Popular Sufi leader Sheikh Sidi Hamza al-Qadri dies aged 95

RABAT: The head of one of Morocco’s biggest Sufi orders, with tens of thousands of followers at home and abroad, died Wednesday aged 95, an official and local media said.

Sheikh Sidi Hamza al-Qadri al-Boutchichi was the spiritual leader of the Qadiriya Boutchichiya order.

He died in the northwestern city of Oujda and was to be buried in the nearby town of Madagh where he was born and his order is based, local media reported.

Qadri was seen as a “living master” by his followers and was famous for his wisdom and kindness.

Visitors came from across the world to hear him teach, and every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather in Madagh to celebrate Mawlid Shareef.