[1] The first "Zawiya al-Fassiya" was first established by Abdelkader's ancestor, Abu al-Mahasin (died in 1604), a Muslim scholar from Ksar el-Kebir and from a bourgeois family of Andalusi origin.

[1] He moved to Fes in 1580 and started a zawiya by teaching in his own house in the al-Mukhfiya neighbourhood (in the Andalusiyyin quarter of the city), which quickly developed into an important center of scholarship on its own.

[1] The zawiya's teachings followed al-Jazuli's school of thought (itself within the Shadhili order) and those of Abd al-Rahman al-Majdub (died 1569), an earlier Sufi sheikh who spent time in Fes and who was Abu al-Mahasin's teacher.

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 (late 17th century).

[2]: 600 [5][1] It maintained good relations with the makhzen (royal government) and with the common people, allowing it to sometimes play a mediator role between political forces in the city.