In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
All praise and thanks belongs to Allah, The Lord of all the worlds. The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful. The Master of the Day of Judgment. You Alone do we worship and from You Alone do we seek help. The One Who said, “Who is more excellent in speech than he who invites to Allah?” (41:33). May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Messenger of Allah, our master Muhammad (SAWS),who said, “Allah will cause to flourish whosoever hears my words and carries them out and makes others aware of them.” and he also said, “Convey from me even if it’s a single word.” and he also said, “Surely, Allah will strengthen this Deen by a corrupt man.”
May the peace and blessings of Allah also be upon his Family, Companions and those who follow them until the Day of Judgment. After this:
The ‘Ulama have divided “innovation” (Bid’a) into the same five (5) categories of all Shari’a rulings, namely: 1.)Obligatory (Wajib); 2.)Recommended (Mandub); 3.)Permissible (Ja’iz); 4.)Disliked (Makruh); and 5.)Prohibited (Haram). Whatsoever aids and assists a person in doing righteousness, leads to goodness, conveys the message of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS), and causes the Sacred Law to be established, falls under the category of “obligatory” (Wajib). That which leads to goodness (Wasilat ila Khayrat) is classified as “recommended” (Mandub). That which is not injurious or detrimental to the Deen is called “permissible” (Ja’iz). That which causes the death or cessation of the Sunnah is classified as “disliked” (Makruh). All that leads to misguidance and corruption is labeled “forbidden” (Haram).
All of these newly invented things which exist in our present time which may not be called “obligatory” (Wajib), can most assuredly be classified as “recommended” (Mandub). The ‘Ulama have considered the publication of the Holy Quran, Hadith collections, Islamic books, and setting up schools to spread knowledge as “obligatory” and “recommended”. These new technologies such as tape recordings, loudspeakers, microphones, radios and everything else which is a device or instrument to be used to assist in helping the Deen (fall under these two categories of Wajib and Mandub). Do you not see that the number of pilgrims to Mecca increases each year --all praise belongs to Allah!--and how will this great number of people be able to pray behind one Imam without the use of loudspeakers, which is an innovation in the Sacred Masjid? Anything which is a means to obedience (and goodness) must be deemed as obedience (and goodness)!
What about these big ships, cars, airplanes, telephones and other means of transportation and communication which are helping the Muslims in their Deen? All actions are judged according to intention! A Believer looks for the best way! The ‘Ulama have been entrusted to make things easy and to be bearers of glad tidings, as the Prophet(SAWS) said, “Make things easy for the people, and do not make it difficult for them, and make them cheerful with glad tidings and do not repulse them.” (Sahih Bukhari). The Ummah of Muhammad(SAWS) cannot all be in agreement with misguidance and error! May Allah guide us to that which He is pleased with and loves. By His Benevolence, may He heal our hearts from their sickness. Ameen. Salaam.
The great opening of Sidna Shaykh Abil Abbas Sidi Ahmed Tijani (may Allah be pleased with him) given to him by Allah , thanks to the intervention of his grandfather the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him), started at Tlemcen, and was crowned, at Chellala, and at Abi Samghroune in the Eastern Sahara. That is where the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) allowed Sidna Shaykh Tijani to inculcate in his Mohammedian Wird to those who require it, without any pre-conditions, apart from submission to the precepts and concepts of Islam, the approval to recite the WIRD, and the WADIFA could be given to any to any believer of both sexes, provided to be pubescent, and to agree upon the terms. It was in 1196/1781.
One of the most important steps taken by Sidna Shaykh Tijani was that he did not consider Sufism limited to a certain group of people. The Shaykh usually repeated, “Impeller of rapture (saiq as-sa'ada) drives communities to this Presence, the divine clout (sarif al-ilahi), meanwhile, strays others from (arriving into) it.” Sidna Shaykh left his door open to all seekers, instructing in the way of love all those in longing for the Mohammedian Presence (peace and blessing be upon him). As for the conditions of his Order, Sidna Shaykh, simply speaking, based it on three pillars,
(1) Praying in the mosque with the congregation whenever possible, meeting all the prerequisites for lawfully offering prayer,
(2) Praying upon the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) and
(3) Not to visit living saints or the tombs of dead ones.
