would also engage in collective farming, particularly peanut cultivation. This practice was a means of community self-sufficiency and fostered a robust economic presence, especially under European occupation. Disciples would dedicate their time working the land, while receiving religious instruction. They understood that their efforts were both a service to God and a means to support the community. Laborers also received a share of the land’s profits or ownership, which fostered a sense of communal responsibility and economic empowerment.6 To this day, Shaykh Amadou Bambas’s spiritual inheritors continue to fulfill this mission. The Pout Peace Village, founded in 2006 by the late Shaykh Aly N’Daw, is a living example.

The medieval scholar Rāghib al-Isfahānī argued that the people of the zawiya, “who falsely claim to be sufis are like this: they do not work, have no knowledge and offer no moral example. They take from people without creating any value. Rather they have made their concern confined to their bellies and private parts. They take benefit from people, hamper the livelihood of others, muddy the water and cause prices to soar.”7 By ensuring that the zawiya was a productive hub benefitting communities, countless community leaders and organizers ensured that they provided a benefit for their communities. Right livelihood is fundamentally a spiritual exercise, something intuitively understood by the likes of Imām al-Jazūlī. Given their independence from state-power, these civil society organizations offer essential services to their community without bureaucratic inefficiencies, all the while providing a ground for the spiritual and moral elevation of individuals.
Rodriguez-Mañas, Francisco. "Charity and Deceit: The Practice of the iṭ'ām al-ṭa'ām in Moroccan Sufism." Studia Islamica, no. 91, 2000, p.59.
The term futuwwa derives from the Arabic word "fatā," meaning "young man," and is associated with qualities like altruism, humility, and selflessness. In the Islamic tradition, futuwwa is linked to the development of moral character and the embodiment of virtues that reflect the ideal conduct of a believer. Al-Qushayrī writes in his Risāla, that the foundation of futuwwa “is that the servant of God always exerts himself in the service of others.” See Mukhtar H. Ali. "Futuwwa as the Noblest Character Traits (Makārim al-Akhlāq) in Anṣārī’s Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn with al-Kāshānī’s Commentary." Journal of Islamic Ethics, vol. 4, no. 1-2, 2020, pp. 8–24. Brill, https://brill.com/view/journals/jie/4/1-2/article-p8_2.xml.
Francisco Rodriguez-Manas. "Agriculture, Sufism and the State in Tenth/Sixteenth-Century Morocco." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 59, no. 3, 1996, pp. 456-7
ibid.
ibid. pp. 457-8
Vincent Monteil. "The Mouride Brotherhood of Senegal: A Muslim Community." Archives De Sciences Sociales Des Religions, 1962, www.wisdomlib.org/religion/journal/archives-of-social-sciences-of-religions/d/doc1447933.html. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
al-Iṣfahānī, Rāghib. al-Dharīʿah ilā Makārim al-Sharīʿah (The Art of Cultivating Noble Character). Translated by Yasien Mohamed, White Thread Press, 2024. p.267-268