Cite this article: Hassan, A. M. 2025. “An Overview of the Spiritual Transformation of Tijānīyya Order in the 19th and 20th Centuries”. Sokoto Journal of History Vol. 13, Iss. 01. Pp. 51 – 62. www.doi.org/10.36349/sokotojh.2025.v13i01.006
AN OVERVIEW OF THE
SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION OF TIJĀNĪYYA ORDER IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES
By
Auwalu Muhammad
Hassan
Department of
History, Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education, Kano, Nigeria
Abstract: This paper seeks
to examine, explore, and explain the development of the Tijānīyya Tariqa (path)
in modern times to date. The Tijānī scholars and academicians have documented
and published vast materials about this Sufi path in various languages on the
evolution, development, and dissemination of the Tijānīyya since the late 19th
century to the contemporary time. The present paper aims to overview the
evolution, development, and dissemination of this Sufi path from its
establishment to the present time. However, the focus of our questions and
discussion is: What is modern society? What is the historical context in which
the founder of the Tijānīyya Tariqa emerged and successfully established his
independent Sufi path? What are the hallmarks of this Sufi path? How did the
founder, his teachings, and the members of his Sufi path survive the attacks of
adversaries and opponents? What are the reactions of the Tijānī antagonists,
and how did the Tijānīyya successfully transcend the African border in contemporary
times? The paper adopted interdisciplinary in nature grounded in the historical
discourse.
Keywords: Tijānīyya,
Modern society, tariqa / order, Shaykh
Introduction
Scholars, thinkers and
philosophers have been playing remarkable role in shaping, transforming and
entrenching changes in their various regions all over the world. From 15th
centuries African Muslim scholars like Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim al-Maghīlī (d. 1504)
and Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Suyūtī (d. 1505) played a remarkable role in
transforming and reforming Muslim societies through various means, and this
trend continued up to 19th century. All over the world, there were significant
changes and reform movements and that is why French historians suggest that the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries correspond to Modern Times. This period
rooted in the late fifteenth century with arrival of Christopher Columbus in
the Americas and ends with the French Revolution in 1799; all developments
thereafter belong to what is dubbed the Contemporary Period. Paul Lovejoy, considered the last quarter of
the 18th century to the mid-19th century as the age of revolutions. The period
1775 to 1885 is also termed the “age of revolution” by Eric Hobsbawm and other
historians because revolution had changed and transformed the course of world
history. There were several attempts by
Muslim Sufi scholars from the 15th centuries down to 20th centuries to reform
their societies, for examples Ahamd b Idrīs, Muhammad b Alī al-Sanūsī
(1787-1859) and Muhammad Uthmān al-Mīrghanī (1793-1852) and the Tijānīyya was
founded during the same period to reform human society and the soul. This paper
will show the evolution, challenges, development and spread of the Tijānīyya
from the late 18th century to the 20th century. Worldwide phenomenon from the
15th century to the 19th century religious scholars and authority around the
world were adopting, reforming and transforming their societies to live a
better life.
Reforms and Contexts of the Muslim Scholars: Prelude
to the Dawn of Tijānīyya Tariqa
The emergence of the
Tijānīyya in the late 18th century was heavily influenced by the established
Sufi turuq of Morocco in the previous centuries. According to Zachary Valentine
Wright, the Nāsiriyya and Wazzanīyya shared intellectual and spiritual resemblance
that appeared in the emergence of Tijānīyya. He went further to say:
… were distinguished by their good reputation in
scholarly circles for societal involvement and orthodoxy. Muḥammad b. Nāṣir, who established his
following as the Nāṣiriyya in
seventeenth- century southern Morocco, cautioned against extreme acts of
renunciation as well as music and dance in Sufi practices, balancing an
emphasis on “the Islamic sciences,
respect for the Sunnah and scrupulous imitation of the Prophet’s example on the
one hand, with initiation and mystical knowledge on the other.” He stressed the importance of having a
spiritual guide to actualize one’s Muslim identity: “If you do not have a
shaykh, Iblīs [Satan] must be near to you, and if Iblīs is near to you, you are
not a true Muslim.” The shaykh offered his own path as a remedy: “My path is
easy, and the benefits large.” Later Nāṣirī followers would claim that initiation gave the
aspirant salvation in the afterlife. For these reasons—and due to the order’s
success in facilitating trade—the Nāṣiriyya seems to have been the most popular Sufi
order in North Africa by the late seventeenth century.
The Nāsiriyya later
consolidated through the teachings of al-Yūsī, a staunch deputy of Shaykh
Nāsir. Al-Hasan al-Yūsī was a prominent Moroccan scholar of the seventeenth
century. He propagated his teacher’s serious verification of Islam’s main
theological doctrine of divine oneness (tawhīd) to achieve certainty (yaqīn).
At the same time, he adopted rational proofs according to the Ash’ari
theological school. The Nāsiriyya came to be associated with a sober,
sharī’a-based Sufism that upheld the importance of combining saintly authority
and scholarship in the verification of knowledge and spiritual states (hal).
The Nāsiriyya remained the main Sufi order in Morocco and beyond by the late
18th century. The Moroccan Sultan Mawlay Sulaymān (reigned 1792-1882) became a
member of the Nāsiriyya, as did the Indian scholar Shaykh Murtadā al-Zabīdī (d.
1791), a resident of Cairo, who had been initiated into the order while
studying hadith in Madina had been initiated into the order.
The Wazzāniyya is another
branch of Shādhiliyya like Nāsiriyya it enjoyed cordial relations with
scholarly networks and political authority in Morocco. It is less known beyond
Morocco. The Nāsiriyya was founded in the northwestern Moroccan town of Wazzān
by Shaykh Abdallāh b. Ibrāhīm al-Idrīsī (d. 1678). The order differed slightly
from Shādhiliyya and Jazūliyya into which Abdallāh became a member. The newly
Wazzāniyya emphasized the importance of saint’s role social and as intercessor.
