Shaykh Ahmed Tijani (rah)
Shaykh Ahmed Tijani is the founder of the Tariqa Tijaniyya. His full name is Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al Mukhtar ibn Salim. His father was Muhammad al Mukhtar ibn Ahmad ibn Mahmad ibn Salim, a well-respected man of learning. Shaykh Ahmad Tijani’s lineage has been traced back to the Prophet (saw) through Imam Hassan(ra), son of Fatima (ra) the Daughter of the Prophet (saw).
It was after the Prophet (saw) appeared to him, while he was in a state of wakefulness, that he informed his student and followers that the Prophet (saw) has authorized him to start his work of spiritual training and guidance, and had assigned the Wird and Wazifa of the Tariqa.
Sidi Shaykh Ahmad Tijani was born in a village in Algeria called Ain Maadi in 1737. Ain Maadi is located in Northern Central Algeria about 30 miles from the city of Laghuat. His father lived and taught in Ain Maadi. Shaykh Tijani became distinguished early in his life. By the age of seven, he had memorised the Quran under Muhammad ibn Ba’afiyya and the Mukhtasar by Shaykh Sidi Khalil, which was considered a standard legal text in West and North Africa. Before he reached puberty, he was known for his knowledge, intelligence, modesty and piety by the religious scholars of his time. He learned the fine points of Islamic Law through the Maliki School which was taught to him by his teacher Muhammad ibn Hamwi Tijani, who was also called Abu Abdullah.
Afterwards he memorised several books such as al Akhdari, al Risala Qairawaani, al Khalil and the Muqaddima of ibn Rushd. He also studied the Risala Jama’at al Sufiyya bi bilad al Islam by Abu al Qasim al Qushayri and the Muqaddima of Shaykh Abdul Rahman al Akhdari.
Shaykh Ahmad Tijani became an orphan in 1752. His mother and father died during a Smallpox epidemic (1752-1753) while he was only sixteen years old. He then decided to further his own education, which he did with great enthusiasm. In 1757, five years later, he went to Fez to apply himself to the study of the prophetic traditions (Hadith), to meet Sufi Shaykhs, and to take advantage of the lesson given by various renowned scholars.
By the age of 21, he was firmly grounded in religious learning. He also received diplomas conferring on him the authority to teach Islamic Sciences.
During this time, Shaykh Tijani felt a call for the Sufi life and thereafter participated in Sufi brotherhoods, namely the the orders of Ahmad al Habib ibn Muhammad, the Qadiriyya, and the nasiriyya. A wali by the name of Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al Wanjili predicted that Shaykh Tijani would attain spiritual realisation in the desert. Thus, the Shaykh went to a village on the outskirts of the desert called Al-Abiad and settled in the Zawiyya of Sidi Abdul Qadir ibn Muhammad, where he taught for 5 years.
After a stay in Al-Abiad, the Shaykh began traveling to Mecca. On his way he stopped at the town of Azwawi, near Algiers, where he was initiated into the Khalwatiyya Sufi order by a Muqaddam named Mahmad ibn Abdur Rahman. In 1774, when he finally reached Mecca, he met an Indian Sufi Shaykh named Ahmad ibn Abdullah through the Indian Shaykh’s servant. The Sufi Shaykh claimed to have been forbidden to hold discussions with any human being except his own servant. After Ahmad ibn Abdullah died, it was said that the Shaykh tijani had received all of his occult mystical powers from him, through Tarqiyyah.
Later, Shaykh Ahmad Tijani went to Medina to visit the Prophet’s(saw) tomb where he met the leader of the Khalwatiyya order, Shaykh Abdul Karim al-Samman. Shaykh Abdul Karim informed Shaykh Tijani that he was to become Qutb al-Aqtab (the Dominant Authority, or Pole of Poles) among the Walis. Leaving Medina, this idea lead him to spend a prolonged period of seclusion (Khalwa) in Dhikr and contemplation in the village of Abi Sanghum, which is a Saharan oasis located south of Algeria.
During the first year of his stay in Abi Sanghum, Shaykh Ahmad Tijani was blessed with the vision of Prophet Muhammad (saw). He announced to his followers that the Prophet (saw) appeared to him in a wakeful state, and commanded him to leave all the ways (paths, Tariqas) he had been following before that time, saying, “No one will reproach you, for I myself will be your intercessor in front of your Lord and your Helper”.
He informed his following that the Prophet (saw) asked him to accept the rank of Khalifa of the Messenger of Allah, and that the Prophet (saw) himself assigned him the Wird and the new conditions of the Tariqa, saying, “Keep this Tariqa without retiring from the world, nor ceasing to interact with people until you reach the spiritual station that is promised to you, maintaining your state without any undue mortification nor cultural efforts” (Jawahir al Ma’aani, p32, Cairo Edition).
The Prophet (saw) also told him that these prayers (wird) were such that if someone accepted them from shaykh Tijani, also said that he was given the position of Al Khatim ul Wilayat, the Seal of Sainthood, and that this meant that Shaykh Tijani had obtained a position never to be reached again by the Saints that come after him, and therefore those who accept his way have accepted the perfected practice of the Tariqa.
The Tariqa Tijaniyya was founded in 1778 (1190 AH). From 1781 to 1799 (about 20 years), Shaykh Ahmad Tijani was the main teacher of the doctrines of the Tariqa. He traveled through the Sahara, the Sudan and Tunisia setting up Zawiyyas and nominating pious Muqaddams. At that time, the majority of his disciples and students were Ulamas (religious scholars), Fuqarah (learned in jurisprudence), Qadis (judges) and Muftis (Officially appointed religious heads, usually of a particular country), such that until this day, the Tariqa Tijaniyya is also known as the “Tariqa of Ulamas”.
Around the years 1798 and 1799, in the midst of growing political difficulties, Shaykh Tijani was compelled to leave his native country of Algeria and settle in Fez, Morocco. He was already well-known and respected there, Shaykh Tijani was known for his strict observance of the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw) and the principles of the other main Islamic sources. He was quoted as saying to his followers, “If you hear someone quoting me, place the statement in the Shari’ah, if it balances, take it, if it doesn’t, leave it, for within the noble Quran and Hadith you will find the Tariqa Tijaniyya. Outside the Quran and Hadith, there is no such thing”.
Afterwards, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, the expansion of the Tariqa was swift and broad, primarily owing to the Mauritanian, Muhammad al Hafiz ibn al Mukhtar ibn al Habib al Beddi. Within 30 years of the Shaykh’s exile, all the Ida u’aali (a noble Mauritanian tribe) had embraced the path that was until then, propagated up to Senegal, Niger, Mali and even further South. One of the Best known figures of the Tariqa, and a Mujahid of great renown is Shaykh Al Hajj Umar Tall (or Umar Futi, named after Futa Djallon, his native region).
Following him, other prominent Shuyukh of the Tariqa Tijaniyya include Al Hajj Malick Sy, Shaykh Said Ba and the Shaykh al Islam, Shaykh Ibrahim Niass al Kaolaky.
Reproduced from https://alfityanuk.wordpress.com/shaykh-ahmed-tijani/