Tijani, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al-
Tijani, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al- (Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al-Tijani). Fourteenth century Arab author from Tunis. He wrote an account of his travels through North Africa and a compendium on love and marriage.
Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah al-Tijani seeTijani, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al-
Tijani, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al- (Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al-Tijani). Fourteenth century Arab author from Tunis. He wrote an account of his travels through North Africa and a compendium on love and marriage.
Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah al-Tijani seeTijani, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah al-
Tijani, Ahmad al-
Tijani, Ahmad al- (Ahmad al-Tijani) (Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani al-Maghribi) (Sidi Ahmed Tijani) (1735/1737-1815). Founder of the Tijaniyah Sufi order. Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tijani was born at ‘Ayn Madi in southern Algeria. At the age of twenty he visited Fez, whre he successively experimented with the litanies of several Sufi orders and was disappointed with all of them. Ten years later, in 1767, during his residence in Tlemcen, he had his first spiritual realization (fath).
In 1772-1773, he set out to perform the hajj. At Azwawi near Algiers he was initiated by ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Azhari (d. 1793) into the Khalwatiyah order, which had experienced a revival in Egypt a few decades earlier. Al-Tijani ardently followed this course. He learned the secrets of the Khalwatiyah from Mahmud al-Kurdi (d. 1780) in Cairo and from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-Samman (d. 1775) in Medina. His attachment to the Khalwatiyah contrasted with his earlier discontent with other Sufi orders. On his return to the Maghrib in 1774-1775 he initiated his first disciples into the Khalwatiyah. The introduction of the revived Khalwatiyah to the Maghrib was a departure from the Sufi tradition of the Shadhiliyah to which most Maghribi orders belonged.
In 1782, al-Tijani returned to the desert edge in southern Algeria, where he had a visionary encounter in which the prophet Muhammad taught him a litany (wird) enunciating a new independent tariqah and instructed him to sever relations with other orders and shaykhs. In spite of the break, elements of the revived Khalwatiyah remained more embedded in the doctrines and rituals of the Tijaniyah than the founder and later Tijanis would admit. Indeed, one of the most unusual features of the Tijaniyah, the exclusivity of the order, was an elaboration of a principle advocated by Mustafa al-Bakri and applied to some extent in the Egyptian Khalwatiyah.
As his fame as a saint grew, al-Tijani was compelled by the Ottoman authorities to leave Algeria. He arrived in Fez in 1798, and lived there until his death in 1815. The reformist Moroccan sultan Mawlay Sulayman (1792-1822), who sought to eradicate popular Sufism, warmly received al-Tijani because of his Sufism combined strict observance of Islamic law with the rejection of asceticism and withdrawal from the world.
Al-Tijani claimed the rank of khatim al-awliya’ (the seal of the saints), which implied that he was the link between the Prophet and all past and future saints. His adherents therefore had higher spiritual rank as well and were promised access to paradise without the need for giving up their possessions, provided they observed the precepts of Islam as well as they could. In this way he attracted to his order rich merchants and senior officials. Some of the most senior ‘ulama’ in Fez were hostile to al-Tijani and rejected his claim to superior status, but other prominent scholars joined the order.
In its adherence to Islamic law and to orthodox practices, as well as its positive attidue toward worldly affairs, the Tijaniyah was one of a group of new Sufi orders that emerged out of trends of renewal and reform in the eighteenth century. The dynamism of the Tijaniyah found expression in its nineteenth century expansion, both militant and peaceful, mainly in West Africa.
Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani al-Maghribi (1735–1815), (Sidi Ahmed Tijani) is the founder of the Tijaniyya Sūfīorder. The al-Tijani was born in 1735 in Ain Madhi, Algeria and died in Fez, Morocco at age of 80 in 1815.
The greater part of the life and teaching of Shaykh Tijani can be drawn from two primary hagiographical works:
1. Kitab Jawahir al-ma'ani wa-bulugh al-amani fi fayd Sidi Abil al-Abbas at-Tijani (Gems of Indications and Attainment of Aspirations in the Overflowings of Sidi Abil Abbas Tijani) by Sidi Ali Harazem Berrada (d. 1797), and
2. Kitab al-Jami’a li-ma f-taraqa mina-l ‘ulumn (The Absolute in What Has Separated from the Sciences) by Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Mishri Sibai Hassani Idrissi (d. 1809).
Later hagiographies tend to be works of compilation drawn from these two primary sources. Such hagiographies are:
1. Kitab Rima'h al-Hizb al Rahim ala Nuhur Hizb ar-Rajim (The Spears of the League of the Merciful thrown at the Necks of the League of the Accursed) by Sidi Omar ibn Said al-Futi (d. 1864),
2. Kitab Bughyat al-mustafid li-shar'h minyat al-murid (Aspiration of the Beneficiary in Commenting the 'Demise of the Disciple' ) of Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Arbi Sayeh (d. 1894), and last but not least,
3. Kitab Kashf al-Hijab 'amman talaaqa bi-Shaykh Tijani mina-l As'hab (Rising the Veil of the Companions who encountered with Shaykh Tijani) by Sidi Ahmed ibn al-'Iyyashi Skirej al-Fasi (d. 1940).
Shaykh Tijani was born in 1735 in the small village of Ain Madhi, located in western-central Algeria about 30 miles (50 km) from the city of Laghuat (al-Aghwat).Shaykh Tijani became an orphan at the age of 15 when he applied himself to his studies. Having learned the Quran by heart at the early age of seven according to its own interpretation (bi tafsirihi), he studied the fundamentals of Maliki jurisprudence and texts like the Mukhtasar of Khalil, the Risala of al-Qushayri (d. 1052), the Akhdari (d. 1538) in logic, the Muqaddima of Ibn Rushd, the Mudawwana of Sahnun ("Abdessalam ibn Said Tanukhi Qayrawani," d. 854) with local scholars, such as Sidi Mohammed ibn Hammu Tijani, Sidi Aissa Bouakkaz Tijani, and Sidi Ibn Bouafiya Tijani.
In 1756, at the age of 21, during the reign of the Sultan Mawlana Mohammed ibn Abdellah (d. 1789), a scholar who wrote several books on Quranic commentary and Tradition ruling Morocco from 1757 to 1789, Shaykh Tijani entered al-Qarawiyyine University of Fez and studied in particular the books on the Tradition of the Prophet (al-'Hadith Nabawi Sharif) such al-Bukhari and Muslim. Meanwhile Shaykh Tijani busied himself with meeting Sufi teachers. He first met the head of Shadhilite Wazzaniya order Shaykh Sidi Tayyeb ibn Mohammed Wazzani (d. 1766). He also met the head of Shadhilite Fasiya order Shaykh Sidi Abdellah ibn Shaykh Sidi al-Arbi ibn Shaykh Tijaniibn Shaykh Sidi Abdellah Ma'in al-Andalusi (d. 1778). Shaykh Tijani also took the Qadiriya while in Fez, then he left it after a while; he then took the Nasiriya (after Sidi Mhammed Ben Nasir Dar'i; d. 1694) from Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdullah Tazzani called “ar-Rif”,then left it; then he took the Shadhilite Ghumariya (after Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdelmoumin Ghumari Hassani; d. 1847), first from a student, then in a dream from its founder, then he left it. He also took from the saint of Taza Shaykh Sidi Abul Abbas Ahmed Tawwash (d. 1791) who counselled him to seek seclusion (khalwa) and invocation (dhikr), but Shaykh Tijani refused. He finally met with Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Hassan al-Wanjali Zabibi (d. 1770), who told him when he first saw him and before he talked to him: "You will attain the rank (maqam) of the Great Qutb Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 1241).
Shaykh Tijani did not stay in Fez long and soon returned to Ain Mahdi. He then went to another Saharan centre known as "Sidi Shaykh", where lies the shrine of the Shadhilite mystic Sidi Abdellqadir Smahi (d. 1610), and stayed there retreating for five years. Shaykh Tijani in the following years travelled back and forth between the desert recluses and towns of the region, e.g. Tlemcen. There seems to be a pattern in Shaykh Tijani's travels, in that he went to the desert to meditate, while in the towns he took exoteric, non-mystical knowledge from the acknowledged masters and in the traditional manner. In 1771, Shaykh Tijani travelled to Mecca for pilgrimage. On his journey to the East, Shaykh Tijani was keen to met the noted Sufi Shaykhs of the time -just like he did in the Maghreb. One was the Algerian master, the Idrissid Sharif, Sidi Mohammed ibn Abderrahman Azharri (d. 1793), from whom the Rahmaniya Order came. Shaykh Tijani took the Khalwatiya from him and was reinitiated into it by the leading teacher in Cairo, Sidi Mahmoud al-Kurdi al-Iraqi al-Misri (d. 1771)—another teacher of the Fasite Sidi Abul Mawahib Abdelwahhab Tazi (d. 1783; direct heir of Moulay Abdellaziz ibn Masoud Debbarh on whom Kitab al-Ibriz was written; d. 1717).
