Lata’if al-Minan preserves Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi’s account of a Ramadan night in Qayrawan with his teacher Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. It was a Friday night and the twenty-seventh of Ramadan. After spending the night at the congregational mosque, al-Shadhili said the next morning that it had been Laylat al-Qadr and described a dream in which he saw the Prophet and received a spiritual teaching centered on purification, love, knowledge, tawhid, faith, and submission to God.
Lata’if al-Minan preserves a memorable account from Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi about a Ramadan night he spent with his teacher Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili in Qayrawan. Al-Mursi says it was a Friday night and also the twenty-seventh night of Ramadan. Al-Shadhili went to the congregational mosque and his disciple accompanied him. The report describes the night as one of intense worship and spiritual presence.
Al-Mursi adds an extraordinary image from inside the mosque: when al-Shadhili entered and began his prayer, he saw the awliya gathering around him in great numbers. The night passed in worship. When morning came and they left the mosque, al-Shadhili told his disciple that the previous night had been a great night and identified it as Laylat al-Qadr.
He then related the dream that gave the night its central meaning. Al-Shadhili said that he had seen the Prophet in the dream and received the instruction: “O Ali, purify your garments from defilement.” When al-Shadhili asked what those garments meant, the answer in the dream was expressed through five spiritual “robes” with which God had clothed him: the robe of love, the robe of knowledge, the robe of divine unity, the robe of faith, and the robe of Islam.
The teaching then unfolds the meaning of those five qualities. Love of God makes created things lighter upon the heart; knowledge of God makes everything else appear small beside Him; true tawhid leaves no room for associating anything with God; faith gives the heart security in its reliance upon Him; and submission to God leads a person toward obedience, repentance and returning to Him whenever he falls short.
Al-Shadhili concluded that through this dream he understood the spiritual meaning he connected with the Qur’anic command, “and purify your garments.” In the story, purification is therefore presented not merely as an outward image but as an inward path: love, recognition of God, pure tawhid, living faith and sincere submission shaping the whole person.
This fuller wording turns the report into a complete spiritual narrative rather than a bare statement that a dream occurred. The setting in Qayrawan, the twenty-seventh night, the mosque, the morning declaration of Laylat al-Qadr and the five-part teaching all belong to the same passage preserved by Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari from Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi.
Al-Mursi adds an extraordinary image from inside the mosque: when al-Shadhili entered and began his prayer, he saw the awliya gathering around him in great numbers. The night passed in worship. When morning came and they left the mosque, al-Shadhili told his disciple that the previous night had been a great night and identified it as Laylat al-Qadr.
He then related the dream that gave the night its central meaning. Al-Shadhili said that he had seen the Prophet in the dream and received the instruction: “O Ali, purify your garments from defilement.” When al-Shadhili asked what those garments meant, the answer in the dream was expressed through five spiritual “robes” with which God had clothed him: the robe of love, the robe of knowledge, the robe of divine unity, the robe of faith, and the robe of Islam.
The teaching then unfolds the meaning of those five qualities. Love of God makes created things lighter upon the heart; knowledge of God makes everything else appear small beside Him; true tawhid leaves no room for associating anything with God; faith gives the heart security in its reliance upon Him; and submission to God leads a person toward obedience, repentance and returning to Him whenever he falls short.
Al-Shadhili concluded that through this dream he understood the spiritual meaning he connected with the Qur’anic command, “and purify your garments.” In the story, purification is therefore presented not merely as an outward image but as an inward path: love, recognition of God, pure tawhid, living faith and sincere submission shaping the whole person.
This fuller wording turns the report into a complete spiritual narrative rather than a bare statement that a dream occurred. The setting in Qayrawan, the twenty-seventh night, the mosque, the morning declaration of Laylat al-Qadr and the five-part teaching all belong to the same passage preserved by Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari from Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi.
Conclusion
The classical account remembers the night as a moment of worship in Qayrawan in which al-Shadhili associated Laylat al-Qadr with a Prophetic dream whose central lesson was purification through love, knowledge, tawhid, faith and sincere submission to God.
Sources
Latā’if al-Minan p.50: report attributed to Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi concerning Ramadan 27 in Qayrawan, al-Shadhili identifying the night as Laylat al-Qadr, and reporting a Prophetic dream.
A modern article explicitly reproduces the Latā’if al-Minan passage: Abu al-Abbas says he was with al-Shadhili in Qayrawan on Ramadan 27; the next morning al-Shadhili called it Laylat al-Qadr and reported seeing the Prophet.