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About
Born Ian Dallas in Ayr, Scotland (1930–2021 CE), he came to Islam from an unusual path. Before his conversion he was a playwright and television dramatist who adapted literary classics for the BBC and even appeared in Federico Fellini's film 8½. In 1967 he embraced Islam at the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, Morocco, taking the name Abdalqadir as-Sufi, and became a disciple of the Moroccan master Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib within the Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri tariqa. After his teacher's death he was recognized as Shaykh of Instruction in the order, and he founded the Murabitun World Movement. In law he was a firm advocate of the Maliki school, which he regarded as the original legal tradition of the people of Madina, and his teaching combined Sufi practice with a distinctive critique of modern political and financial systems. A prolific writer, his works range from The Way of Muhammad (1975), an exposition of Islam from a Sufi perspective, and Root Islamic Education, to political and cultural studies. He inspired many, mainly Western, converts to Islam, and was instrumental in founding mosques in Norwich, Granada, Cape Town, and beyond. He died in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2021.
