Assalam Alaikum. Some Sufi people are questioning the validity of the Tijaniyyah as a proper Tariqah. Can you clarify please?
As-Salam Alaykum,
The honorable Tariqah Tijaniyyah is considered a Tariqah Mu'tabarah (recognized and valid Tariqah) by the Grand Sufi Council of Egypt, as well as the Turuq Association of Indonesia.
These two bodies made such a decision after much study of course.
Also note that our Tijani Way has been the preferred tariqah of numerous great Ulama from the founder's time till our time. I attach an article on that. Read it.
The great Sayyid Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki always mentioned Shaykh Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Tijani (RA) amongst his foremost of teachers. He also had Ijazah from Shaykh Majzub Muddathir of Sudan, the Shaykh of the Tijanis there.
Sayyid Muhammad mentioned some Awrad of Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani (RA) in his work Shawariq al-Anwar, mentioning our Shaykh by NAME.
I have an official Ijazah of Sayyid Muhammad Alawi where he mentions all the Turuq he has Ijazah in, and he clearly mentions TIJANIYYAH as well.
Long before him, the renowned Shaykh Yusuf al-Nabahani (RA) mentioned Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani in his book Jami Karamat al-Awliya, and called him as one of the "greatest AWLIYA in this Ummah". He also praised the Tijani Tariqah, saying "its benefit spread far and wide".
He referred to the book Jawahir al-Ma'ani as well!!!
Even more earlier than that, the great scholars of Morocco, Sidi Jafar bin Idris al-Kattani, and his son Shaykh-al-Islam Sidi Muhammad bin Ja'far al-Kattani praised Mawlana Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani (RA) very highly in their books:al-Shurb al-Muhtadar and Sulwat al-Anfas.
They called him the "Ghawth of his Age".
These were extremely learned Moroccan ULAMA from FEZ, and they would know the reality of Shaykh al-Tijani (RA) and his Tariqah more than anyone else!!!
Among Tijani Ulama are:
- Shaykh Ibrahim al-Rayahi (RA), the rector of the Zaytuna and Mufti of Tunis!
- Shaykh Muhammad Kala Banani, the rector of the Qarawiyyin in Fez
- Shaykh Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Masri, Shaykh-al-Hadith at the Azhar in Egypt
- al-Haj Ibrahim Niasse, titled Shaykh-al-Islam by the Ulama of the Azhar
- Shaykh Alfa Hashim al-Futi, muhaddith of the Haram of Medina
-Shaykh Yasin al-Fadani of Makkah, who took the Tariqah from Shaykh Ali al-Tayyib of Medina
And countless others!
Dint they know if there was anything wrong with this Tariqah?
The Tijani Tariqah has no jumping Hadrahs, no elaborate ceremonies at Tombs, no mixing of men and women, no musical instruments, no trances.........so why this enmity for us???
All we Tijanis do is make our morning and evening peacefully, which are nothing but Istighfar, Salawat and la Ilaha Illa Allah!
Yes, we believe that our Shaykh is the greatest Shaykh, but so do most other Turuq. Just read their books!
Yes, we believe that our Tariqah is best, but so do all other Turuq.
Nevertheless, we respect ALL TARIQAHS AND ALL AWLIYA.
We submit totally to the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Was-Salam
Khadim al-Ilm
Fakhruddin Owaisi al-Madani