Abdallāh al-Idrīsī made his teaching known publicly when he received permission
from Prophet. The Jazūliyya impact on the Wazzāniyya was through Shaykh Mawlay
al-Tayyib (d. 1767), the third Jazūliyya Shaykh, under whose religious
leadership the town of Wazzān emerged as a religious learning and economic
center, this facilitated the dissemination of Wazzāniyya all over Morocco and
Algeria.
In his making and emerging
as a Sufi master, Ahmad al-Tijānī was initiated into both the Nāsiriyya and
Wazzāniyya orders during his spiritual travels to Morocco before the
establishment of his Tariqa Muhammadiyya. His first encounter with Sufi
connection among the distinguished masters was Mawlay al-Tayyib of the
Wazzāniyya, the prominent (al-qutub al-shahīr) axial saint, whom he visited in
1760 in Wazzān on his way to Fez. In his early twenties, al-Tijānī became a
member of the Wazzāniyya and muqadam (initiator) of the order. However, his membership was very short. Ahmad
al-Tijānī received the wird (litany) of Nāsiriyya through Muhammad b. ‘Abdallāh
al-Tuzānī (d. 1778). Al-Tuzānī was initiated by his father, from his uncle,
from Ibn Nāsir’s son Ahmad, with the uncle having a different membership in the
Nāsiriyya from Hasan al-Yūsī. Al-Tijānī’s membership was also short, but he
continued to praise, agreeing with Nāsiriyya awrad (litanies) and the
recitation of the Dalā’il al-Khayrāt (The Waymarks to Benefits) composed by the
Moroccan Sufi Master Abū Abdallāh Muhammad b. Sulaymān al-Jazūlī (d.869/1465)
long after the dawn of his tariqa.
Stefan Reichmuth
systematically compares the developments in Europe and America from 1775 to
1850 to the Muslim world in the same period, known as the “Age of Revolutions.”
During these periods in Europe and the Americas, industrial and political
revolutions shaped their societies, and the consequences of these revolutions
had far-reaching impacts on the remaining parts of the world. The Age of
Revolutions in the Muslim world, particularly in West Africa, Southeast Asia,
and China, occurred under the auspices of Islamic scholars and Sufi
orders. Reichmuth outlines and discusses
the Islamic reform movements by employing a comparative analysis that locates
the developments of the period in the context of the “Age of Revolutions” and
demonstrates their different modes of inclination to the Prophet. The following are the major developments that
shaped, changed and transformed the Muslim societies specifically in the 18th
and 19th centuries respectably.
West Africa Kunta-
Bakkā’iyya (Qādiriyya) in the Western Sahara and Niger region (ca. 1750-1825),
Imamate in Futa Toro (ca. 1770—1807), Imamate of Futa Jalon (ca. 1725, consolidation ca. 1770,
Imamate 1725-1896),Islamic Movement led by Usman b. Fodio in the Central Sudan
(1774-1817), Sokoto Caliphate (1804-1903), Hamdallāhi Imamate in Masina
(1818-1864). The jihād Movement led by al-Hajj Umar b. Sa’id Tall (since 1849).
North Africa Muhammad b. ‘Abd
al-Rahmān Abū Qabrayn (d.1793) and the
diffusion of the Rahmāniyya in Kabliyan and other parts of Algeria; taking part
in the struggle against French conquest since the 1840s, Ahmad al-Tijānī and
the spread of the Tijāniyya and the jihād of al-Hājj Umar in Senegambia, Muhammad b. ‘Alī al-Sanūsī (d.1859) and the
dissemination of the Sanūsīyya in the Hijāz (1820), Egypt, Libya, and the
Saharan region (since the 1840s). Arabia
and Yemen, Wahhābiyya (1744-1818) in Central Arabia, founded jointly between
the emirs of al-Dir’iyya (Najd) and Muhammad bn Abd al-Wahhāb (d.1792) Emirate
and jihād of ‘Abd al-Qādir (Algeria, 1832-1847)Sufi brotherhoods founded by the
students of Aḥmad b. Idrīs (d. 1837): Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Sanūsī ( d. 1859), Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān al-Mīrghanī (d. 1852, Khatmiyya in the Sudan), Muḥammad Majdhūb (d. 1831,
Majādhīb in the Sudan), Ibrāhīm al-Rashīd (d. 1874, Rashīdiyya and other
offshoots in Sudan. North-east Africa,
Middle East) Qajar Iran and the Twelver Shīʿa Messianic Movement of SayyidʿAlī Muḥammad the Bāb (Iran,
1844–50). Russia and the Caucasus Muslim
Tatars and Bashkirs during and after the Pugachev Revolt (1773–75) in the Volga
region and in Siberia Imamates and
anti-Russian struggle in the Caucasus (1820–59), Naqshbandiyya in Central Asia
and north-west China Mangit rulers in Bukhārā (Shāh Murād und Emir Ḥaydar, 1785–1826), Khafiyya and Jahriyya
Naqshbandīs and their struggles
in northwestern China (Ma Laichi, d. 1753, Ma Mingxin, d. 1781).South Asia
School of ShāhWalī Allāh (d. 1762) of
Delhi and his descendants; jihād of
Sayyid Aḥmad Brēlvī (d. 1831) in northern India al-Ḥājj Sharīʿat Allāh (d. 1840) and the Farāʾiẓī movement in eastern Bengal. South East Asia Padri Movement and Revolt
in Sumatra (1803–37) and Anti-Dutch revolt led by Dipanagara, prince of
Yogyakarta, in Java (1825–30).
Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijānī and Founding the Tijānīyya
The broader portrait of al-
Tijānī’s scholarly inquiry permits an alternative framework by which to understand the shaykh’s Sufi aspirations
from that presented in prior academic accounts. While the vision of the Prophet,
the claim to the Seal of Sainthood, the emphasis on God’s bounty and worldly
involvement are all certainly distinguishing features of the Tijāniyya, primary
sources lay more stress on the aspirant’s required sincerity on the Sufi path.
These accounts present al- Tijānī’s own spiritual journey as an ardent quest
for the verification and actualization (taḥqīq) of Sufism, very similar
to the portrayal of his exploration and mastery of other fields of Islamic
learning. Due consideration to the tone of these texts provides a window into
the content of Sufi exchanges in the 18th century, the nature of the Sufi path
as al- Tijānī understood it, and the daily practice of Sufism within the
Tijāniyya. Aḥmad al- Tijānī no doubt saw
his spiritual path as the fullest realization, rather than the abrogation, of
the broader Sufi tradition.
The name or title al-Tijānī,
from which the Tijānīyya came to be known, is derived from his maternal
ancestors, who were Algerian natives near Tlemcen called Tijān or Tijānā.
Muhammad, one of his great-grandfathers, married a woman from them. His mother was from the Tijānā of ‘Ayn Māḍī. Maḥammad b. Mukhtār al-Tijānī al-Ḥasanī was born in 1737 /
1150 in the region of the southwestern Algerian oasis of ʿAyn Māḍī. Al-Tijānī began his early education in the Algerian oasis of ʿAyn Māḍī; the town was famous from
the seventeenth century for its devotion and mastery in the study of Islamic
law according to the school of Imam Mālik, specifically the advanced legal book
Mukhtaṣar al-Khalīl. Al-Tijānī’s early studies, after his sound memorization of
the Qurʾān at age seven, consisted of
mastering the main books of the Mālikī curriculum: Mukhtaṣar al-Akhḍarī and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Akhḍarī (d. 1575, Biskra,
Algeria); al- Risāla of Ibn Abī Zayd al- Qayrawānī (d. 996, Tunis), the
Muqaddima of Ibn Rushd “al- Jadd” (d.
1126, Cordoba), al- Mudawwana; and the Mukhtaṣar al-Khalīl of Khalīl al-
Jundī (d. 1365, Cairo), dense and concise text of study in the Mālikī
school. Wright, has observed that, in
addition to these main books mentioned in Jawāhir al- maʿānī and al- Jāmiʿ,
….there is evidence al-
Tijānī also studied a larger corpus of texts on legal precedent and theory,
committing to memory works such as al- Muwaṭṭa of Mālik b. Anas, al-
Mudawwana al- kubrā of Ibn Saḥnūn (d. 855, Tunisia), al- Mukhtaṣar of Ibn al- Ḥājib (d. 1248), and al- Tahdhīb
fī ikhtiṣār al- Mudawwana of Khalaf al-
Barādhiʿī. While he later voiced
criticism of a few opinions that had developed in the Mālikī School, he remained a
committed Mālikī. In giving legal opinions, he would often begin with, “It has been established from Mālik, the Imam of our school,
may God be pleased with him,” or would reference prior
juristic consensus (ijmaʿ) in the school as binding
precedent.
Both his parents passed away
when he was just sixteen years old during the plague in 1166/1752. He was
married, but he divorced his wife and engrossed himself in search of spiritual
leaders for self-purification. He later purchased two women slaves, educated
them, trained them religiously and spiritually, set them free, and married
them. This is in line with upholding the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, as
reported in the Hadith collections. One of them, Mabruka, delivered his eldest
son, Muhammad al-Kabir, who was killed in 1827 in a rising against the Turkish
authorities in Algeria. The other woman slave, Mubaraka, gave birth to his
younger son, Muhammad al-Habib (the beloved one), who later emerged as Khalifa
from 1844 to 1853.
Al-Tijānī was now free of
his parents' and wife's burdens; he embarked on journeys in search of advanced
knowledge, specifically prophetic Hadith and Sufi training. His sojourns took
him to numerous centers of learning in North African cities such as Fez,
Tlemcen, Tuwāt, and Tunis. Al-Tijānī’s spiritual and educational quests during
these periods led him to become a member of a number of branches of the
Shādhiliyya, the Qādiriyya, and the Khalwatiyya. He performed pilgrimage to
Makkah in 1774 and visited Madina. During his pilgrimage, he was initiated by
the famous Khalwatī Shuyukh Maḥmūd al-Kurdī (d. 1780) in
Cairo, Muhammad al-Sammān (d. 1775) in Madina, and the Indian Sufi, possibly of
the Naqashbandiyya, Ahmad al-Hindī (d. 1774) in Makkah. He was regarded by many
as “one of the greatest Imams of his time” due to his combination of practicing
Islamic knowledge and Sufi knowledge.
Before leaving ʿAyn Māḍī, al-Tijānī, at the age of
twenty-one, had completed the standard curriculum of Qurʾān memorization and the study of jurisprudence, theology, prophetic
traditions, Qurʾān exegesis, and Arabic literature. He embarked on the Sufi path, devoting
his life to learning, severe asceticism, and worship. His quest led him to meet
the al-rijāl (God’s distinguished men) on his first trip to Morocco in 1758. He soon
attracted initiation into several Sufi paths, such as the Shādhiliyya (Nāṣiriyya, Wazzāniyya), the Qādiriyya, and the Khalwatiyya, as mentioned
earlier. He was said to have idhn (permission) and promotion as muqaddam
(initiator) from a number of shuyukh. Some of these shuyukh narrated to him
that he would attain maqam aẓīm (a great station), a
station similar to that of Abūl-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī, and that
he would be a “beloved friend of God.” He remained uncertain about submitting
himself to these men until he met with al-Kurdī in Cairo. The early encounter
with al- Ṭayyib al- Wazzānī and Aḥmad al -Ṣaqillī were good examples
and they were heads of vast Sufi communities. He declined the early taqdīm from al- Wazzānī to spread the Wazzāniyya
–Jazūliyya order.