Sidi Mahmud al-Kurdi granted Shaykh Tijani a full ijaza (license) to teach the Khalwatiya tariqa. From Egypt, Sidi Ahmed left to Mecca. There he heard of Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdellah al-Hindi (d. 1773); student of the venerated Shahdilite master Sidi Ahmed ibn Mhammed Ben Nasir Dar'i (d. 1714; buried in the Tal'a District, Fez). Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdellah had no permission to meet any body, but in spite of that, Shaykh Tijani received from him special knowledge, through a special envoy, without meeting with him. He foretold Shaykh Tijani about what he was destined to, and gave him good tidings that he will inherit all his secrets, endowments, cognition, and illuminations. He also told him that he would meet the Qutb Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdelkarim Samman (d. 1774) in Medina, and gave him glad tidings that he would attain the status of Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 1241), as he had been foretold before by Sidi Mohammed Wanjali of Fez.
Soon after Shaykh Tijani met with Sidi Mohammed Samman. The latter was the guardian of the Prophet's grave and the author of several Sufi works but it was especially as the founder of a new order that he became influential. He combined the Qadiriya, the Naqshabandiya, the Nasiriya with the Khalwatiya (through Sidi Mustapha ibn Kamluddin al-Bakri ; 1739 -who is himself the teacher of Sqalli, Azharri, and al-Kurdi). This combination became known as the Sammaniya. Sidi Mohammed Samman gave special permission to Sidi Ahmed Tijani in all the Beautiful Names of Allah (al-Asma' al-'Husna), the Ahzab of Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 1241), the Wadhifa of Shaykh Zarruq (d. 1484), Dalail al-Khayrat and al-Dur al-’Ala. He told Shaykh Tijani that he is the Grand Magnate (al-Qutb al-Jami') and gave him good tidings that he will realize his aspiration and obtain the "Absolute General Authorization" (al-Qutbaniya al-Jami'a al-'Udhma).
When Shaykh Tijani returned to the Maghreb, he again went to the desert, to a place called Bu Samghun, a Saharan oasis located south of Geryville, perhaps under compulsion from the Turkish authorities. In 1776 he made his second trip to Fez from Tlemcen, with the intention of visiting the Baraka of Fez Mawlana Idriss ibn Idriss (d. 798). He met, during this trip, with the Idrissid scholar, Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Mishri Sibai al-Hassani of Takrat (d. 1809). Since then, Sidi Mohammed al-Mishri, leaded the prayers for Shaykh Tijani, and wrote the answers on his behalf until 1793; the year that Shaykh Tijani started himself to lead the prayers, in compliance with the instruction of his grandfather the prophet Sidna Mohammed. In the Moroccan city of Oujda (Wajda), while returning back to Fez, he met, for the first time, Sidi Ali Harazem Berrada, who accompanied him to Fez. During this meeting, he authorized him in the Khalwatiya and confided him with special knowledge and foretold him of what would be of him in revelation and strengthening.
After visiting the shrine of Moulay Idriss al-Azhar (d. 798), Shaykh Tijani went back to Tlemcen and then departed to Qasr Shallala and Bu Samghun. In Bu Samghun, in 1782, Shaykh Tijani announced that Muhammad has authorised him in a daylight vision (yaqadatan; while he was awake) to establish his own order, Tariqa Ahmediya-Mohammediya-Ibrahimiya-Hanifiya-Tijaniya. The Prophet gave him permission to initiate during a period when Shaykh Tijani had fled from contact with people in order to devote himself to his personal development. He told him that he was to take Sufism directly from him—hence the name—and not use any of the chains of authority of teacher-to-disciple that were the main stay of all the Sufi orders,
"You owe no favour to any of the Shaykhs of the path, for I am myself your medium and provider in every truth. Abandon all that you have taken from all other tariqas and hold fast to this tariqa without seclusion (khalwa), or retirement from people (uzla), until you reach your promised maqam, and you are as you are, without hardship, difficulty, or strive, and abdicate all the saints."
The Prophet had furthermore assigned to him the obligatory wird (litany) which he has to transmit in general to any seeker who asks for it and accepts to abide by its conditions; a 100 of Astaghfirou Allah" (I seek Allah’s forgiveness) and a 100 of prayers upon the Prophet with any version, preferably with so-called Salat al-Fatih (Shaykh Tijani said, “The lives of all the people have been spent in futility, except the lives of the practisers of Salat al Fatih, for they have gained both worldly and Otherworldly profit”.) By 1785 the Prophet completed to him the wird by adding a 100 of Haylala (“la-ilaha illa’Allah”; There is no God but Allah). The born-global Tijaniya was widely accepted almost immediately after its birth. Shaykh Tijani became so reputed that great masses of people started visiting him to take his wird, to be affiliated with him, and get more of what he gives them in sense and meaning.
[edit] Seal of sainthood
Shaykh Tijani stayed in Bu Samghun for about fifteenth years. In 1796, he went to Fez, marking the real beginning of his Tariqa. In Fez Shaykh Tijani was received by the Sultan Moulay Slimane (d. 1823). One year after his entrance to Fez on the Mu'harram of 1797, Shaykh Tijani attained the "Absolute General Authorization" (maqam al-qutbaniya al-jami'a al-'udhma) he longingly sought. One month and few days later Shaykh Tijani declared that the Prophet appeared to him in daylight and had him informed that he is the "Concealed Pole” (al-Qutb al-Maktum). This holder of this status is widely known in Sufi literature as the Khatim al-Awliya (the Seal of Sainthood). In the chronicle he called Khatim al-Awliya, al-Hakim Tirmidhi (d. 905) informs us the Khatim al-Awliya is the person, “upon whom the leadership (imama) of the saints is incumbent, who bears in his hand the Banner of the saints, and whose intercession all the saints have need of, just as prophets have need of Prophet Sidna Mohammed”. Tirmidhi continues that that authority of the Khatim al-Awliya even extends to the eschatological realm. On the Day of Judgment he will come forth as the proof of the saints just as the Seal of Prophets Sidna Mohammed will come forth as the proof of the prophets. Indeed, Shaykh Tijani said to his companions in Fez,
"When Allah assembles His creatures at the place of standing, a herald will proclaim at the top of his voice, so that everyone at the place of standing will hear him: "O people of the final congregation, this is your Imam, from whom you obtained your support!"
The khatmiya maqam's absolute appearance was claimed before by Sidi Muhyiddin ibn Arabi al-‘Hatimi al-Maghribi (d. 1221) when he said: “We no doubt sealed sainthood by inheriting the Hachimi and the Messiah”. However he retracted (taraja'a) later when aware that the full, complete and absolute appearance in that maqam is to be for some one else. He discover not who will attain such absolute appearance. In his ‘Anqa’ Maghreb fi khatm al-awliya wa shams al-Maghreb (The Western Phoenix in the Seal of Saints and Sun of Morocco), which he wrote in Fez, Ibn Arabi introduces the Seal of Sainthood as, “the inheriting saint, who receives from the source, who recognizes the degrees and ascertains the entitlement of their holders, in order to give each creditor his rightful due, for that is one of the virtues of the Chieftain of the Envoys, the Captain of the Community." Very explicitly, the Egyptian Shadhilite Sidi Abdelwahhab Shaarani (d. 1490) illustrated in Durar al-Ghawas, "This community (Ummah) has two comprehensive Seals, and every degree and station has an inheritor. Every saint there has ever been, or will ever be, can only receive from these two Seals, one of whom is the Seal of the sainthood of the elite, while the other is the one by whom the common sainthood is sealed, for there will be no saint after him until the advent of the Final Hour."
Shaykh Ibn Arabi went too far to connect the nature of the Sealness of Prophethood and that of Sainthood. According to him, “The meaning of the Prophet's saying: ‘I was a Prophet while Adam was between the water and the clay -is 'I was a Prophet in actual fact, aware of my Prophethood, while Adam was between the water and the clay.” He then went on to say "None of the other Prophets was a Prophet, nor aware of his Prophethood, except when he was sent (on his mission) after his coming into existence with his material body and his complete fulfilment of the preconditions of Prophethood." Then he added: “the Seal of the Saints was likewise actually a saint, aware of his sainthood, while was between the water and the clay, and none of the other saints was a saint in actual fact, nor aware of his sainthood, except after his acquisition of the Divine characteristics that are stipulated in the definition of sainthood." Because he is characterised by the complete assimilation of the Mohammedian paradigm, the Seal of Sainthood acts as a deputy (khalifa) of Prophet and symbolically takes his place in isthmus (al-barzakh) as well as during the time allotted to him on earth. Shaykh Tijani has expressed his khatmiya-katmiya complex in many sayings,
“The bounties that flow from the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) are received by the natures of the prophets, and everything that flows and emerges from the natures of the Prophets is received by my own nature, and from me it is distributed to all creatures from the origin of the world until the blowing on the trumpet”; “No saint drinks or provides water to drink, except from our ocean, from the origin of the world until the blowing on the trumpet”; “The spirit of the Prophet and my spirit are like this'--pointing with his two fingers, the index finger and the middle finger. 'His spirit supports the Messengers and the Prophets and my spirit supports the poles, the sages, the saints, from pre-existence to eternity (mina al-azal ila abad)”; “These two feet of mine are upon the neck of every saint of Allah, from the time of Adam until the blowing of the trumpet”;“'Our station in the Presence of Allah in the Hereafter will not be attained by any of the saints, and it will not be approached by anyone, whether his importance is great or small. Of all the saints among from the very beginning of creation until the blowing on the trumpet, there is not one who will attain to my station.”