The Allama Sidi Ibrahim Niass al-Kulkhi (d. 1390/1975) illuminates in his Ruh al-adab (Spirit of Good Morals),
The first and most important of the conditions is that one must commit himself to its wird until death. Allah says in the Quran: {And serve the Lord until there come unto you the Hour that is Certain}[15:99]. The Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) says in a Hadith: "And indeed, a little that is continuous is better than a lot that is intermittent." In another hadith the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) said: "The best of worship is the constant one even if it is little."
The second of the conditions is that one must not combine this order with another. There are about 313 orders in Islam, each of which is linked through the Companions of the Battle of Badr. While any of these orders will guide one to the Prophet's (peace and blessing be upon him) path, the principles of all of them are combined in the Tijaniya order, in the same way that all principles of the past religions (of the Book) are combined in Islam. Allah is One. The final and overall Prophethood is one, and the guiding Shaykh of the last order must certainly be one.
The third of the conditions is that a person who has taken the (Tijani) order should not pay homage (seek spiritual guidance) to any other saint that is not a Tijani for the purpose of any spiritual gain. He must however, respect all the saints of Allah. The reason for this is that Tijaniya, being the fountain-head of all the orders, is their summation and therefore nothing is in any other order that is not found within the Tijaniya. Why then will one go out to beg for what he has in excess in his house?
The fourth of the conditions is that one must at all times establish the five daily prayers in congregation, except for excusable reasons. It has been related from the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) that prayers offered in congregation are twenty seven times better than those said singularly. In another narration, twenty five times better. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be satisfied with him) also narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) that: "There are no prayers for the neighbours of the mosque, except they offer the prayers in the mosque." When the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) was asked who is considered neighbours of the mosque, he replied "forty neighbours away from the mosque."
- The fifth and the final condition is that a disciple must respect his parents to the utmost possible. Allah always brings together the command to worship with dutifulness to parents. Allah says in the Quran: "Don't worship other than Allah, and with parents be nice" [2:83]; "And worship Allah without joining Him with anything. And with parents be nice” [4:36]; "Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (you meet), and what your right hands possess: For Allah love not the arrogant, the vainglorious” [31:14]; “And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother (during pregnancy) bear him, and in years twain/toil was his weaning: (hear the command), "Show gratitude to Me and to the parents.
Sidna Shaykh At-Tidjani He is the Secret of the Eminent Secrets, the Hidden Soul of the Holy Souls, the Ladder of the Intellects, the Accomplishment of the Principles, the Pole of the Millstone of the Existence, the Centre of the Circle of the Revelation, the Perfection of the Creation and the Origin of the Perfection, the Beauty of all and the Gathering Place of the Existence, the Known and Existing Knowledge. Questions turn to him, he whose birth is well-known. He is parallel to the Prophetic Mirror, the Verifier of the Appeasing Secrets, the One Embellished by the Divine Lights, and the One Nourished within the Lordly Veils. He emanates truths by his existence..
In the words of his Greatest Beloved and Successor and Representative, Mawlana Abul Hassan Ali Harazem (d. 1218/1803 in Badr, Medina),"Know that our Shaykh is the great Imam the understandable sea, the one with the higher signs, the clear worship,the saintly realities, the Mohammedian lights, the Divine secrets, the knowledge of the guided ones, the holder of the learned ‘flags, the Imam of the trustworthy ones, the cave of the clear heart’s holders, the Qibla (direction) of the determined ones, the Zamzam of the arrived ones’ secret, the renewer of the Path’s concepts after its occultation, the initiator of the reality sciences after its light decline, the unique in his time in sciences, inner state and rhetoric, the great assembled pole, the unique being with two sublime spiritual and bodily lineages, the two upper angelic and royal wilaya, and the blessed Mohammedian twin lineage, Abul Abbas Sidna Ahmed ibn Mohammed ibn al-Mokhtar ibn Ahmed ibn Salem Tijani al-Hassani, al-Madhawi origin, where he was born and lived, the home of his ancestors which is a home of knowledge, piety, generosity, honor and holiness."
