Acknowledgements
This work was made possible through the generous support of the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQSC), which allowed me to spend two years at the Institut dâétudes religieuses, Université de Montréal. I am very grateful to the foundation and to the Institute and its staff, especially my dear friend Damien Janos.
The Juma Almajid Center for Culture and Heritage in Dubai has been very cooperative, not only in this project, but in all my manuscript-based work for more than ten years, and I extend my thanks to its founder and all its staff.
My gratitude is also due to friends who helped me obtain some manuscripts, especially Hasan Umut, Sajjad Nikfahm, Fouad Ben Ahmed, and Omar Edaibat. Other friends were kind enough to read parts of the edited texts or to help with adjusting the names of some of the scholars or regions, especially Aḥmad b. Suhayl al-MashhÅ«r and BalÄ«gh al-Ê¿Aá¹á¹Äb, who was generous in his abundant information on the history of Yemen and the sources related to it. I am also grateful to my friend Ian Greer and my sister ÄlÄʾ for reading parts of this work. My gratitude extends as well to the editors of the Studies on Sufism series and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and valuable comments and suggestions.
The passing of Dr. HishÄm al-Ê¿UjaymÄ« in January 2022 was major loss; he was interested in the work, and very generous in sharing his knowledge about the family and the history of the ḤijÄz. I hope that this work meets his expectations, and that I have produced something worthy of this distinguished intellectual family.
My wife and my son were throughout the main incentive for me to continue working, which was at times at the expense of our time together. I hope they will forgive me for my shortcomings.
Finally, as always, Jessica Stilwellâs comments, corrections, and suggestions were always the first criterion and the first critique of the work. I am always grateful for her kindness and great help.