Greatly simplified, Shaykh Tijani developed his path on loose lines. Obligations, as one to be expected in an order designed to expand, were simple. He imposed no penances or retreats and the conditions was not complicated; (1) praying in the mosque with the congregation whenever possible, meeting all the prerequisites for lawfully offering prayer; (2) praying upon the Prophet; and (3) not to visit living saints or the tombs of dead ones. The Shaykh stressed the quite dhikr even in congregation, and forbade above all the visitations of living and dead saints at the command of his grandfather, for they were all associated with baraka-possession. Shaykh Tijani affirmed that the Prophet had told him not to cut himself off from the world, and so he advised his disciples to live in comfort wearing classy clothes and eating choice food. Shaykh Tijani gave good tidings that his followers could rely on his own guarantee of salvation. This includes anyone who saw him on Mondays and Fridays and did not become his enemy, "If someone receives from me the well-known wird, which is essential to the Tariqa, or he receives it from someone I have authorized to teach it, he will enter the Garden of Paradise (“Jannat 'Illiyyine”; that of prophets and saints) -he and his children, his wives, and his descendants-without reckoning and without punishment, provided that they are not guilty of any insult, hatred, or enmity, and that he persists in loving the Shaykh until death.” (…) "Be of good cheer! Anyone who is devoted to our love, until he dies in that state, will certainly be resurrected among those who are safe, provided that he does not wear the garb of security from Allah's cunning (makr‘Allah)."
Thus Shaykh Tijani emerged as a sudden Sufi authority and established Sufi leader, dedicating his life for spiritual education, training, guidance, and promotion of the endeavourers to the divine proximity. He possessed high spiritual energy, determination, perseverance of Allah's sacred rights, and firmness of resolution. He laboured in his beginnings on perfection of repentance with its conditions, and on adherence to Shari'a bounds. He minded his own business, and held fast to the Quran and Sunna and the footsteps of the righteous ancestors. He totally turned himself to his Lord, so Allah sufficed him. He reinforced his foundations first by preoccupying himself with the study of the Quran and Sunna, deep thorough comprehension of the fine and subtle sciences and abstruse issues, and strict observance of the principles the Shari'a: "If you hear someone quoting me, place the statement on the scale of the noble Shari'a. If it balances, take it; if it doesn’t, leave it, for within the noble Quran and Hadith, you will find the Tijaniya. Outside the circle of Quran and Hadith, there is no such thing."
For nearly fifty years Shaykh Tijani was the main active propagator of the doctrine. From his Fez headquarters, he organised his born-global Tariqa, which spread in easts and wests in his blessed lifetime. During the same period, some of Shaykh Tijani's appointed khalifas and muqaddams -mostly doctors of the Shari'a law (ulama)- had established new Tijani centres in Morocco and abroad and developed ramifications of their own. Shaykh Tijani remained in Fez until his pass on Thursday 22 September 1815. After the Shaykh performed the Subh prayer, he laid down on his right side while he asked for a glass of water then he returned to his bed. At that time his blessed soul went up to its creator. The funeral ablutions were carried out in his home at Dar-Lamraya. An abundant number of eminent scholars, notables and princes, in addition to the Fasite residents and Tijani community took part in the funeral. The great scholar Sidi Abu Abdullah Mohammed ibn Ibrahim Dukkali led the funeral prayer at the Qarawiyyine mosque. People were rushing and trying hard to have that great honour of holding the blessed coffin of Shaykh Tijani and it was a scene full of deep emotions where tears and sorrows constituted the landmark of this great event. Shaykh Tijani was buried in his blessed Zawiya. Shaykh Tijani is followed today by over 300 million disciples active in the five corners of the globe.
Ahmad al-Tijani see Tijani, Ahmad al-
Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani al-Maghribi see Tijani, Ahmad al-
Sidi Ahmed Tijani see Tijani, Ahmad al-
Tijani, Ahmad al- (Ahmad al-Tijani) (Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani al-Maghribi) (Sidi Ahmed Tijani) (1735/1737-1815). Founder of the Tijaniyah Sufi order. Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tijani was born at ‘Ayn Madi in southern Algeria. At the age of twenty he visited Fez, whre he successively experimented with the litanies of several Sufi orders and was disappointed with all of them. Ten years later, in 1767, during his residence in Tlemcen, he had his first spiritual realization (fath).
In 1772-1773, he set out to perform the hajj. At Azwawi near Algiers he was initiated by ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Azhari (d. 1793) into the Khalwatiyah order, which had experienced a revival in Egypt a few decades earlier. Al-Tijani ardently followed this course. He learned the secrets of the Khalwatiyah from Mahmud al-Kurdi (d. 1780) in Cairo and from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-Samman (d. 1775) in Medina. His attachment to the Khalwatiyah contrasted with his earlier discontent with other Sufi orders. On his return to the Maghrib in 1774-1775 he initiated his first disciples into the Khalwatiyah. The introduction of the revived Khalwatiyah to the Maghrib was a departure from the Sufi tradition of the Shadhiliyah to which most Maghribi orders belonged.
In 1782, al-Tijani returned to the desert edge in southern Algeria, where he had a visionary encounter in which the prophet Muhammad taught him a litany (wird) enunciating a new independent tariqah and instructed him to sever relations with other orders and shaykhs. In spite of the break, elements of the revived Khalwatiyah remained more embedded in the doctrines and rituals of the Tijaniyah than the founder and later Tijanis would admit. Indeed, one of the most unusual features of the Tijaniyah, the exclusivity of the order, was an elaboration of a principle advocated by Mustafa al-Bakri and applied to some extent in the Egyptian Khalwatiyah.
As his fame as a saint grew, al-Tijani was compelled by the Ottoman authorities to leave Algeria. He arrived in Fez in 1798, and lived there until his death in 1815. The reformist Moroccan sultan Mawlay Sulayman (1792-1822), who sought to eradicate popular Sufism, warmly received al-Tijani because of his Sufism combined strict observance of Islamic law with the rejection of asceticism and withdrawal from the world.
Al-Tijani claimed the rank of khatim al-awliya’ (the seal of the saints), which implied that he was the link between the Prophet and all past and future saints. His adherents therefore had higher spiritual rank as well and were promised access to paradise without the need for giving up their possessions, provided they observed the precepts of Islam as well as they could. In this way he attracted to his order rich merchants and senior officials. Some of the most senior ‘ulama’ in Fez were hostile to al-Tijani and rejected his claim to superior status, but other prominent scholars joined the order.
In its adherence to Islamic law and to orthodox practices, as well as its positive attidue toward worldly affairs, the Tijaniyah was one of a group of new Sufi orders that emerged out of trends of renewal and reform in the eighteenth century. The dynamism of the Tijaniyah found expression in its nineteenth century expansion, both militant and peaceful, mainly in West Africa.
Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani al-Maghribi (1735–1815), (Sidi Ahmed Tijani) is the founder of the Tijaniyya Sūfīorder. The al-Tijani was born in 1735 in Ain Madhi, Algeria and died in Fez, Morocco at age of 80 in 1815.
The greater part of the life and teaching of Shaykh Tijani can be drawn from two primary hagiographical works:
1. Kitab Jawahir al-ma'ani wa-bulugh al-amani fi fayd Sidi Abil al-Abbas at-Tijani (Gems of Indications and Attainment of Aspirations in the Overflowings of Sidi Abil Abbas Tijani) by Sidi Ali Harazem Berrada (d. 1797), and
2. Kitab al-Jami’a li-ma f-taraqa mina-l ‘ulumn (The Absolute in What Has Separated from the Sciences) by Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Mishri Sibai Hassani Idrissi (d. 1809).
Later hagiographies tend to be works of compilation drawn from these two primary sources. Such hagiographies are:
1. Kitab Rima'h al-Hizb al Rahim ala Nuhur Hizb ar-Rajim (The Spears of the League of the Merciful thrown at the Necks of the League of the Accursed) by Sidi Omar ibn Said al-Futi (d. 1864),
2. Kitab Bughyat al-mustafid li-shar'h minyat al-murid (Aspiration of the Beneficiary in Commenting the 'Demise of the Disciple' ) of Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Arbi Sayeh (d. 1894), and last but not least,
3. Kitab Kashf al-Hijab 'amman talaaqa bi-Shaykh Tijani mina-l As'hab (Rising the Veil of the Companions who encountered with Shaykh Tijani) by Sidi Ahmed ibn al-'Iyyashi Skirej al-Fasi (d. 1940).
Shaykh Tijani was born in 1735 in the small village of Ain Madhi, located in western-central Algeria about 30 miles (50 km) from the city of Laghuat (al-Aghwat).Shaykh Tijani became an orphan at the age of 15 when he applied himself to his studies. Having learned the Quran by heart at the early age of seven according to its own interpretation (bi tafsirihi), he studied the fundamentals of Maliki jurisprudence and texts like the Mukhtasar of Khalil, the Risala of al-Qushayri (d. 1052), the Akhdari (d. 1538) in logic, the Muqaddima of Ibn Rushd, the Mudawwana of Sahnun ("Abdessalam ibn Said Tanukhi Qayrawani," d. 854) with local scholars, such as Sidi Mohammed ibn Hammu Tijani, Sidi Aissa Bouakkaz Tijani, and Sidi Ibn Bouafiya Tijani.
