The first "Zawiya al-Fassiya" was first established by Abdelkader's ancestor, Abu al-Mahasin, a Muslim scholar from Ksar el-Kebir and from a bourgeois family of Andalusi origin. He moved to Fes in 1580 began the zawiya by teaching in his own house in the al-Mukhfiya neighbourhood, which quickly developed into an important center of scholarship on its own. Abu al-Mahasin purchased neighbouring houses to accommodate its expansion and in 1596 converted one of the houses into a mosque for his zawiya, designating his son Abu al-Abbas Ahmad al-Hafiz as imam. Its teachings followed al-Jazuli's school of thought and those of Abd al-Rahman al-Majdub, an earlier Sufisheikh who spent time in Fes and who was Abu al-Mahasin's teacher. Abu al-Mahasin himself won some favour with the Saadian Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur thanks tothe warriors he sent to fight in the Battle of Ksar el-Kebir in 1578. Abu al-Mahasin's younger brother, Abd al-Rahman al-'Arif al-Fassi, became his spiritual successor. He established a second zawiya in the Qalqliyin neighbourhood in the Qarawiyyin quarter of Fes. This second site was devoted to initiating new disciples and to more esoteric practices like the sama', while the original site in the Andalusiyyin quarter became associated with more public and institutional aspects of their order. During the 17th century century the Zawiya al-Fasiyya dominated the spiritual life of Fes and takes on added sociopolitical importance. Some of the other disciples of Abu al-Mahasin also founded new branches of the zawiya across Morocco, the most important of which was in Ksar el-Kebir. One of them, Muhammad al-Ma'an, established his own zawiya in the al-Mukhfiya neighbourhood, the Zawiya al-Ma‘aniyya. Abdelkader al-Fasi was Abu al-Mahasin's grandson and was born in Ksar el-Kebir, and moved to Fes to study under Abd al-Rahman al-'Arif al-Fassi. After the latter died, he took over the Zawiya al-Fassiya in the Qalqliyin neighbourhood while becoming a disciple of Muhammad al-Ma'an. Abdelkader's learning and influence grew, however, and he came to be regarded as a reformer and reviver of Sufism in Fes during a troubled period for the city in the early reign of Moulay Ismail. He was a complex figure who, in addition to promoting Sufism, devoted himself also to the study of hadiths and became acknowledged as a master scholar of conventional Islamic sciences too, earning him the title of Shaykh al-Jama'a. His teachings included a critical perspective on the political elites of his time and an emphasis on intellectual or scholarly Sufism which was passed down to the generations after him. Particularly towards the end of his life, he acquired the reputation of a saint who accomplishes miracles. Abdelkader died in 1680 and was buried in a tomb in his zawiya in the Qalqliyin area, which has since been known as the Zawiya of Sidi Abdelkader al-Fassi. The zawiya building was expanded by Sultan Moulay Isma'il, who ruled in 1672–1727 and was also responsible for expanding the Zawiya of Moulay Idris II in Fes. The zawiya was held in such high regard that, like the more famous Zawiya of Moulay Idris II, it became a sanctuary where Muslims were able to claim legal asylum from authorities. It maintained good relations with the makhzen and with the common people, allowing it to sometimes play a mediator role between political forces in the city. The al-Fassi family itself also continued to be a prominent family in Morocco, yielding important figures such as the 20th-century religious scholar and nationalist leader Allal al-Fassi.
