Sidi Abu Abbas Ahmad al-Tijani was born in the Southwest Algerian
oasis town of Ain Madi on the twelfth of Safar in the year 1150 (1737
C.E.). He was a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad through Fatima
Zahra's first son Hasan and later through Mawlay Idris, the
celebrated founder of Morocco. His father was Sidi Muhammad b. al-
Mukhtar b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Salam, a prominent scholar whose
family hailed from the Moroccan Abda tribe and whose grandfather had
immigrated to Ain Madi fleeing a Portuguese invasion less than a
century before Shaykh Tijani's birth. This same ancestor was perhaps
one of the more renowned of the Tijani line prior to Shaykh Ahmad
Tijani, and it is reported that he used to engage so much in
spiritual retreat (khalwa) that he would have to walk to the five
prayers in the mosque with his face covered, otherwise onlookers
would fall so heedlessly in love with him that they would thereafter
never be able to separate from him. Shaykh Tijani's mother, Aisha,
was the daughter of Muhammad b. Sanusi (no known relation to Muhammad
al-Sanusi, the founder of the Sanusiyya), and was noted for her piety
and generosity.
The young Shaykh Tijani continued in the scholarly tradition of his
family and city, memorizing the Qur'an by the age seven before
turning to the study of jurisprudence (fiqh and usul al-fiqh),
Prophetic traditions (Hadith), explanation of the Qur'an (tafsir),
Qur'anic recitation (tajwid), grammar (nahw) and literature (adab),
among other branches of the traditional Islamic sciences. According
to the Jawahir, the Shaykh mastered all of these fields at a very
young age, in part due to the force of his resolve but also because
of the quality of his teachers. Among his first instructors were
masters of their fields, such as Sidi Mabruk Ibn Ba'afiyya Midawi al-
Tijani (not mentioned in the Jawahir as being a relation to Ahmad
Tijani), with whom he studied the Mukhtasar of Sidi Khalil, the
Risala and the Muqaddama of Ibn Rushd (Averoes) and the Kitab al-
'Ibada of al-Akhdari.

Shaykh Tijani's prodigious capacity for learning at such an early age
is explained in the Jawahir by the Shaykh's own statemet: "When I
begin something, I never turn from it." In another passage describing
his love for the people of religion, the Jawahir describes him as a
youth of powerful intelligence, such that nothing escaped his
realization. Thus it was that even after he had mastered the sciences
available in Ain Madi and had become by the age of twenty, according
to the Jawahir, a great scholar, jurist and man of letters such that
people were coming to partake of the knowledge of this newest Mufti
(a scholar licensed to issue legal decisions), his thirst for more
knowledge pushed him to leave the city of his birth in 1171/1758.

The obvious destination for any seeker of Islamic knowledge in the
Maghrebi context was Fes, the long-established political,
intellectual, cultural and religious capital of the area. According
to the Jawahir, the young Shaykh Tijani spent his time in Fes
studying Hadith and generally seeking out the people of piety and
religion. Among his teachers in Fes were many famous for their
knowledge and saintliness. Their names are provided here to
demonstrate Shaykh Ahmad Tijani's contact with some of the more
significant luminaries of eighteenth-century Moroccan Sufism. Al-
Tayyib b. Muhammad al-Sharif of Wazan (d. 1180/1767), who was head of
the Wazzaniyya Sufi order at the time and the student of the famous
Shaykh Tuhami descending from the Jazuli shaykh Ahmad al-Sarsari,
gave Tijani permission to give spiritual instruction, only to have
the young scholar refuse so that he might work harder on himself
before becoming a spiritual guide. Sidi Abdullah b. 'Arabi al-Mada'u
(d. 1188) was likewise impressed with his student, telling him that
God was guiding him by the hand, and before Tijani left him, the old
scholar washed his student with his own hands. Another scholar to
predict to Tijani an exalted spiritual attainment was Sidi Ahmad al-
Tawash (d. 1204). From Sidi Ahmad al-Yemeni, Shaykh Tijani took the
Qadariyya Sufi order, and from Abu Abdullah Sidi Muhammad al-Tizani
he took the Nasiriyya order. He also took the order of Abu Abbas
Ahmad al-Habib al-Sijilmasy (d. 1165), who came to him in a dream,
put his mouth on his, and taught him a secret name. Although Tijani
did receive spiritual permission (idhn) in these orders, his
association with them should not be considered the essential element
in his spiritual development. But the imprint of his early
affiliation with these orders was not completely lost with the later
development of the Tijaniyya, and their emphasis on an
elite "orthodox" Sufism, firmly rooted within the bounds of the
Qur'an and Sunna, was an essential component of Shaykh Tijani's new
order, as will be seen later in chapter three.