In his pursuit of rigorous
spiritual endeavor, during his Khalwa (spiritual retreat) in the Algerian town
of Abū Samghūn in 1781–82, he witnessed his first waking meeting with the
Prophet Muḥammad. Al-Tijānī narrated
that the Prophet told him to disengage from his earlier Sufi paths membership
and introduced him to the special wird (litany) of the Tijāniyya Sufi order.
The statement of the direct involvement of the Prophet Muḥammad in the establishment of the Tijāniyya, as well as the disciple’s
constant experience of the Prophet’s spiritual presence, meant that followers
of the Tijāniyya considered the Prophet Muḥammad to be the ultimate
Sufi shaykh of their “Muḥammadan way.”
He decided to take up
permanent residence in Fez, Morocco, in 1798 after his spiritual travels
throughout North Africa and the Hijaz. After his final settlement in Fez,
al-Tijānī joined Sultan Mawlay Sulaymān’s council of ulama and initiated
several prominent Moroccan figures into the nascent Tijāniyya, such as the
jurist and theologian Ḥamdūn b. al-Ḥājj, numerous government officials, and perhaps even the sultan himself.
Wright has quoted how the outstanding Moroccan scholar Muḥammad al-Kattānī’s book titled Salwat al-anfās commented on the Tijānī as
“the grounded gnostic,” “the rope of the Sunna and the religion,” and the
“comprehensive saintly pole.”
Clearly, al-Tijānī’s
reception among both common and elite sectors highlighted how prominent and
important a figure he had become. There were people who contested and
criticized his teachings during his lifetime and after. Some of the Moroccan
sultans have since maintained a close relationship with the Tijāniyya, recently
financing the restoration of al-Tijānī’s burial place and the main zāwiya
(religious center) of the Tijāniyya in Fez, as well as al-Tijānī’s house in the
city, the “House of Mirrors,” which Mawlay
Sulaymān gifted to al-Tijānī upon his arrival in Fez in 1798.
The Tijāniyya first
circulated mainly in North and West Africa. By the early twentieth century, it
had become the most important and popular Sufi order in Morocco. By the
nineteenth century, it had become accepted by a class of ulama in Mauritania,
Senegal, Mali, and Nigeria; and by the mid-twentieth century, under the
leadership of the Tijānī revivalist Ibrāhīm Niasse (d. 1975, Senegal), it had
become the dominant Sufi order in West Africa. Currently, the Tijāniyya is
found all over the Muslim world and beyond, with significant Tijānī communities
(besides North and West Africa) in Indonesia, Singapore, India, Turkey,
Palestine, the Arab Gulf states, Egypt, Europe, and North and South America. ,
Pakistan , Albania , South Africa and
Ethiopia. The Tijāniyya has succeeded
becoming one of the Islamic world’s most popular Sufi orders; it is certainly a
testimony to the success of eighteenth- century Islamic scholarly revival and adhering to the teachings and devotion to
the Prophet Muhammad in the changing world.
The Tijānīyya’s Conditions and Hallmark
Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse has
summarized the conditions and hallmarks of Tijānīyya that are laid down for the
aspirant before he becomes a full member. They are:
The first condition is that
one must commit and devote himself to it until death. The second is that one
must avoid combining Tijānīyya with any other Sufi order. The third is that a
person who has been initiated into Tijānīyya should abstain from paying homage
to any other saint for seeking his spiritual guidance and blessings. The fourth
is that one must perform the five daily prayers in congregation at all times,
except for unavoidable reasons. Lastly, a disciple must respect his parents to
the utmost and likewise, a wife must obey and respect her husband with utmost
sincerity. Anyone who accepts and agrees with these conditions is accepted and
initiated into the Tijānīyya.
The hallmarks of the
Tijānīyya practices are seeking forgiveness; sending blessings and prayers to
the Prophet Muhammad and remembering Allah, recitation of the Qur’an and
adhering to the Sunna. The rigorous
practices of these are embedded in the Tijānīyya community. Their leaders
produced volumes of salawat books on sending blessings and prayers upon the
Prophet Muhammad. They have also compiled and authored texts for their
followers for seeking repentance and forgiveness and they established numerous
traditional Islamic and Qur’anic schools wherever they flourish. The Shuyukh
and muqaddimun instructs their followers for the constant remembering Allah and
following the Sunna of the Prophet. It is very common among the Tijānīyya
members to see them with their charbi (count prayer) sending salawat upon the
Prophet especially Salat al-Fatih (the Opening Prayer), they are frequently
entering halwa (seclusion) purposely for the sending considerable amount of
salawat, dhkir and recitation of the Qur’an. The practices among the members
are no barrier of age, sex; gender and social background. They are known for
their loud dhkir whether in sitting, walking, in special occasions such as
mawlid, marriage ceremony or in a critical and challenging situation. The Tijānīyya
members are engrossed in spiritual activities with the hope to purify their
lower souls and move closer to Allah and Prophet Muhammad. Whether they are
in-group or individual, they do engage in dhkir.