In 1756, at the age of 21, during the reign of the Sultan Mawlana Mohammed ibn Abdellah (d. 1789), a scholar who wrote several books on Quranic commentary and Tradition ruling Morocco from 1757 to 1789, Shaykh Tijani entered al-Qarawiyyine University of Fez and studied in particular the books on the Tradition of the Prophet (al-'Hadith Nabawi Sharif) such al-Bukhari and Muslim. Meanwhile Shaykh Tijani busied himself with meeting Sufi teachers. He first met the head of Shadhilite Wazzaniya order Shaykh Sidi Tayyeb ibn Mohammed Wazzani (d. 1766). He also met the head of Shadhilite Fasiya order Shaykh Sidi Abdellah ibn Shaykh Sidi al-Arbi ibn Shaykh Tijaniibn Shaykh Sidi Abdellah Ma'in al-Andalusi (d. 1778). Shaykh Tijani also took the Qadiriya while in Fez, then he left it after a while; he then took the Nasiriya (after Sidi Mhammed Ben Nasir Dar'i; d. 1694) from Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdullah Tazzani called “ar-Rif”,then left it; then he took the Shadhilite Ghumariya (after Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdelmoumin Ghumari Hassani; d. 1847), first from a student, then in a dream from its founder, then he left it. He also took from the saint of Taza Shaykh Sidi Abul Abbas Ahmed Tawwash (d. 1791) who counselled him to seek seclusion (khalwa) and invocation (dhikr), but Shaykh Tijani refused. He finally met with Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Hassan al-Wanjali Zabibi (d. 1770), who told him when he first saw him and before he talked to him: "You will attain the rank (maqam) of the Great Qutb Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 1241).
Shaykh Tijani did not stay in Fez long and soon returned to Ain Mahdi. He then went to another Saharan centre known as "Sidi Shaykh", where lies the shrine of the Shadhilite mystic Sidi Abdellqadir Smahi (d. 1610), and stayed there retreating for five years. Shaykh Tijani in the following years travelled back and forth between the desert recluses and towns of the region, e.g. Tlemcen. There seems to be a pattern in Shaykh Tijani's travels, in that he went to the desert to meditate, while in the towns he took exoteric, non-mystical knowledge from the acknowledged masters and in the traditional manner. In 1771, Shaykh Tijani travelled to Mecca for pilgrimage. On his journey to the East, Shaykh Tijani was keen to met the noted Sufi Shaykhs of the time -just like he did in the Maghreb. One was the Algerian master, the Idrissid Sharif, Sidi Mohammed ibn Abderrahman Azharri (d. 1793), from whom the Rahmaniya Order came. Shaykh Tijani took the Khalwatiya from him and was reinitiated into it by the leading teacher in Cairo, Sidi Mahmoud al-Kurdi al-Iraqi al-Misri (d. 1771)—another teacher of the Fasite Sidi Abul Mawahib Abdelwahhab Tazi (d. 1783; direct heir of Moulay Abdellaziz ibn Masoud Debbarh on whom Kitab al-Ibriz was written; d. 1717).
Sidi Mahmud al-Kurdi granted Shaykh Tijani a full ijaza (license) to teach the Khalwatiya tariqa. From Egypt, Sidi Ahmed left to Mecca. There he heard of Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdellah al-Hindi (d. 1773); student of the venerated Shahdilite master Sidi Ahmed ibn Mhammed Ben Nasir Dar'i (d. 1714; buried in the Tal'a District, Fez). Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdellah had no permission to meet any body, but in spite of that, Shaykh Tijani received from him special knowledge, through a special envoy, without meeting with him. He foretold Shaykh Tijani about what he was destined to, and gave him good tidings that he will inherit all his secrets, endowments, cognition, and illuminations. He also told him that he would meet the Qutb Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdelkarim Samman (d. 1774) in Medina, and gave him glad tidings that he would attain the status of Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 1241), as he had been foretold before by Sidi Mohammed Wanjali of Fez.
Soon after Shaykh Tijani met with Sidi Mohammed Samman. The latter was the guardian of the Prophet's grave and the author of several Sufi works but it was especially as the founder of a new order that he became influential. He combined the Qadiriya, the Naqshabandiya, the Nasiriya with the Khalwatiya (through Sidi Mustapha ibn Kamluddin al-Bakri ; 1739 -who is himself the teacher of Sqalli, Azharri, and al-Kurdi). This combination became known as the Sammaniya. Sidi Mohammed Samman gave special permission to Sidi Ahmed Tijani in all the Beautiful Names of Allah (al-Asma' al-'Husna), the Ahzab of Sidi Abul Hassan Shadhili (d. 1241), the Wadhifa of Shaykh Zarruq (d. 1484), Dalail al-Khayrat and al-Dur al-’Ala. He told Shaykh Tijani that he is the Grand Magnate (al-Qutb al-Jami') and gave him good tidings that he will realize his aspiration and obtain the "Absolute General Authorization" (al-Qutbaniya al-Jami'a al-'Udhma).
When Shaykh Tijani returned to the Maghreb, he again went to the desert, to a place called Bu Samghun, a Saharan oasis located south of Geryville, perhaps under compulsion from the Turkish authorities. In 1776 he made his second trip to Fez from Tlemcen, with the intention of visiting the Baraka of Fez Mawlana Idriss ibn Idriss (d. 798). He met, during this trip, with the Idrissid scholar, Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Mishri Sibai al-Hassani of Takrat (d. 1809). Since then, Sidi Mohammed al-Mishri, leaded the prayers for Shaykh Tijani, and wrote the answers on his behalf until 1793; the year that Shaykh Tijani started himself to lead the prayers, in compliance with the instruction of his grandfather the prophet Sidna Mohammed. In the Moroccan city of Oujda (Wajda), while returning back to Fez, he met, for the first time, Sidi Ali Harazem Berrada, who accompanied him to Fez. During this meeting, he authorized him in the Khalwatiya and confided him with special knowledge and foretold him of what would be of him in revelation and strengthening.
After visiting the shrine of Moulay Idriss al-Azhar (d. 798), Shaykh Tijani went back to Tlemcen and then departed to Qasr Shallala and Bu Samghun. In Bu Samghun, in 1782, Shaykh Tijani announced that Muhammad has authorised him in a daylight vision (yaqadatan; while he was awake) to establish his own order, Tariqa Ahmediya-Mohammediya-Ibrahimiya-Hanifiya-Tijaniya. The Prophet gave him permission to initiate during a period when Shaykh Tijani had fled from contact with people in order to devote himself to his personal development. He told him that he was to take Sufism directly from him—hence the name—and not use any of the chains of authority of teacher-to-disciple that were the main stay of all the Sufi orders,
"You owe no favour to any of the Shaykhs of the path, for I am myself your medium and provider in every truth. Abandon all that you have taken from all other tariqas and hold fast to this tariqa without seclusion (khalwa), or retirement from people (uzla), until you reach your promised maqam, and you are as you are, without hardship, difficulty, or strive, and abdicate all the saints."
The Prophet had furthermore assigned to him the obligatory wird (litany) which he has to transmit in general to any seeker who asks for it and accepts to abide by its conditions; a 100 of Astaghfirou Allah" (I seek Allah’s forgiveness) and a 100 of prayers upon the Prophet with any version, preferably with so-called Salat al-Fatih (Shaykh Tijani said, “The lives of all the people have been spent in futility, except the lives of the practisers of Salat al Fatih, for they have gained both worldly and Otherworldly profit”.) By 1785 the Prophet completed to him the wird by adding a 100 of Haylala (“la-ilaha illa’Allah”; There is no God but Allah). The born-global Tijaniya was widely accepted almost immediately after its birth. Shaykh Tijani became so reputed that great masses of people started visiting him to take his wird, to be affiliated with him, and get more of what he gives them in sense and meaning.
[edit] Seal of sainthood
Shaykh Tijani stayed in Bu Samghun for about fifteenth years. In 1796, he went to Fez, marking the real beginning of his Tariqa. In Fez Shaykh Tijani was received by the Sultan Moulay Slimane (d. 1823). One year after his entrance to Fez on the Mu'harram of 1797, Shaykh Tijani attained the "Absolute General Authorization" (maqam al-qutbaniya al-jami'a al-'udhma) he longingly sought. One month and few days later Shaykh Tijani declared that the Prophet appeared to him in daylight and had him informed that he is the "Concealed Pole” (al-Qutb al-Maktum). This holder of this status is widely known in Sufi literature as the Khatim al-Awliya (the Seal of Sainthood). In the chronicle he called Khatim al-Awliya, al-Hakim Tirmidhi (d. 905) informs us the Khatim al-Awliya is the person, “upon whom the leadership (imama) of the saints is incumbent, who bears in his hand the Banner of the saints, and whose intercession all the saints have need of, just as prophets have need of Prophet Sidna Mohammed”. Tirmidhi continues that that authority of the Khatim al-Awliya even extends to the eschatological realm. On the Day of Judgment he will come forth as the proof of the saints just as the Seal of Prophets Sidna Mohammed will come forth as the proof of the prophets. Indeed, Shaykh Tijani said to his companions in Fez,
"When Allah assembles His creatures at the place of standing, a herald will proclaim at the top of his voice, so that everyone at the place of standing will hear him: "O people of the final congregation, this is your Imam, from whom you obtained your support!"