Even from the time of Shaykh Tijani's first visit to Fes, the young
scholar's ascendent motivation seemed to be the attainment of a
spiritual opening (fath). So when another of his teachers, Sidi
Muhammad al-Wanjili (d. 1185), a man known for his saintliness,
predicted for him a maqam (spiritual station) of Qutbaniyya
(Polehood) similar to that of Abu Hasan al-Shadhili, but that his
fath would come in the desert, Tijani hastened his departure from
Fes. The Jawahir reports that he spent some time in the desert Zawiya
of the famous Qutb Sidi Abd al-Qadir b. Muhammad al-Abyad (known as
Sidi al-Shaykh) before returning to Ain Madi, only to leave his home
soon again to return to al-Abyad before moving on to Tlemcen. His
activities during this time consisted of teaching Qur'anic exegesis
(tafsir) and Hadith in whatever town he happened to be staying while
continuing an apparently rigorous practice of asceticism, including
frequent fasting and superogatory worship. During his stay in
Tlemcen, he received through Divine inspiration greater assurance of
his coming grand illumination.

It was from southwest Algeria, then, that Shaykh Ahmad Tijani set out
in 1186/1773 to accomplish the requisite Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj).
Shaykh Tijani's first stop of note en-route to Mecca was at Algiers,
where he met Sidi Muhammad b. Abd al-Rahman al-Azhary (d. 1793), a
prominent muqaddam (spiritual guide) of the Khalwatiyya Sufi order
who had received initiation at the hands of Shaykh al-Azhar Muhammad
al-Hifni. The Khalwatiyya, originating in fourteenth century
Anatolia, had become by the eighteenth century, under the tutelage of
Mustafa al-Bakri, one of the most prominent orders in Egypt and a
locus for Islamic and Sufi renewal.

Shaykh Tijani's affiliation with this order was perhaps the most
significant influence upon his thought prior to his waking meetings
with the Prophet, and he did not leave Algiers before receiving
initiation at the hands of al-Azhary. No doubt such an encounter
would have provided additional impetus to meet, as he later would,
some of the day's most renowned Khalwati scholars, such as Mahmud al-
Kurdi and Muhammad al-Samman, while passing through Egypt and the
Hijaz.

Shaykh Ahmad Tijani's journey East brought him also to Tunis, home of
the famous Zaytuna mosque and university, which predates both the
Azhar in Cairo and the Qarawin in Fes. Indicative of the ease with
which foreign scholars could integrate into diverse Islamic
communities, upon his entry into Tunis, Shaykh Tijani immediately met
with the people of saintly renown, such as Sidi Abd al-Samad al-
Ruhwij, and took up teaching at Zaytuna, this time his syllabus
including Ibn 'Atta Allah's Kitab al-hikam. It seems he made enough
of an impression on the scholars there for the Emir, Bey Ali (r. 1757-
1782), to offer him a lucrative permanent teaching position at
Zaytuna. But the Emir's request had the opposite effect on Shaykh
Tijani to that which was hoped for and, reportedly not wanting to
accept dependence on state authority, he continued his journey East.

Arriving in Mecca just after Ramadan in the year 1187/1774, Shaykh
Ahmad Tijani stayed long enough to accomplish the rites of the Hajj.
During his stay there he also, as was his custom, sought out the
people of "goodness, piety, righteousness and happiness." His search
led him to a mysterious saint from India, Ahmad b. Abdullah al-Hindi,
who had made a vow to speak to no one except his servant. On
knowledge of Tijani's presence at his house, al-Hindi sent him the
message, "You are the inheritor of my knowledge, secrets, gifts and
lights," and informed the pilgrim that he himself was to die in a
matter of days (it came to pass on the exact day al-Hindi had
predicted for himself), but that he should go visit the Qutb (Pole)
Muhammad al-Samman when in Medina.

After accomplishing the ziyara (visitation) to the Prophet's tomb,
where "God completed his aspiration and longing" to greet the
Prophet, Shaykh Tijani went to visit the renowned Shaykh Muhammad Abd
al-Karim al-Samman (d. 1189/1775). Like al-Kurdi, al-Samman was a
member of the Khalwatiyya order, being one of two students given full
ijaza (permission) by Mustafa al-Bakri; the other was al-Kurdi's
shaykh, Muhammad al-Hifni. Aside for his own intellectual and
spiritual prowess, al-Samman has become famous on account of another
disciple, Ahmad al-Tayyib (d. 1824), who spread his ideas in the
Sudan as the Sammaniyya order. Before Shaykh Tijani's departure, al-
Samman informed him of certain secret "names" and told him that he
was to be the al-qutb al-jami' (the comprehensive Pole).

On his return from the Hijaz, Shaykh Tijani stopped in Cairo and
visited Mahmud al-Kurdi, the Khalwati representative in Egypt whom he
had first visited on his way to the Hijaz. The Jawahir reports that
many of the 'ulama of the city came to visit the travelling scholar
during this second visit. Demonstrating his profound respect for his
teachers of the Khalwati tradition, Tijani accepted from al-Kurdi to
be a muqaddam (propagator) of the Khalwati order in North Africa.
Although Tijani's later initiation at the hands of the Prophet would
obviate its need, the Jawahir reproduces the chain of transmission
(silsilah) of the Khalwatiyya, stretching from the Prophet through
Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hasan al-Basri, Junayd, Umar al-Khalwati (from
whom the order derives its name), Bakri, and Kurdi (not to mention
all the names) to Shaykh Tijani.