Contesting the Tijānīyya: Opponents and Antagonists
When the Tijānīyya was
founded after seeing the Prophet awake c. 1781-82, the Prophet was the
spiritual mentor of the founder and his path. Shaykh Ahmad Tijānī began to
propagate his nascent tariqa to a small group of students and disciples, which
attracted contestation and antagonism from opponents of his teachings. The
opposition and antagonism against the Tijānīyya began with the establishment of
the order and have continues to thrive to this day. Mohammad Ajmal Hanif, in
his PhD thesis titled “Debating Sufism: The Tijāniyya and Its Opponents,” conducted in-depth research on the
protagonists and antagonists of the Tijānīyya from different areas where the
tariqa made its presence, The early form of contesting the claim of al-Tijānī
came from the Nasīrīsufi master, Muhammad b. Abd’ al-Salām al-Nasīrī (d.
1239/1823), in his al-Rihlaal-hijāziyya (The Journey to Hajj), where he
provides a negative portrayal of the founder. The Moroccan influential
Tijānīyya scholar Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Kansūsī wrote rejoinder to debunk al-
Nasīrī. Another virulent attack was launch against the founding figure of the
Tijānīyya from Egypt-based Tunisian scholar Alī b. Muhammad al-Mīlī
(d.1248/1833). His virulent attack known as al-Ṣawārim wa-l-asinna fīnaḥr man taʿaqqaba ahl al-sunna (“The Sharp Swords and Spears
Directed at the Upper Chest of the One Who Falsely Accused Followers of the
Prophet”) was charged at Shaykh Aḥmad al-Tijānī himself. The
challenge posed deals with the relationship between the Qurʾān and kalām Allāh al-qadīm (divine eternal speech).
According to the founding master of the Tijānīyya, the words that come from Allah Almighty are not exactly the same as
those that one says while reading the Qurʾān; they are, despite this, joined together in their reference to the same
meanings. Another prominent Tunisian Tijānīyya scholar in person of Ibrāhīm al-Riyāhī (d. 1266/1850) responded to this charge. He wrote Mibrad al-ṣawārim wa-l-asinna fīl-raddʿalāman akhraja al-Shaykh al-Tijānīʿandāʾirat ahl al-sunna (“Defence Against the Sharp Swords and Spears in Reply to the One Who
Excommunicated the Tijānī Shaykh From the Community of the Followers of the Prophet”), a treatise blessed and endorsed by al-Tijānī himself. However, in whatever
case, the virulent attack against the founding master of the Tijānīyya and his teachings does not prevent the tariqa to attract millions of
followers worldwide and its spread beyond the border of Africa.
Transcending the African Border: The Tijānīyya in
Contemporary Time and the True Path of the Prophet
Junayd b. Muhammad AbūQāsim
al-Khazzaz (d.910) was been reported as saying about the meaning and purpose of
Sufism, “It means that the Real makes you die to yourself and live for him.”
Again, he also said, “It means that you exist for the sake of Allah without any
attachment.” Another Sufi master has
connoted:
Sufism
is not wearing a robe that you patch
And
it is not the shedding of tears when the singers sing
It
is not crying out, nor dancing, nor musical entertainment
And
it is not swooning as if you had become possessed
Sufism
is rather your serenity (tasūfū), without distress
And following the truth of the Qur’ān and the
religion
The master, patron and
founder of the Tijānīyya Sīdī
Abūal’Abbās al-Tijānī was asked about the reality meaning of Sufism. He
answered by saying, “Know that Sufism is compliance with Allah’s command and
avoidance of His prohibition, externally and internally, with regard to what
pleases Him, not what pleases you.”
The above-mentioned
definition of Sufism by Sufi masters and the founding master of the Tijānīyya
brought about the crux goal of his teachings and method of spiritual training.
The teachings of the Tijānīyya tariqa are rooted in the Qur’an and Prophetic hadith;
therefore, there is balance in the combination of Sharī’a (the sacred law) and
haqīqa (divine reality). Another important aspect of the Tijānīyya teachings is
the adoption of the Malāmatiyya approach by hiding their real spiritual
position and purifying their lower ego-selves. The Tijānīyya teachings
emphasize this approach as the members mingle with ordinary Muslims, without
differentiating themselves by a public show of piety beyond that commonly
practiced by the Muslim community.
The Tijānīyya began to
spread during the lifetime of the founder and most of initiators were circles
and network of scholars and their students. The emphasises on education and
spiritual purification of lower ego as well as attaining the illumination and
ma’rifa (gnosis) and achieving union with the Prophet through vision in awake
or dream and constant remembrance of Allah, sending blessings and prayers upon
the Prophet and repentance attracted the elite class and common folk into the
Tijānīyya. Famous Muslim ulama
contributed greatly to the spread of the Tijānīyya to the contemporary time.
Some examples of these classes of ulama can be highlighted in order to
demonstrate that the tariqa is a path of the Prophet and it is convenient in
this critical contemporary time.
Class of ulama and their
networks spearheaded the spread of the Tijānīyya in the early period of the
nascent tariqa. For example, the Tunisian Mufti and famous mystic Shaykh
Ibrāhīm al-Riyahi (1768-1850) was an important intellectual tower and great
player for political change in Husaynid Tunisia. Shaykh al-Riyahi is the author
of numerous written works, both published and unpublished. Some of his works
include, among others;
•
A theological treatise in refutation of the
doctrines of Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab (d.1792). This work is lost. It was
commissioned by Hammouda Pacha Bey in
response to a letter by Saud b. Abdulaziz b. Muhammad b. Saud, calling the
Pacha for either join his new movement or prepares to fight.
•
A versification of the famous book of Arabic grammar
commonly known as Ajurrumiyya.