The khatmiya maqam's absolute appearance was claimed before by Sidi Muhyiddin ibn Arabi al-‘Hatimi al-Maghribi (d. 1221) when he said: “We no doubt sealed sainthood by inheriting the Hachimi and the Messiah”. However he retracted (taraja'a) later when aware that the full, complete and absolute appearance in that maqam is to be for some one else. He discover not who will attain such absolute appearance. In his ‘Anqa’ Maghreb fi khatm al-awliya wa shams al-Maghreb (The Western Phoenix in the Seal of Saints and Sun of Morocco), which he wrote in Fez, Ibn Arabi introduces the Seal of Sainthood as, “the inheriting saint, who receives from the source, who recognizes the degrees and ascertains the entitlement of their holders, in order to give each creditor his rightful due, for that is one of the virtues of the Chieftain of the Envoys, the Captain of the Community." Very explicitly, the Egyptian Shadhilite Sidi Abdelwahhab Shaarani (d. 1490) illustrated in Durar al-Ghawas, "This community (Ummah) has two comprehensive Seals, and every degree and station has an inheritor. Every saint there has ever been, or will ever be, can only receive from these two Seals, one of whom is the Seal of the sainthood of the elite, while the other is the one by whom the common sainthood is sealed, for there will be no saint after him until the advent of the Final Hour."
Shaykh Ibn Arabi went too far to connect the nature of the Sealness of Prophethood and that of Sainthood. According to him, “The meaning of the Prophet's saying: ‘I was a Prophet while Adam was between the water and the clay -is 'I was a Prophet in actual fact, aware of my Prophethood, while Adam was between the water and the clay.” He then went on to say "None of the other Prophets was a Prophet, nor aware of his Prophethood, except when he was sent (on his mission) after his coming into existence with his material body and his complete fulfilment of the preconditions of Prophethood." Then he added: “the Seal of the Saints was likewise actually a saint, aware of his sainthood, while was between the water and the clay, and none of the other saints was a saint in actual fact, nor aware of his sainthood, except after his acquisition of the Divine characteristics that are stipulated in the definition of sainthood." Because he is characterised by the complete assimilation of the Mohammedian paradigm, the Seal of Sainthood acts as a deputy (khalifa) of Prophet and symbolically takes his place in isthmus (al-barzakh) as well as during the time allotted to him on earth. Shaykh Tijani has expressed his khatmiya-katmiya complex in many sayings,
“The bounties that flow from the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) are received by the natures of the prophets, and everything that flows and emerges from the natures of the Prophets is received by my own nature, and from me it is distributed to all creatures from the origin of the world until the blowing on the trumpet”; “No saint drinks or provides water to drink, except from our ocean, from the origin of the world until the blowing on the trumpet”; “The spirit of the Prophet and my spirit are like this'--pointing with his two fingers, the index finger and the middle finger. 'His spirit supports the Messengers and the Prophets and my spirit supports the poles, the sages, the saints, from pre-existence to eternity (mina al-azal ila abad)”; “These two feet of mine are upon the neck of every saint of Allah, from the time of Adam until the blowing of the trumpet”;“'Our station in the Presence of Allah in the Hereafter will not be attained by any of the saints, and it will not be approached by anyone, whether his importance is great or small. Of all the saints among from the very beginning of creation until the blowing on the trumpet, there is not one who will attain to my station.”
Greatly simplified, Shaykh Tijani developed his path on loose lines. Obligations, as one to be expected in an order designed to expand, were simple. He imposed no penances or retreats and the conditions was not complicated; (1) praying in the mosque with the congregation whenever possible, meeting all the prerequisites for lawfully offering prayer; (2) praying upon the Prophet; and (3) not to visit living saints or the tombs of dead ones. The Shaykh stressed the quite dhikr even in congregation, and forbade above all the visitations of living and dead saints at the command of his grandfather, for they were all associated with baraka-possession. Shaykh Tijani affirmed that the Prophet had told him not to cut himself off from the world, and so he advised his disciples to live in comfort wearing classy clothes and eating choice food. Shaykh Tijani gave good tidings that his followers could rely on his own guarantee of salvation. This includes anyone who saw him on Mondays and Fridays and did not become his enemy, "If someone receives from me the well-known wird, which is essential to the Tariqa, or he receives it from someone I have authorized to teach it, he will enter the Garden of Paradise (“Jannat 'Illiyyine”; that of prophets and saints) -he and his children, his wives, and his descendants-without reckoning and without punishment, provided that they are not guilty of any insult, hatred, or enmity, and that he persists in loving the Shaykh until death.” (…) "Be of good cheer! Anyone who is devoted to our love, until he dies in that state, will certainly be resurrected among those who are safe, provided that he does not wear the garb of security from Allah's cunning (makr‘Allah)."
Thus Shaykh Tijani emerged as a sudden Sufi authority and established Sufi leader, dedicating his life for spiritual education, training, guidance, and promotion of the endeavourers to the divine proximity. He possessed high spiritual energy, determination, perseverance of Allah's sacred rights, and firmness of resolution. He laboured in his beginnings on perfection of repentance with its conditions, and on adherence to Shari'a bounds. He minded his own business, and held fast to the Quran and Sunna and the footsteps of the righteous ancestors. He totally turned himself to his Lord, so Allah sufficed him. He reinforced his foundations first by preoccupying himself with the study of the Quran and Sunna, deep thorough comprehension of the fine and subtle sciences and abstruse issues, and strict observance of the principles the Shari'a: "If you hear someone quoting me, place the statement on the scale of the noble Shari'a. If it balances, take it; if it doesn’t, leave it, for within the noble Quran and Hadith, you will find the Tijaniya. Outside the circle of Quran and Hadith, there is no such thing."
For nearly fifty years Shaykh Tijani was the main active propagator of the doctrine. From his Fez headquarters, he organised his born-global Tariqa, which spread in easts and wests in his blessed lifetime. During the same period, some of Shaykh Tijani's appointed khalifas and muqaddams -mostly doctors of the Shari'a law (ulama)- had established new Tijani centres in Morocco and abroad and developed ramifications of their own. Shaykh Tijani remained in Fez until his pass on Thursday 22 September 1815. After the Shaykh performed the Subh prayer, he laid down on his right side while he asked for a glass of water then he returned to his bed. At that time his blessed soul went up to its creator. The funeral ablutions were carried out in his home at Dar-Lamraya. An abundant number of eminent scholars, notables and princes, in addition to the Fasite residents and Tijani community took part in the funeral. The great scholar Sidi Abu Abdullah Mohammed ibn Ibrahim Dukkali led the funeral prayer at the Qarawiyyine mosque. People were rushing and trying hard to have that great honour of holding the blessed coffin of Shaykh Tijani and it was a scene full of deep emotions where tears and sorrows constituted the landmark of this great event. Shaykh Tijani was buried in his blessed Zawiya. Shaykh Tijani is followed today by over 300 million disciples active in the five corners of the globe.
Ahmad al-Tijani see Tijani, Ahmad al-
Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani al-Maghribi see Tijani, Ahmad al-
Sidi Ahmed Tijani see Tijani, Ahmad al-
Tijaniyya
Tijaniyya (Tijaniyah) (Tijani) (Tijāniyyah) (Al-Ṭarīqah al-Tijāniyyah -- "The Tijānī Path"). Name of an order (a Muslim brotherhood) in Algeria founded by Abu’l- ‘Abbas Ahmad al-Tijani (1737-1815). The reputation of the order was vastly increased when they held out for eight months in 1838 against amir ‘Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi’l-Din (r.1832-1847). The Tijaniyya became very popular not only in Algeria but also in Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa. The Tijaniyya were divided into several branches. Today, the Tijaniyya brotherhood is one of the most dynamic in the sub-Saharan region.
The Tijaniyah movement was borne out of controversy. From its very inception (c. 1782), its members bought challenge to the accepted notions of monastic order. Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mukhtar al-Tijani (b. 1737 at Ayn Madi, southern Algeria), the founder of the brotherhood, proclaimed himself the “pole of poles” (qutb al-aqtab) and the“seal of sanctity” (khatm al-wilayah), as the Prophet, Muhammad, had averred himself the “seal of prophecy.” The leaders of the Tijaniyah were accused of prohibiting associates from visiting the tombs of the deceased virtuous (walis) from other orders and of disturbing the conviction that spiritual benefit (barakah) could be obtained from walis outside the brotherhood. Moreover, Tijanis were condemned for alleged attempts, against the grain of accepted practice, to prevent their members from affiliating with other Sufi organizations. Finally, at least in their North African context, Tijanis stood accused of favoring wealth over ascetisim (zuhd) and became noted for their abjuration of mysticism in place of which they encouraged a simplicity of belief and practice in their daily devotions.
