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Ahmad al-Tijani | |
|---|---|
 The house where Al Tijani was born in the old Ksar ofAïn Madhi, Algeria | |
| Mystic, Founder | |
| Born | 1735 Aïn Madhi,Regency of Algiers |
| Died | 1815 Fez,Sultanate of Morocco |
| Venerated in | Tijaniyyah |
Tradition or genre | Tijaniyyah |
Abū al-ʻAbbās Ahmad ibn Muhammad at-Tijāniyy orAhmed Tijani (Arabic:أحمد التجاني, 1735–1815), was anAlgerian Sharif who founded theTijaniyyahtariqa (Sufi order).[1][2][3]
Tijani was born in 1735 in Aïn Madhi, the son of Muhammad al-Mukhtar.[4] He traced his descent according to the Berber custom, to his mother's tribe,Tijania.[5] When he was sixteen, Tijani lost both parents as a result of a plague. By then he was already married. He learnedQuran under the tutelage of Mohammed Ba'afiyya in Aïn Madhi and also studiedKhalil ibn Ishaq al-Jundi's Islamic jusrispudence works that were written underMalikite rites.[6] He also studiedAbū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī's Risala ila al-sufiyya. In 1757, Tijani left his village forFez. While there, he joined three Sufi brotherhoods, theQadiriyya, the Nasiriyya, and the tariqa of Ahmad al-Habib b. Muhammed.[6] In Fez, he met a seer who told him he would achieve spiritual revelation (fath). Thereafter, he left Fez to teach atal-Abiad, spending five years at the village. In 1772, he began a journey to Mecca for hajj and to seek a Sufi way of life. During his journey, he was initiated into theKhalwati order at Azwawi. He later taught for a year atTunis where he achieved some success.[7] He left Tunis for Egypt where he metMahmud al-Kurdi of the Khalwati order in Cairo. Tijani reached Mecca in late 1773 and performed hajj rites. In his quest to seek a Sufi way of life, he met Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah El Hindi, who rarely saw people except for his servant. He also met Abd-karim al-Sammman, founder of the Sammaniyya branch of Khalwati. Al-Samman told Tijani he will become a dominantqutb (pole) or scholar within the Sufi orders in the region.[8] Tijani left Mecca and returned to Cairo where he got al-Kurdi's blessing to preach the Khalwatiyya order. From Cairo he settled atTlemcen for a couple of years.
Tijani later settled atBoussemghoun, an oasis seventy five miles south ofEl Bayadh. It was at Samghun that Tijani received a vision from the prophet who told him to start a new Sufi order. He left his previous affiliations with other Sufi orders and claimed divine instructions from prophet Mohammed.[9] Thus, the year 1781 marks the beginning of the Tijaniyya order.[10] Tijani's order soon gained attraction in the desert regions surrounding Abi Samghun. Shaykh Tijani lived inAbi Samghun for about fifteen years. In 1796 he went toFez.
In Fez, Tijani was well received byMawlay Sulayman, the Moroccan Sultan. Though Sulayman disliked other Sufi orders, he provided Tijani a house and appointed him as a member of his learned council.[6] At first, Tijani chose the mosque of Mawlay Idris to pray but performed the rites of the Tijani order in his house. Tijani later built his ownzawiya. In Fez, he sent his trusted aides to spread the word of his order. Trusted aides such as Abu Hafs' Abdul-Rahman was sent to Oran and Algiers and Abdul-Salam al-Waghiri toConstantine, Algeria. Furthermuqaddams were appointed among learned converts including Muhammad Fuwadir al-Abdallawi in theJarid district of Tunisia and Muhammed al-Hafiz in Mauritania.[6]
Tijani assigned to himself the title ofQutb al-Aqtab (or the Pole of the Poles) andKhatm al-Walayya al-Muhammadiyya (or the Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood).[6]
He is quoted as saying
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.[11]
The greater part of the life and teaching of Shaykh Tijani can be drawn from two primary hagiographical works:
Later hagiographies tend to be works of compilation drawn from these two primary sources. Such hagiographies are:
Most of what we know about Shaykh Tijani comes from these books.
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