•
A text in defence of the sound Ash’arism of Shaykh
Ahmad al- Tijānī, in response to a writing of an Egyptian which had claimed
completely different. Entitled Mibrad al-sawarim wa’l-assina fi’l-radd ‘ala man akharaja Sayyidi Ahmad
al-Tijānī ‘anda’irat ahl al-Sunna. Shaykh al-Tijānī commented and praises the
author, as well as by an endorsement of the book by Muhammad Bayram ll.
•
A remarkable devotional text on the Prophet, dense
with Sufi notion and Gnostic themes, titled al-Narjasa al’ambariyya fi al-salati ‘ala Khayr
al-bariyya.
In Mauritania, the members
of the Idaw Alī who are noted scholars, Shuyukh of the Tijāniyya as well as
descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) contributed to the spread of the
tariqa. Shaykh Muhammad al-Hafīz b. al-Mukhtār al-Alawī (b. c. 1172/1758-1759;
d. 1247/1831-1832) from Shinqīṭ was initiated into the
order by Shaykh Aḥmad al-Tijānī himself, and
it was due to his efforts that the Tijāniyya found wide acceptance among the
IdawʿAlī. The region of Trarza in southwestern Mauritania has always been the
stronghold of the IdawʿAlī, but they also lived in Brakna, Adrar, and Tagant. When Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ passed away, his eldest son Aḥmaddu, known as Manna (d.
1325/1907-1908), and his closest confidant and brother-in-law Muḥamdi Baddi b. Sīdinā, known as Ḥassān al-Ṭarīq (b. 1202/1787-1788, d.
1264/1847-1248) succeeded him. At the latter’s death, his son Aḥmad, known as Abba (d. 1323/1905-1906), succeeded him as the head of the
Baddi lineage. The third important personality of the first Ḥāfiẓī generation was Mawlūd Fāl (b. ca. 1186/1772-1773, d. 1268/1852),
who was also related to Muḥammad al- Ḥāfiẓ by marriage and belonged to
the clan of the Īdayqūb.
In Morocco, the Tijāniyya in
the 20th century produced most popular Sufi prolific scholars in the 1940s—such as like AḥmadSukayrij (d. 1944), al-Aḥsan al- Baʿqīlī (d. 1948), Muḥammad al- Naẓīfī (d. 1951), and Muḥammad al- Ḥajūjī (d. 1952). However, the
spread of the Tijāniyya has not been restricted to North and West Africa. There
large members developed around Tijānī scholars, achieved their own saintly
reputations, in Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, from the early twentieth century.
The famous Egyptian Tijānī scholar Muḥammad al- Ḥāfiẓ b. ʿAbd al- Laṭīf (d. 1978) was an important figure in the transmission of ḥadīth in the mid- twentieth- century, and his journal Ṭarīq al-Ḥaqq (“The Path of Truth”)
was widely read by Arabic- speaking “traditionalists.” Some of al- Ḥāfiẓ’s admirers was the popular
Egyptian preacher Muḥammad al- Shaʿrāwī (d. 1998), who was likely have also taken the Tijāniyya. In Ethiopia, the Tijāniyya spread marginally through the efforts of individual ulama in the
20th century.
The tariqa has been in
Palestine, some of its member was the prominent Syrian leader of the first
Palestinian revolt against Zionist ʿIzz al- Dīn al- Qassām (d. 1935). Tijānī activists in Turkey resisted the Turkish government’s ban on the Islamic call to prayer and they became outspoken in
rejection of the ‘Turkification’ of Islam. The tariqa contributed greatly to the development of the
politico-religious of modern Turkey. In
Eastern European countries like Albania, the Tijāniyya also became popular
among Muslims resisting state policies on regulating religious institutions.
The Tijāniyya contributed to an Islamic revival from within the new reformed
Islamic institutions; already these institutions were rationalized, controlled
and secularized. There were many prominent Tijāniyya scholars to the Islamic
scholarship. The former chief mufti of Albania—Ḥāfiẓ Ṣabrī Koçi(d. 2004) was the leader of the Albanian Muslim Community after
the collapse of Communism, was also a member of the Tijāniyya.
The Tijāniyya spread in
India and Pakistan and some parts of South Asia. The tariqa in India spread
among learned class of the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Shaykh
Mahmūd Farthāwī embraced the tariqa from Shaykh Sharīf Ibrāhīm Sālih al-Husaynī.
Shaykh Farthāwī is a prominent Indian scholar and promoted the sending
blessings and prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad. There is also another
important scholar and muqaddam in Kashmir, Muhammad Naveed Tijānī, a disciple
of Shaykh Hassan Cisse and Shaykh Imam Tijānī Cisse, under his guidance large
number of people are embracing the Tijāniyya. The leading Tijāniyya Shaykh in
Pakistan, who is now very old is Shaykh Abdul-Majeed al- Tijānī.
The Tijāniyya has been
established in Arabia since the migration of Alfa Hāshim (d. 1931), the nephew
of ʿUmar Tāl, to Medina in the early
twentieth century. Students of Hāshim popularized the Tijāniyya in East Asia, particularly Indonesia especially some of the East
Java region ulama ; and the former Indonesian president SusiloYudhoyono was a
member of the order. The Tijāniyya today also commands a
following among numerous professionals in English- speaking Muslim minority
communities, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
The Tijāniyya has been
established in Arabia since the migration of Alfa Hāshim (d. 1931), the nephew
of ʿUmarTāl, to Medina in the early
twentieth century. Students of Hāshim popularized the Tijāniyya in East Asia, particularly Indonesia especially some of the East
Java region ulama ; and the former Indonesian president Susilo Yudhoyono was a
member of the order. The Tijāniyya today also commands a
following among numerous professionals in English- speaking Muslim minority
communities, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
The Tijāniyya is visible everywhere today in West
Africa, this is certainly due to the
charisma and intellectual accomplishments of later Tijānī scholars like ʿUmar Tāl, Mālik Sy, and Abdallāh Niasse. Shaykh ‘Umar Tāl an exceptional scholar,
teacher, author of a number of works, gnostic, fearless warrior and state
leader as well as Khalifa of Tijāniyya in
West Africa who spread the tariqa in different regions of the West
Africa. His book, Rimāh remain focal reference of the Sufism and Tijāniyya as well as his spiritual and intellectual legacies continue thrive
to date. He converted many pagans into Islam and established theoretical
Islamic state. Abdallāh was a Sufi
scholar, who widely travelled and maintained scholarly network in the West
Africa and North Africa and founded learning communities’ students from all
backgrounds that provided access to Islamic knowledge. Mālik Sy was also another Sufi scholar who established
widely network and founded the same learning communities that gave taught
students Islamic knowledge. These pious men taught the religion and spread the
tariqa to the thousands followers.