Ahmad al-Tijani, as he came to be called, began life in the normal Sufi pattern. Traveling throughout the Maghrib in the familiar peripatetic manner, he sought out learned men for knowledge, embraced walis famed for their barakah, and affiliated himself with several religious orders, notably the Wazzaniyah, Darqawiyah, Nasiriyah, and Khalwatiyah, and also espoused many of the tenets of the Shadhiliyah. It was a pattern he was to renounce dramatically around 1782, when he broke the old silsilah (chain) of authority and linked piety and belief to his own powers of intercession.
The rapid proliferation of the orders posed an intractable problem to established authority in the Maghrib. Scores of religious brotherhoods had appeared, based on ethnic and occupational affinities. In Morocco, where the prophet Muhammad and his descendants (sharifs) were held in the highest favor, the organization of the orders came to be drawn tightly round their spiritual influence. By the middle of the nineteenth century, we find many of the educated affiliating with the Darqawiyah (the chief competitors of the Tijaniyah for this constituency), artisans inclining toward the Kattaniyah, for example, the shoemakers of Fez and the flaxweavers of Tangier, while many butchers and practitioners of unclean professions embraced the Hamadshah (Hamdushiyah) and the ‘Isawiyah. Finally, the residue of merchants and proprietors not attracted to the Tijaniyah joined the Tayyibiyah tariqah.
Coming as it did in the wake of the anti-Sufi Wahhabi movement in the Hejaz, the proclamation of Ahmad al-Tijani arrived at an auspicious moment. The sovereign of Morocco, Mawlay Sulayman, became his patron and saw merit in his revolutionary message. The abundance of tariqahs in Morocco and the high prestige of sharifian zawiyahs (lodges) had compromised the authority of the Moroccan ruler, and he perceived in alliance with the Tijaniyah a means of tightening his rein on political and economic affairs. The order received encouragement and was allowed to develop its retreat structure under Mawlay Sulayman’s protective hand. Despite claims to the contrary, Ahmad al-Tijani was not ranked among the illustrious sharifs, and the appeal of the Tijaniyah drew the attention of wealthy non-sharifians of the urban governmental class (including many converted Jews whom Mawlay Sulayman retained as advisers and financiers). These individuals, together with makhzan (government) officials, merchants, and influential families, held a considerable share of economic power, especially in Fez.
From the outset, the Tijaniyah espoused a much simplified corpus of ritual and system of organization, in contrast to the requirements of prayer which tied their rivals to the rigors of convention. Tijanis set much store by their epithet, “the way of Muhammad”(al-tariqat al-Muhammadiyah or al-tariqat al-Ahmadiyah), and prided themselves in their devotion to Sunni practice. Both the wirds (collected prayers) and the wazifah (daily office) of the order were characterized by a streamlined simplicity, sharply reducing the number of prayers required and the pattern of recitation. The old rigor of progression through the Sufi stages of perfection retained only a faint echo of past tradition. The most efficacious prayers and rituals commended by the founder were entrusted to those who comprised the inner circle.
The claim advanced by Ahmad al-Tijani that he was the “seal of sanctity” --that he inhabited the eminence of light that lay between Muhammad and the saints of Islam -- was to rankle relations with rival orders and excite them to ridicule the Tijaniyah. This merit had its ancestry in the teachings of Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240), who, it was suggested, had declined the dignity and left open the door for Ahmad al-Tijani to seize hold of it. Such distinctions had allowed the founder to trumpet his merit and abolish the line of virtuous teachers whose blessings and sustained the spiritual nourishment of other orders. Moreover, such distinctions had enabled al-Tijani to cut the power of the Qadiriyah, the oldest Sufi organization, and one fueled on the barakah of its ancient affiliations. Another charge uniting its rivals in disdain was that the Tijaniyah discouraged its members from associating with other orders and from frequenting the tombs of their walis. Tijani spokesman often defended this practice by declaring that a disciple could not hope to receive spiritual sustenance from two shaykhs simultaneously, any more than a woman could serve faithfully two husbands.
Before the rise of Ahmad al-Tijani, the most notable feature of the Shadhili-Jazuli tradition could be seen in the way in which charismatic power was harnessed and accessed fi sabil Allah, in the path of Allah. Even the simplest adept could link with the spiritual past and feel the flow of barakah that charged his spiritual energy and gave shape and significance to his interior life. The recitation of the wird and other assigned prayers served to recharge his spiritual apparatus and redirect his energy in the path of Allah. Thus, the hizb al-bahr and the dala’il al-khayrat (“proofs of blessings”) of al-Jazuli must be understood as strong currents of charismatic power linked to overt action fi sabil Allah: prayer for the success of Islam, pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places, hijrah from Islam’s enemies, and jihad.
Ahmad al-Tijani streamlined the charismatic “switchboard” -- condensed the currents of barakah into one powerful “microchip,” discarding, as it were, al the bulky “hardware” of past generations. The Wahhabi movement fueled this revolution as it sought to concentrate veneration in the person of Muhammad. It was a tendency that Ahmad al-Tijani was to recast in his own mold. Yet several other features of the Shadhili-Jazuli tradition were absorbed into the teachings of the Tijaniyah. There is danger in placing too much stress on the differences among the tariqahs at the expense of realizing the essential eclecticism and sharing of basic tenets that characterized the religious brotherhoods. Ahmad al-Tijani drank unabashedly from the font of the Shadhiliyah. Indeed, even in the Tijaniyah, there is a strong compulsion to link with individuals of the Sufi past and imbibe their barakah. Al-Shadhili’s hizb al-bahr (a powerful incantation of the ninety-nine names of Allah) became a touchstone of the Tijani canon, and his relentless pursuit of the person of the Qutb found a strong echo in al-Tijani’s fixation on this theme. In the Tijani view, the old silsilah, with its long chain of intermediaries, generated a feeble if permanent current. Ahmad al-Tijani closed the circuit of charisma as he concentrated power between Muhammad and himself. It was his claim that the Prophet was near him always, even in waking, allowing for a close and continuous discharge of spiritual grace and an increase in its velocity.
As it began to take root in the Maghrib, the Tijaniyah emerged as a force for stability and preservation of the status quo, at least during the lifetime of the founder. The Shadhili-Jazuli tradition, in retrospect, bequeathed a legacy of radical activity, forged on an anvil of opposition to the government of the day. Ahmad al-Tijani broke the mold of this radicalism and encouraged his followers to side with established authority. It was this shrewd an pragmatic policy that allowed the Tijaniyah, in the face of sharifian hostility, to spread and prosper under the protection of the makhzan. The sharifian tradition set much store by nobility of descent: al-Jazuli had staked his claim on the strength of a pure and noble lineage. Ahmad al-Tijani could not hope to stand level with his rivals and post a claim elsewhere -- on a higher level -- as he sought to outreach his rivals. Thus, during the founder’s time, adherence to authority became the watchword of Tijani political philosophy. With the passing of al-Tijani in 1815, and the overthrow of Mawlay Sulayman, this policy took on greater flexibility.
There has been a tendancy in past accounts of the Tijaniyah to read into their policies in the Maghrib a pro-French sentiment, but one must demote this view as these activities actually reflected a careful pragmatism not always favorable to French intentions. While it is true that the Tijaniyah managed to ride with success the vicissitudes of the post-Sulayman era and welcomed the French in the Maghrib with a greater liberality of temper than did many other religious organizations, its policies did not always maintain the coherence sustained under the founder. As the Tijaniyah shunned the extremes of militant jihad and renounced “monkery” in favor of a more active involvement in daily life, a strong element of revenge crept into their pragmatism. Indeed, claimants to the succession did nto hesitate to cultivate support wherever it could be found. Dissident Berber groups (a rich quarry for the order), forever at odds with established authority generally, were summoned frequently in support of these claims. After the death of al-Tijani in 1815, and as the French succeeded in seizing power from the Turks, no one pattern can be said to typify Tijani policy toward the various players in the Maghribian struggle for power. Even the attitude toward the Turks, steadfast in its contempt, displayed some flexibility. While the Turks on more than one occasion had laid siege to Ayn Madi (the mother zawiyah), Turkish support for the order in other areas (notably Tunisia) could not be ignored. Indeed, on several occasions prominent Turkish officials affiliated with the Tijaniyah and supplied funds amply to its coffers. Still, Tijanis came to endow with great significance Turkish attempts to impose authority by force and extract tribute from religious establishments (Turkish indignation was brought to a flame when Ayn Madi repeatedly withheld payment). Yet the Turks were not alone in their attempts to diminish the influence of the tariqahs when the occasion demanded, and all political powers rallied to their support when events seemed favorable.
The period of French overmastery offers an object lesson in Tijani pragmatism as it illustrates the unevenness of the order’s policies. When the French wrested hegemony from the Turks in the Maghrib during the nineteenth century and the brotherhoods declared their resentment, the Tijaniyah responded with cautious optimism. According to the founder, succession to power was to alternate between Ayn Madi and Tamalhat (on the Tunisian border). The rotation, however, did not always proceed smoothly, and the occasional roughness of the transition (or the retention of power by Ayn Madi) accounts for much of the intrigue and variation in policy among the principals of the succession and those who supported their claim. From 1877 until 1911, the zawiyah at Ayn Madi maintaine a fairly firm grip over Tijani affairs owning to the role played by a Frenchwoman, Aurelie Picard, who had married Sidi Ahmad, the head of the order, and feigned a commitment to Islam. The French lavished subsidies on their Tijani subordinates and thus compromised any claims to independence. Nevertheless, it was a period when all religious orders were being drawn into the pockets of the French and placed under surveillance, and when real or imagined movements by Tijani and other dissidents intensified the paranoia of French imperial policy.
The Tijaniyah’s strong association with the government of Morocco persisted until 1912 with the declaration of the Protectorate. By the end of the nineteenth century every large town in Morocco could boast at least one Tijani zawiyah (there were twelve in Marrakesh alone). The order in Morocco was much more “national” in outlook than its counterparts in Tunisia and Algeria, and much more consonant with the culture in which it was reared. Following the split between Ayn Madi and Tamalhat in the 1870s over the succession, intense rivalry ensued into the 1930s when Ayn Madi attempted to revive its claims and initiated active campaigns for support to Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, and Gambia. The order had already achieved significant in-roads in these lands and in Mali owing to the proselytization of the celebrated Moroccan ‘alim, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Kansusi (d. 1877), and the great Senegalese mujahid, al-Hajj ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id (‘Umar Tal, d. 1864). By the beginning of the twentieth century, Tijanis could claim more than half a million devotees in the Sudan.
The independence movement in the Maghrib produced the ultimate brotherhoods, absorbing to its purpose all the tone and rhetoric of the old organizations that had met their demise. One result of the Istiqlal (independence) movement was to drive the tariqahs underground, where their activities, severely circumscribed in the public arena retain only a semblance of their previous importance.
Tijaniyah see Tijaniyya
Tijani see Tijaniyya
Tijaniyyah see Tijaniyya
Al-Tariqah al-Tijaniyyah see Tijaniyya
The Tijani Path see Tijaniyya
Tijaniyya (Tijaniyah) (Tijani) (Tijāniyyah) (Al-Ṭarīqah al-Tijāniyyah -- "The Tijānī Path"). Name of an order (a Muslim brotherhood) in Algeria founded by Abu’l- ‘Abbas Ahmad al-Tijani (1737-1815). The reputation of the order was vastly increased when they held out for eight months in 1838 against amir ‘Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi’l-Din (r.1832-1847). The Tijaniyya became very popular not only in Algeria but also in Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa. The Tijaniyya were divided into several branches. Today, the Tijaniyya brotherhood is one of the most dynamic in the sub-Saharan region.
The Tijaniyah movement was borne out of controversy. From its very inception (c. 1782), its members bought challenge to the accepted notions of monastic order. Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mukhtar al-Tijani (b. 1737 at Ayn Madi, southern Algeria), the founder of the brotherhood, proclaimed himself the “pole of poles” (qutb al-aqtab) and the“seal of sanctity” (khatm al-wilayah), as the Prophet, Muhammad, had averred himself the “seal of prophecy.” The leaders of the Tijaniyah were accused of prohibiting associates from visiting the tombs of the deceased virtuous (walis) from other orders and of disturbing the conviction that spiritual benefit (barakah) could be obtained from walis outside the brotherhood. Moreover, Tijanis were condemned for alleged attempts, against the grain of accepted practice, to prevent their members from affiliating with other Sufi organizations. Finally, at least in their North African context, Tijanis stood accused of favoring wealth over ascetisim (zuhd) and became noted for their abjuration of mysticism in place of which they encouraged a simplicity of belief and practice in their daily devotions.
Ahmad al-Tijani, as he came to be called, began life in the normal Sufi pattern. Traveling throughout the Maghrib in the familiar peripatetic manner, he sought out learned men for knowledge, embraced walis famed for their barakah, and affiliated himself with several religious orders, notably the Wazzaniyah, Darqawiyah, Nasiriyah, and Khalwatiyah, and also espoused many of the tenets of the Shadhiliyah. It was a pattern he was to renounce dramatically around 1782, when he broke the old silsilah (chain) of authority and linked piety and belief to his own powers of intercession.
The rapid proliferation of the orders posed an intractable problem to established authority in the Maghrib. Scores of religious brotherhoods had appeared, based on ethnic and occupational affinities. In Morocco, where the prophet Muhammad and his descendants (sharifs) were held in the highest favor, the organization of the orders came to be drawn tightly round their spiritual influence. By the middle of the nineteenth century, we find many of the educated affiliating with the Darqawiyah (the chief competitors of the Tijaniyah for this constituency), artisans inclining toward the Kattaniyah, for example, the shoemakers of Fez and the flaxweavers of Tangier, while many butchers and practitioners of unclean professions embraced the Hamadshah (Hamdushiyah) and the ‘Isawiyah. Finally, the residue of merchants and proprietors not attracted to the Tijaniyah joined the Tayyibiyah tariqah.
Coming as it did in the wake of the anti-Sufi Wahhabi movement in the Hejaz, the proclamation of Ahmad al-Tijani arrived at an auspicious moment. The sovereign of Morocco, Mawlay Sulayman, became his patron and saw merit in his revolutionary message. The abundance of tariqahs in Morocco and the high prestige of sharifian zawiyahs (lodges) had compromised the authority of the Moroccan ruler, and he perceived in alliance with the Tijaniyah a means of tightening his rein on political and economic affairs. The order received encouragement and was allowed to develop its retreat structure under Mawlay Sulayman’s protective hand. Despite claims to the contrary, Ahmad al-Tijani was not ranked among the illustrious sharifs, and the appeal of the Tijaniyah drew the attention of wealthy non-sharifians of the urban governmental class (including many converted Jews whom Mawlay Sulayman retained as advisers and financiers). These individuals, together with makhzan (government) officials, merchants, and influential families, held a considerable share of economic power, especially in Fez.
From the outset, the Tijaniyah espoused a much simplified corpus of ritual and system of organization, in contrast to the requirements of prayer which tied their rivals to the rigors of convention. Tijanis set much store by their epithet, “the way of Muhammad”(al-tariqat al-Muhammadiyah or al-tariqat al-Ahmadiyah), and prided themselves in their devotion to Sunni practice. Both the wirds (collected prayers) and the wazifah (daily office) of the order were characterized by a streamlined simplicity, sharply reducing the number of prayers required and the pattern of recitation. The old rigor of progression through the Sufi stages of perfection retained only a faint echo of past tradition. The most efficacious prayers and rituals commended by the founder were entrusted to those who comprised the inner circle.
The claim advanced by Ahmad al-Tijani that he was the “seal of sanctity” --that he inhabited the eminence of light that lay between Muhammad and the saints of Islam -- was to rankle relations with rival orders and excite them to ridicule the Tijaniyah. This merit had its ancestry in the teachings of Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240), who, it was suggested, had declined the dignity and left open the door for Ahmad al-Tijani to seize hold of it. Such distinctions had allowed the founder to trumpet his merit and abolish the line of virtuous teachers whose blessings and sustained the spiritual nourishment of other orders. Moreover, such distinctions had enabled al-Tijani to cut the power of the Qadiriyah, the oldest Sufi organization, and one fueled on the barakah of its ancient affiliations. Another charge uniting its rivals in disdain was that the Tijaniyah discouraged its members from associating with other orders and from frequenting the tombs of their walis. Tijani spokesman often defended this practice by declaring that a disciple could not hope to receive spiritual sustenance from two shaykhs simultaneously, any more than a woman could serve faithfully two husbands.
Before the rise of Ahmad al-Tijani, the most notable feature of the Shadhili-Jazuli tradition could be seen in the way in which charismatic power was harnessed and accessed fi sabil Allah, in the path of Allah. Even the simplest adept could link with the spiritual past and feel the flow of barakah that charged his spiritual energy and gave shape and significance to his interior life. The recitation of the wird and other assigned prayers served to recharge his spiritual apparatus and redirect his energy in the path of Allah. Thus, the hizb al-bahr and the dala’il al-khayrat (“proofs of blessings”) of al-Jazuli must be understood as strong currents of charismatic power linked to overt action fi sabil Allah: prayer for the success of Islam, pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places, hijrah from Islam’s enemies, and jihad.
Ahmad al-Tijani streamlined the charismatic “switchboard” -- condensed the currents of barakah into one powerful “microchip,” discarding, as it were, al the bulky “hardware” of past generations. The Wahhabi movement fueled this revolution as it sought to concentrate veneration in the person of Muhammad. It was a tendency that Ahmad al-Tijani was to recast in his own mold. Yet several other features of the Shadhili-Jazuli tradition were absorbed into the teachings of the Tijaniyah. There is danger in placing too much stress on the differences among the tariqahs at the expense of realizing the essential eclecticism and sharing of basic tenets that characterized the religious brotherhoods. Ahmad al-Tijani drank unabashedly from the font of the Shadhiliyah. Indeed, even in the Tijaniyah, there is a strong compulsion to link with individuals of the Sufi past and imbibe their barakah. Al-Shadhili’s hizb al-bahr (a powerful incantation of the ninety-nine names of Allah) became a touchstone of the Tijani canon, and his relentless pursuit of the person of the Qutb found a strong echo in al-Tijani’s fixation on this theme. In the Tijani view, the old silsilah, with its long chain of intermediaries, generated a feeble if permanent current. Ahmad al-Tijani closed the circuit of charisma as he concentrated power between Muhammad and himself. It was his claim that the Prophet was near him always, even in waking, allowing for a close and continuous discharge of spiritual grace and an increase in its velocity.
