Millions of Egyptians are expected to take part in celebrations honouring the 13th-century Sufi saint Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, as one of the country's largest religious festivals approaches its climax on Thursday.
The week-long festival, known as the Mawlid al-Sayyid al-Badawi, an annual celebration commemorating the birth of the revered Sufi saint, began on 16 October and is expected to attract more than two million visitors, according to Egyptian media reports.
Worshippers and pilgrims have travelled from across Egypt, including the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt, to visit al-Badawi's shrine and participate in collective prayers, devotional chanting and dhikr, the Sufi practice of remembering God through the repetition of sacred phrases.
The celebrations centre on the Sayyid al-Badawi Mosque in Tanta, where the saint is buried, while surrounding streets host religious gatherings, food stalls and traditional festivities.
Egypt's General Sheikhdom of Sufi Orders announced that the celebrations would culminate on 22 October, with a major Sufi conference scheduled for Wednesday in Tanta's Sigar district.
Who was Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawi?
Ahmad al-Badawi was a Muslim mystic who travelled through the Islamic world before settling in Tanta in the 13th century.
He became renowned for his asceticism, religious devotion and spiritual teachings, eventually becoming one of the most revered figures in Egyptian Sufism.
Al-Badawi also occupies a prominent place in Egyptian popular traditions surrounding the struggle against the Crusaders.
According to accounts passed down through Sufi traditions and folklore, he helped fight the Crusaders while blind during the Seventh Crusade, launched by King Louis IX of France in 1249, and was associated with the Egyptian resistance that culminated in the Crusaders' defeat and Louis IX's capture in 1250.
Although his personal participation in the fighting is not firmly established by contemporary historical evidence, the tradition helped establish his reputation as a spiritual protector of Egypt as well as a religious teacher.
Al-Badawi, who died in 1276, is associated with the founding of the Badawiyya, also known as the Ahmadiyya, one of Egypt's historic Sufi orders.
His followers regard him as a "wali", or friend of God, a designation used in Sufi traditions for individuals believed to have attained exceptional spiritual closeness to the divine.
For generations, his shrine has been a major destination for religious pilgrimage, and his annual mawlid has developed into one of the most prominent expressions of Egypt's popular Islamic culture.
For Egyptian Sufis, the occasion is both an act of religious remembrance and a celebration of spiritual continuity, connecting contemporary worshippers with centuries-old traditions of devotion, hospitality and communal solidarity.
The festival also attracts many Egyptians who do not belong to any particular Sufi order, reflecting the enduring place of saints, shrines and religious festivals in the country's social and cultural life.
The celebrations come ahead of another major Sufi festival honouring Ibrahim al-Desouki, which is scheduled to begin on Friday in the Nile Delta city of Desouk.