In the 20th century, the
Tijāniyya experienced unprecedented boost and spread to many parts of the world
under the religious leadership of Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse (1900-1975). It is
estimated that those practice the litanies of the tariqa today around the world
owing their membership to Shaykh Niasse number close one hundred million. As
Sahib al-Fayda al- Tijāniyya (being endowed with the Tijānī Flood) predicted by Shaykh Ahmad al- Tijānī
that time would come when people
entering the Tijānīyya group upon group. Shaykh Niasse had travelled worldwide to
spread the message of Islam, the Sunnah, knowledge, the tariqa and unity of
Muslim ummah. He is the most successful Muslim scholar of the 20th century with
millions of followers worldwide. His legacies continue to flourish under his
numerous deputies. For example, his grandson late Shaykh Ḥasan b. Ali Cisse (1945-2008) spread the message of Islam by converting
thousands to Islam and becoming members of the Tijāniyya especially in Chicago,
New York, Detroit and Atlanta and in Chad, Cameroon and South Africa. He spread
the tariqa in Southeast Asia, Pakistan, Libya, the Middle East and the
Caribbean. He founded the African American Islamic Institute in 1988 to promote
education, health care, women’s right and cultural exchange between the Muslims
of Senegal and America. His younger
brother Shaykh TijāniCisse (b.1955) the current Imam succeeded his elder
brother as the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Medina–Baye and the President of the
African American Islamic Institute in 2008. He is working tirelessly to spread
the Islam and the tariqa since his emergence. Shaykh Mahi Cisse a young brother
of Shaykh Tijānī Cisse is very active in spreading the tariqa in USA and Asian
countries.
Tijāniyya Brotherhood in Nigeria
The Tijāniyya reached
Nigerian area since during the lifetime of the founder the earliest members
were in Kano and Borno. The classes of ulama were the vanguard who accepted the
order and later when Shaykh Umar al-Futi visited the Sokoto Caliphate, he propagated
the tariqa and initiated class of ulama and common folk. For example, Shaykh
Sharih who came to Kano initiated Abd al-Rahman al-Suyuti of Madabo. The first
person speculated to be the member of the order in Borno was Shaykh Ibrahim who
initiated his student, Shaykh Ali Rukayami. In Ilorin, Solagberu of Oke-Suna is
said to be member of the tariqa prior to the visit of Umar al-Futi. Later, when
al-Futi came to Sokoto Caliphate, he initiated people like Muhammad Raji
(d.1862) a former Qadi and waziri to amir Ibrahim Khalil of Gwandu, Mahmud
Kasara, Shaykh Muhammad Nukumami and
Shaykh Ahmad. He initiated many people in Kano, Katsina, Zaria Mallawa Fulbe
clan are among the earlier members of the tariqa. Kano based Shaykh Umar b.
Ahmad al-Gazawi al-Kanawi, who devoted his life to teaching of Islamic
education and the tariqa in the middle of the 19th century. He had produced a
manuscript work on the doctrine and benefits of the Tijāniyya titled Kayfiyyat
awrād al-Tijānī (The knowledge of the Tijāniyya Litanies) in the mid 19th
century.
Some of notable figures from
Zaria who devoted their lives to the teaching Islamic knowledge and spreading
the tariqa , the likes of Shaykh Shittu b. Abd al-Rauf (b.1807), Shaykh Umar Wali Zazzau (d. 1897) a
prominent scholar, Sufi master, Tijāniyya shaykh and prolific author who
produced al-Fiyyat tariqa the most standard text of the tariqa from Nigeria.
Malam Salanke, Malam Umar Kofar Doka, Shaykh Yahuza b. Said (d.1958), these
scholars had produced considerable literary output.