As it began to take root in the Maghrib, the Tijaniyah emerged as a force for stability and preservation of the status quo, at least during the lifetime of the founder. The Shadhili-Jazuli tradition, in retrospect, bequeathed a legacy of radical activity, forged on an anvil of opposition to the government of the day. Ahmad al-Tijani broke the mold of this radicalism and encouraged his followers to side with established authority. It was this shrewd an pragmatic policy that allowed the Tijaniyah, in the face of sharifian hostility, to spread and prosper under the protection of the makhzan. The sharifian tradition set much store by nobility of descent: al-Jazuli had staked his claim on the strength of a pure and noble lineage. Ahmad al-Tijani could not hope to stand level with his rivals and post a claim elsewhere -- on a higher level -- as he sought to outreach his rivals. Thus, during the founder’s time, adherence to authority became the watchword of Tijani political philosophy. With the passing of al-Tijani in 1815, and the overthrow of Mawlay Sulayman, this policy took on greater flexibility.
There has been a tendancy in past accounts of the Tijaniyah to read into their policies in the Maghrib a pro-French sentiment, but one must demote this view as these activities actually reflected a careful pragmatism not always favorable to French intentions. While it is true that the Tijaniyah managed to ride with success the vicissitudes of the post-Sulayman era and welcomed the French in the Maghrib with a greater liberality of temper than did many other religious organizations, its policies did not always maintain the coherence sustained under the founder. As the Tijaniyah shunned the extremes of militant jihad and renounced “monkery” in favor of a more active involvement in daily life, a strong element of revenge crept into their pragmatism. Indeed, claimants to the succession did nto hesitate to cultivate support wherever it could be found. Dissident Berber groups (a rich quarry for the order), forever at odds with established authority generally, were summoned frequently in support of these claims. After the death of al-Tijani in 1815, and as the French succeeded in seizing power from the Turks, no one pattern can be said to typify Tijani policy toward the various players in the Maghribian struggle for power. Even the attitude toward the Turks, steadfast in its contempt, displayed some flexibility. While the Turks on more than one occasion had laid siege to Ayn Madi (the mother zawiyah), Turkish support for the order in other areas (notably Tunisia) could not be ignored. Indeed, on several occasions prominent Turkish officials affiliated with the Tijaniyah and supplied funds amply to its coffers. Still, Tijanis came to endow with great significance Turkish attempts to impose authority by force and extract tribute from religious establishments (Turkish indignation was brought to a flame when Ayn Madi repeatedly withheld payment). Yet the Turks were not alone in their attempts to diminish the influence of the tariqahs when the occasion demanded, and all political powers rallied to their support when events seemed favorable.
The period of French overmastery offers an object lesson in Tijani pragmatism as it illustrates the unevenness of the order’s policies. When the French wrested hegemony from the Turks in the Maghrib during the nineteenth century and the brotherhoods declared their resentment, the Tijaniyah responded with cautious optimism. According to the founder, succession to power was to alternate between Ayn Madi and Tamalhat (on the Tunisian border). The rotation, however, did not always proceed smoothly, and the occasional roughness of the transition (or the retention of power by Ayn Madi) accounts for much of the intrigue and variation in policy among the principals of the succession and those who supported their claim. From 1877 until 1911, the zawiyah at Ayn Madi maintaine a fairly firm grip over Tijani affairs owning to the role played by a Frenchwoman, Aurelie Picard, who had married Sidi Ahmad, the head of the order, and feigned a commitment to Islam. The French lavished subsidies on their Tijani subordinates and thus compromised any claims to independence. Nevertheless, it was a period when all religious orders were being drawn into the pockets of the French and placed under surveillance, and when real or imagined movements by Tijani and other dissidents intensified the paranoia of French imperial policy.
The Tijaniyah’s strong association with the government of Morocco persisted until 1912 with the declaration of the Protectorate. By the end of the nineteenth century every large town in Morocco could boast at least one Tijani zawiyah (there were twelve in Marrakesh alone). The order in Morocco was much more “national” in outlook than its counterparts in Tunisia and Algeria, and much more consonant with the culture in which it was reared. Following the split between Ayn Madi and Tamalhat in the 1870s over the succession, intense rivalry ensued into the 1930s when Ayn Madi attempted to revive its claims and initiated active campaigns for support to Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, and Gambia. The order had already achieved significant in-roads in these lands and in Mali owing to the proselytization of the celebrated Moroccan ‘alim, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Kansusi (d. 1877), and the great Senegalese mujahid, al-Hajj ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id (‘Umar Tal, d. 1864). By the beginning of the twentieth century, Tijanis could claim more than half a million devotees in the Sudan.
The independence movement in the Maghrib produced the ultimate brotherhoods, absorbing to its purpose all the tone and rhetoric of the old organizations that had met their demise. One result of the Istiqlal (independence) movement was to drive the tariqahs underground, where their activities, severely circumscribed in the public arena retain only a semblance of their previous importance.
Tijaniyah see Tijaniyya
Tijani see Tijaniyya
Tijaniyyah see Tijaniyya
Al-Tariqah al-Tijaniyyah see Tijaniyya
The Tijani Path see Tijaniyya
Tilimsani, al-
Tilimsani, al- (1212-1291). The Arabic word means “the man from Tlemcen.” Many Arabic scholars are known by this name, among them Abu Ishaq Ibrahim (1212-1291), a jurist. Among other subjects, he wrote on the law of inheritance; ‘Afif al-Din Sulayman (1219-1291), Sufi. He was a pious man of affable manners, but was accused of being an adherent of the Nusayris. He was an ardent follower of Ibn al-‘Arabi and left several works; Shams al-Din Muhammad, son of ‘Afif al-Din (1263-1289). He wrote short amatory poems.
Tilimsani, al- (1212-1291). The Arabic word means “the man from Tlemcen.” Many Arabic scholars are known by this name, among them Abu Ishaq Ibrahim (1212-1291), a jurist. Among other subjects, he wrote on the law of inheritance; ‘Afif al-Din Sulayman (1219-1291), Sufi. He was a pious man of affable manners, but was accused of being an adherent of the Nusayris. He was an ardent follower of Ibn al-‘Arabi and left several works; Shams al-Din Muhammad, son of ‘Afif al-Din (1263-1289). He wrote short amatory poems.
Tillisi, Khalifa
Khalifa Mohammed Tillisi (b. May 9, 1930, Tripoli, Italian Tripolitania – d. January 13, 2010, Tripoli, Libya) was a well-known Libyan historian, translator, and linguist.
Tillisi was born in Tripoli, Italian Tripolitania (present-day Libya), on May 9, 1930, where he first became a teacher then entered politics. In 1952, he worked in the Libyan Parliament where he became its Secretary General in 1962. He reached the peak of his political career when he became a minister for information in the cabinets of Mahmud al-Muntasir and Hussein Maziq from 1964 to 1967, and Libya's Ambassador to Morocco in from 1967 to 1969.
After the political change in Libya in 1969, Tillisi was arrested and tried by the Libyan People's Court. He was sentenced to four years in prison. The sentence was suspended and he was forced into an early retirement at the age of 39. In 1974, he founded a Libyan - Tunisian publishing company (an Arabic book house). He was the first president of the Libyan Literature and Writers association in 1977 and was appointed the Secretary General of the Arabic Writers Association in 1978. In 1981, he became the Secretary General of the Arabic Publishers Association.
Tillisi is well remembered among the Libyan people for his renowned contributions to literature and his relaxed kind-hearted nature. A total of 49 titles are attributed to Khalifa Tillisi. The following are some of his works:
- As Author:
- "Echebbi wa Gibran", 1957.
- "Rafik sha'er al watan", 1965.
- " Mu'jam Ma'arik al Jihad fi Libia", A Dictionary for Italian Colonial Battles on the Libyan Soil 1911–31, 1972.
- " Ma Ba'd Al Qurdabiya", A History of Italian Colonial Battles in Tripolitania and Fezzan 1922–1930, 1973.
- " Hakatha Ghanna Tagore", 1991.
- "Qamoos Itali-Arabi", Italian-Arabic Dictionary, 1984.
- "An Nafees", Arabic Dictionary.
- As Translator (from Italian to Arabic):
- "Qisas Italiya", Luigi Pirandello, 1967.
- "Popolazione della Tripolitania, Enrico De Agostini, 1975
- "Popolazione della Cirenaica, Enrico De Agostini, 1990.
- "Cirenaica Verde", Attilio Teruzzi, 1991.
- " Memoria della mia vita", Giovanni Giolitti, 1976.
- " L'esplorazione Geografica Della Libia: Rassegna Storica Bibliografia", Attilio Mori, 1984.
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