Ahmad Al-Tijani - Life Until 1795

Life Until 1795

Shaykh Tijani was born in 1735 among the Tijana Berber tribe in Aïn Madhi, a small village in western-central Algeria about 30 miles (48 km) from the Laghouat. Shaykh Tijani became an orphan at the age of 15, and applied himself to his studies. Having learned the Quran by heart at age 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 Khaldoun, 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 the al-Qarawiyyine University of Fes 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 Nasiriyya (after Sidi Mhammed Ben Nasir Dar'i, d. 1674) 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".

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 esoteric, 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 meet 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 Abd al-Aziz Dabbagh 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. 1717; 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. 1258), 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 Nasiriyya 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 Boussemghoun, 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, led 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 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 Chellala and Boussemghoun. In Boussemghoun, 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 and unstrictly to any seeker who asks for it and accepts to abide by its conditions; 100 of Astaghfirou Allah ("I seek Allah’s forgiveness") and 100 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.