In the 20th century, the
tariqa spread in Nigeria through the efforts of local scholars and their
network beyond the country. The eminent scholar Shaykh Muhammad Salga (d.1937),
Wali Sulaiman (d.1939), Shaykh Abubakar Mijinyawa (d.1945) contributed to the
diffusion of the tariqa and Islamic knowledge. Other prominent scholars and
promoters of Islamic knowledge; Islamic scholarship and of the tariqa are:
Shaykh Muhammad Ngribrima an accomplished scholar, prolific author and Sufi
Master with considerable followings beyond Nigeria ;and Shaykh Abubakar
AtiqSanka, Kano an accomplished Sufi master, scholar and prolific author, who
trained many great local scholars and established extensive network beyond
through Africa. Another important
personality who contributed to the spread of Islam, Islamic education and the
tariqa throughout Nigeria and who contributed immensely to the production of
literary works, is Shaykh Umar Falke Bakin Ruwa Kano. Shaykh Tijani Usman (d.1970) a great sage,
scholar and Sufi master who had acquired large number of admirers and followers
and ambassador Abd al-Malik Okene a father-in-law of Shaykh Niasse, through his
network many accepted the tariqa and spread it.Shaykh Usman Mai Hula a great
scholar, who promoted the teachings of Islam and of Islamic knowledge; Shaykh
Sani Kafanga another eminent scholar, Sufi master and prolific author and
Abdulkadir Zaria, a renowned scholar and Sufi master. Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi (d.2013) was also
another great scholar and an accomplished Sufi master, spiritual mentor and
exemplary teacher whose religious influence and network goes beyond Nigeria in
21st century. Shaykh Abul Fathi Ahmad b. Aliyu (d.2003) another
accomplished scholar and Sufi master whose teachings and impact reached distant
world, late Yusuf Abdullahi Lokoja a great scholar and Sufi master, Shaykh Umar
Sanda Zaria (d.2004) an accomplished scholar and spiritual master, Shaykh Tahir
Usman Bauchi an accomplished scholar, Sufi master and religious leader who
established hundreds of Qur’anic schools. Shaykh Ibrahim Salih the grand mufti
of Nigeria, an accomplished international scholar, who wrote about 500 books on
various fields of Islamic knowledge, philosophy, hadith, sirah and recently was
honoured by the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and presented lectures numerous among
international communities to mention a very few Nigerian local scholars and
masters.
Conclusion
The eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries appeared to the world as periods of changed,
transformation, reformation and production of numerous intellectual concerns to
up lift the humankind societies. The Tijānīyya was established during the
modern time and age of revolution to respond to the prevailing stagnation of
the Muslim communities. During these periods, Muslim intellectuals from all
over the world engaged in reforming their society by employing variety of
approach and method. For example, Abd al-Wahhab founder of Wahhabiyya movement
fought against fellow Muslims for his narrow-minded understanding of what is
bid’a (innovation) and what constitute and warrant Muslim to become
infidel. Usman Fodio waged jihad in Hausaland,
and established what come to become Sokoto Caliphate and revived the Islam and
Islamic scholarship. Shaykh Ahmad al-Tījanī after mastering all fields of
Islamic knowledge and underwent rigorous spiritual training in 1781 the Prophet
Muhammad appeared to him in an awaking vision and told him I am your master and
leave all the previous Sufi orders. Thus, the founding of the tariqa came into
being. The tariqa began to spread during his lifetime by attracting the classes
of ulama and political leaders. Mawlay Sulaymān of Morocco invited him and gave
him accommodation to establish his order. The founder of nascent tariqa in no
time gathered considerable number of followers and at the same time faced a
serious attack and opposition from other Sufi followers and non-Sufi scholars
faced him. The attack and opposition on the tariqa prevail to this date in
almost everywhere the tariqa flourish.
The Tijānīyya spread to
Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Nigeria, Sudan, Niger, Chad, Ghana, Guinea,
Egypt, Palestine, Makkah, Turkey and Albania and presently the tariqa reached
Europe, USA, and Southern American countries, Indonesia, Pakistan, India,
Malaysia and Singapore etc. The tariqa produced prominent and prolific Muslim
scholars and Sufi masters who contributed immensely to the development of
Islam, Islamic knowledge, scholarship and expansion of the tariqa. Under the
religious authority of Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse the tariqa recorded unprecedented
boom and expansion the traditional zone of the order. Because of his movement
and promotion of Islam and the tariqa, millions in Africa, Europe, USA, Latin
America and Southeast Asia had accepted Islam and the tariqa. When he emerged
in 1929-30, Shaykh Niasse prominence was confined to some areas in Senegal and
Mauritania, but by 1950s, he had become world tower among the world Islamic
scholars and by 1962, the prestigious Azhar University conferred on him the
titled of the Shaykh al-Islam. The deputies of Shaykh Niasse all over the world
continue to promote and propagate the teachings of the tariqa and method of his
spiritual training and emphasizing the realization of fath (illumination)
through the fayda.
The Tariqa Ahmadiyya
Ibrāhīmiyya Hanīfiyya Tijānīyya is rooted in the teachings of the Qur’an and
Sunnah and its founding figure and all his deputies were and still are
accomplished Islamic scholars. Muḥammad al- Kattānī in his
book titled, Salwat al- anfās, describes al- Tijānī as “the grounded gnostic,”
“the rope of the Sunna and the religion,” and the “comprehensive saintly pole”
again: “He was among the scholars who put his knowledge into action, the imams
of independent scholarly opinion (al- aʾimma al- mujtahidīn), among those who combined the nobility of origin with the nobility of
the religion, the nobility of knowledge, action, certainty, divine spiritual
states (aḥwāl) and lofty saintly
stations (maqāmāt).” The tariqa
teachings emphasises the constant sending blessings and prayers upon the
Prophet Muhammad, seeking repentance, remembrance of Allah, recitation of the
Qur’an, seeking Islamic knowledge and practicing what had learn; performing
obligatory prayers congressionally, absolute obedience to the Shari’a and
realizing haqiqa. The teachings of the tariqa uplift murid (disciple) from the
three station of religion that is Islam to imam and to ihsan. The malamatiyya
form of Sufism is very compatible to the contemporary time.
The antagonists and opponents of the tariqa perhaps they misunderstood
its teaching, or they do not have sound knowledge to understand the primary
sources of the tariqa or they mislead by those who total vehement and virulent
opposition to the Sufi masters and their teachings. Therefore, this brought
about the misinterpretation, misleading and misinformation to prevent people
from joining the tariqa by the deniers. The Tijānīyya leaders and their
voluminous literary works emphasized their inclination, yearning, attachment
and love to the Prophet as well as adhering to his Path. Today the Tariqa
marked its 244 years in solar calendar or 251 years in lunar calendar
anniversary with its establishment by the permission of the Prophet Muhammad.
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