Muhammad al-Tijani | |
|---|---|
محمد التيجاني | |
 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1943-02-02)2 February 1943 (age 82) |
| Era | Modern era |
| Region | North Africa |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Shia |
| Creed | Usuli Twelver Shi'a |
| Muslim leader | |
Muhammad al-Tijani (Arabic:محمد التيجاني,romanized: Muḥammad al-Tījānī; born 2 February 1943) is a Tunisian Islamic scholar, academic, andtheologian. He converted fromSunni Islam toTwelver Shi'a Islam.
Al-Tijani was born in a TunisianSunni Muslim family of theMaliki school. Previously, his family added “al-Tijani” to their name after adopting theTijani sufi order ofAhmad al-Tijani. He was eighteen years of age when theLes Scouts Tunisiens agreed to send him as one of six Tunisian representatives to the first conference for Islamic and Arab scouts which took place inMecca. He used the opportunity to perform theHajj. He stayed twenty five days inSaudi Arabia, during which he met many prominent Salafi scholars, listened to their lectures and became heavily influenced by theSalafi movement.
Upon returning to Tunisia, al-Tijani started actively promoting and spreading Salafism during the religious classes and sermons that he gave, including in theGreat Mosque of Kairouan. He then traveled to Egypt’sal-Azhar University. On the way back to Tunisia, al-Tijani met a Shi'i Iraqi lecturer from theUniversity of Baghdad named Mun'im. He came to Cairo to submit his Ph.D. thesis at al-Azhar University and Mun'im invited him to Iraq. Al-Tijani spent several weeks with Mun'im; visitedBaghdad andNajaf, and met with several leading Twelver Shi'i scholars, includingAbu al-Qasim al-Khoei,Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, andMuhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, who taught him about Shi'a Islam. After long debates with the Shi'i scholars, he became a Shi'a Muslim.[1]
Al-Tijani's books are banned in some countries, such asSaudi Arabia andMalaysia. He has written six books:
