Adab

Adab generally means beautifying yourself with every good behaviour and to abstain from every bad behaviour. It profits a Mureed, all the way. Adab has been classified into three types.

1. The Adab of the Murid (student) with himself, technically known as the Adab for Allah within himself i.e. to hold on to the Din, by doing what should be done and stopping where he should stop and following the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). By doing this, Allah will be pleased with him and he will enter Paradise with the first ones.

2. The Adab with the Shaykh is to respect him openly and in secret and never criticize him and always hold him in high esteem after the Prophet (SAW).

3. The Adab with his Tijani brothers.


Excerpt from the book The Divine Opening
Authored by Muqaddam Anwer Bayat

Categories of the Shuyukh

1. The Muqaddam that gives Ba'yah, he is Shaykh to whomever he gives Ba'yah to.

2. The Shaykh that links you with Allah, is called Shaykh Al-Murabbiy. This person must have the capability of guiding the Mureed to Allah and making the Mureed a Muqaddam. And some of these Shaykhs have Kashf and others do not have this quality.

3. The last category is the Qutub Al-Zaman (The Pole of the Time), whom all the Shuyukh are answerable to. This person may be known or unknown, but no time period will exist without him existing, and he is the true Khalifah of Shaykh Tijani (RTA) and Prophet Muhammad (SAW).


Excerpt from the book The Divine Opening
Authored by Muqaddam Anwer Bayat

MUQADDAM: The Conditions and Obligations

Aside from outlining the shaykh’s requisite spiritual abilities, Shaykh Ibrahim also detailed more specific behavior to which spiritual guides were meant to adhere. Most obviously, the guide must first precede the disciple in following guidance. Moreover, the guide should never see himself as the source of spiritual guidance, but must stay closely connected to his own guide. In one letter to a group of authorized spiritual instructors (muqaddamun), Shaykh Ibrahim wrote:

"I advise the instructors (muqaddamin) connected with us, with loving and kindly counsel, advice for the sake of God and by God, that they should all proceed in consistent earnestness with the guidance and advice of the brethren, in the religion and the spiritual path. In all cases, this can only be done after they follow (such guidance) themselves, for they can only command something after they have preceeded others in doing it; and they can only restrain others from doing something after they have restrained themselves. Let them not be lazy in appointing an arbitrator between themselves in everything of significance. There is nothing more harmful to the common folk than the faults of the elders, may God overlook our faults and theirs. And let them [the Muqaddam] not break the connection between themselves and their exemplar [Shaykh], for in so doing they will also cut off their own spiritual assistance as well as that of their followers."

In the same letter, the Shaykh went on to list a series of strenuous obligations for such instructors [muqaddams]. They must recite twelve thousand times the prayer Salat al-Fatihi in one twenty-four hour period, perform at least fifty cycles (rak’a) of supererogatory prayer, attend the congregational prayer five times a day, and lead the congregational remembrance (wazifa) in the place of prayer (zawiya) “even if alone.” They must give charity every day, even if only a loaf of bread. They must give respect to the descendants (shurufa’) of the Prophet Muhammad, all the saints (awliya’), the scholars (‘ulama’), and the students of Islamic knowledge (‘ilm). He also warned them against dividing against each other: “You must cooperate in your goals by the covenant of [abiding to your] word. Surely in coming together is mercy, and in division is punishment.”

Being a spiritual guide thus requires an exemplary work ethic and model social conduct as well as a special relationship with God.

Source: Jawaahir al-Rasaail, p. 34

Excerpts from the book: Living Knowledge in West African Islam
Author: Ustadz Zachary Wright

Gathering in Allah

The meaning of our gathering in Allah is the fact that all of us call each other to Allah the Blessed and Exalted. Each of us calls the other to being busy with Allah, and the reality of busying yourself with Allah is to busy your outward with the outward sacred law (shariyah) and your inward with the inward reality of the Haqq (Allah), and to fulfil the rights of everyone and everything that has a right over you, in order to differentiate between the different stations (maqamaat) and to differentiate between the divine presences (hadaraat) and to differentiate between the spheres (dawa'ir), these are in addition to the divine realities (haqa'iq) and relations (nisaab) and manifestations (tajalliyat) and within that you will be able to give everything its due right, and this is our responisibilty that has been made an obligation for all of us. And as for our seperation, our separation (farq) does not overpower our union (jam') neither does our union overpower our separation, and everyone of us withdraws ourselves towards Allah and maintains awareness of his presence (muraqaba) and witnesses his presence (mushahadah) and is absorbed and drowned in his presence with a real absorption and drowning (istighraaq), which then causes him to fear Allah outwardly and inwardly and engage with Him and approach Him with our bodies and with our hearts.

- Shaykh Ould Khayri

On Tariqa

Sufism is a spiritual clinic with doctors who have knowledge of attending to ailments of the Soul. For a sick patient who requires cure and doses of medicine from the clinic, there is the need for him to make the declaration of his sickness and acceptance of patienthood. In taking Tariqa, one should be aware that Tariqa is a commitment and the begining of an endless journey.

Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (RTA)

Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Al-Hajj Abdullahi Niasse (RTA)

"Grant me the Qutbaniyya of every Qutb; the Fardaniyya of every Fard; the Ghawthiyya of every Ghawth; the Jam'iyya of every Jami'; until we have no partner or associate and no rival or competition! O You who have no partner or associate in Your Kingdom!"— Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Al-Hajj Abdullahi Niasse (RTA)

Prayer Timings according to Imam Malik [Muwatta]

Book 1, Number 1.1.4: Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Amra bint Abd ar-Rahman that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless her and grant her peace, said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray subh and the women would leave wrapped in their garments and they could not yet be recognized in the darkness."

Book 1, Number 1.1.6: Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from the mawla of Abdullah ibn Umar that Umar ibn al−Khattab wrote to his governors, saying, "The most important of your affairs in my view is the prayer. Whoever protects it and observes it carefully is protecting his deen, while whoever is negligent about it will be even more negligent about other things." Then he added, "Pray zhuhr any time from when the afternoon shade is the length of your forearm until the length of your shadow matches your height. Pray asr when the sun is still pure white, so that a rider can travel two or three farsakhs before the sun sets. Pray maghrib when the sun has set. Pray isha any time from when the redness in the western sky has disappeared until a third of the night has passed − and a person who sleeps, may he have no rest, And pray subh when all the stars are visible and like a haze in the sky."

Book 1, Number 1.1.7: Yahya related to me from Malik, from his uncle Abu Suhayl from his father that Umar ibn al-Khattab wrote to Abu Musa saying that he should pray zhuhr when the sun had started to decline, asr when the sun was still pure white before any yellowness had entered it maghrib when the sun had set, and to delay isha as long as he did not sleep, and to pray subh when the stars were all visible and like a haze in the sky and to read in it two long suras from the mufassal.

The Three Stations

Shaykh Ibrahim writes in one of his letters to his dearest adherent Umar ibn Shaykh Malik in his broadly published work Ziyaadatu äl-Jawahir, that:

The three stages of religion are submission (Ïslam), creed (Ïmaan) and decorating (Ïhsaan).

Ïslaam is the swearing of the declaration of uniqueness of God.

Ïmaan is the knowledge of the declaration of uniqueness of God.

Ïhsaan is achievements and the accomplishment of involvements of declaration of uniqueness of God.

äl-Dawaween äl-Sitt

Shaykh Ibrahim said in his work, äl-Dawaween äl-Sitt

I protected my adherents in the Way against troubles
And all, by annihilation, achieved their wish
And poles, before me, accepted similar in
What accepted this attendant of fayd, shining with light
I thank God in the fact that my secret (sirr) is not sterile
My smallest adherent acquired annihilation
And this by my love of the Prophet and his secret
I earned the banner by my praises in its favour
The Love of the Prophet is the elixir of this attendant
My treasure consists in addressing him commendations
[113:4-8]

and elsewhere

My lines regarding living beings aren't congratulated
Whoever sees me - and my writings - cannot be damned
[108:12]

Shaykh Ibrahîm informs us in his lines that he is possessor of The Science of Gnostic and that he is the Originator. And most importantly, he assures that his secret will not die because it is not sterile (laysa sirrii saaqira'ñ). Till the end of time, his initiating will be originators and divine secrets, only one able of causing annihilation (äl-jazb or äl-fanà), will be transmitted, by means of his spiritual heirs, in any geographical place.