The beginning of a distinctive "Tijani" order can be located with the
appearance of the Prophet Muhammad to Shaykh Ahmad Tijani in a waking
vision. This occurred in 1784, in the desert oasis of Abi Samghun.
The Prophet informed him that he himself was his initiator on the
Path and told him to leave the shaykhs he had previously followed.
The Shaykh then received the basis of a new wird and was given
permission to give "spiritual training to the creation in [both] the
general and unlimited (itlaq)." The Prophet told him: "You are not
indebted for any favor from the shaykhs of the Path, for I am your
means (wasita) and your support in the [spiritual] realization, so
leave the entirety of what you have taken from all the tariqas."

Shaykh Ahmad Tijani and a group of his closest companions took up
residence in Fes beginning in 1213/1798. By the time of his arrival
in Fes, Shaykh Tijani's fame as a scholar possessing religious
charisma or blessing (baraka) had spread throughout the Maghreb, so
that his entry into the city was a matter of some importance for the
political and religious establishment. The Shaykh was met by a
delegation of scholars selected by the Sultan. The relationship that
developed between Shaykh Tijani and Sultan Mawlay Sulayman is
important in understanding the religious personality of both men.
After a series of tests to ascertain the veracity of Tijani's claims
to sainthood, such as giving the saint money in a manner he would not
have been able to accept as a man of religion, Mawlay Sulayman became
closely linked to the newcomer, appointing him to his council of
religious scholars and giving him a large house ("the House of
Mirrors"). The Sultan's initiation into the Tijaniyya has often been
denied by non-Tijanis, but Tijanis have maintained his discipleship
to their Shaykh. Tijani tradition has chronicled a series of letters
between Shaykh Tijani and the Sultan clearly indicating a shaykh-
disciple relationship. In one exchange, the Shaykh writes the Sultan
urging him to fear God and keep to His command and then informs him
of the some of the benefits of the Tijani wird as told him by the
Prophet, and tells him of the proper manners for experiencing the
vision of the Prophet. The Sultan replied,

The ransom of our parents, our master and our shaykh and our
Muhammadan example, Abu 'Abbas Sidi Ahmad. I praise God to you and to
Him and I send blessings and peace upon His noble Prophet. Your most
blessed lines have reached us, and we praise God the Most High on
account of what He has made special for us by them from the pleasure
of the master, the Messenger of God ... and this matter I do not want
that I should allow myself to leave its performance, and I am not
safe from losing or neglecting its fulfillment ... [and I pray that
you] remove me from all that prevents me from looking at his [the
Prophet's] noble face, that [you may] surround me with the degree of
those close to the glory of the Messenger of God. And [this] is
needed of you, since you know that my righteousness is a
righteousness from my guardianship of God over them [the people], and
that my corruption is their corruption, so the prayer for me is a
prayer for the general [population].

Aside from whatever esoteric connection existed between the Sultan
and the founder of the Tijaniyya, another explanation of Mawlay
Sulayman's warm reception of Shaykh Ahmad was the fact that the
Sultan "found, in the person of Shaykh Tijani, the symbol that
personified by his behavior and his teaching, the indelible precepts
of the Shari'a." Certainly, the Shaykh's situation of Sufism firmly
within Islamic sacred law, while maintaining the ascendancy of the
Tariqa Muhammadiyya, the "path of the Prophet," over both Sufi and
Fiqh (jurisprudence) historical traditions, would have been
attractive to the reform-minded Sultan.

The Shaykh's time in Fes was largely occupied with the solidification
of the tariqa and the training and sending out of muqaddams
(propagators). Before the end of his life, he had attracted thousands
of followers and sent out muqaddams such as Ali Harazem al-Barada,
Muhammad Ghali and Muhammad al-Hafiz as far away as the Hijaz and
Mauritania. Before the completion of the Tijani zawiya, his followers
met at the Shaykh's own house, the House of Mirrors. This house can
still be visited today, and although it has fallen into a state of
disrepair, its original majesty has not been lost. It has an
expansive courtyard decorated entirely with blue and yellow zellij
tile work with a large fountain in the middle, flanked by a number of
rooms that include what was the Shaykh's library, a room for khalwa
(spiritual retreat), a salon, the bedroom, the kitchen, etc., with
rooms for the Shaykh's family and guests on the second floor. It is
easy to imagine the house serving as the center of prayer and for the
teaching and diffusion of the Shaykh's ideas.

Established in Fes, the Shaykh's following continued to grow,
prompting him in 1215 (1800), by order of the Prophet, to begin
construction of the Tijani zawiya that still serves as a place of
congregation for the order to this day. The construction of this
fabulous specimen of Moroccan artistry was financed by Tijani's
followers as well as from his own funds. Shaykh Ahmad Tijani passed
from this world in 1230 (1815) at the age of eighty. He left behind
him a firmly established order, the Tariqa Muhammadiyya emphasis of
which inspired many of his later followers to renew and spread Islam
in diverse communities far from the mother zawiya in Fes. Shaykh
Ahmad Tijani was buried in his zawiya in Fes, which today remains a
center of congregation for Tijanis around the world.

Yaa Ahmad Al Tijani Al Madad