The young Sheikh Tijjani,
memorizing the only Qur'an by the age of seven before turning to the study of
jurisprudence, Prophetic traditions
(Hadith), explanation of the Qur'an (Tafsir), Quranic recitation (Tajwid),
grammar (Nahw) and literature (Adab), among other branches of the
traditional Islamic sciences. 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 that of his area. According to
the Jawahir, the young Sheikh Tijjani spent his time in Fes studying
Hadith (Customs of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W)
and generally seeking out the people of piety and religion. Among his teachers
in Fes were many famous for their knowledge and saintliness 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 Sheidi Mabruq Ibn
Ba’afiyya Midawi al-Tijjani, with whom he studied the Mukhtasar of Sidi
Khalil, the Risala and the Muqaddamat of Ibn Rushid (Averoes) and
the Kitab al-‘Ibada of al-Akhdari.
Sheikh Ahmad Tijjani’s journey
to Western also brought him to Tunis, the 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, Sheikh Hamad Tijjani
immediately met with the people of saintly renown, such as Seidi Abdul-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, offer him a lucrative permanent teaching
position at Zaytuna. But the Emir’s request had the opposite effect on Sheikh
Tijjani to that which was hoped for and, reportedly not wanting to accept
dependence on state authority. So, he continued his journey to East. Sheikh
Ahmad Tijjani arrived in Mecca just after Ramadan in the year 1187/1774, Sheikh
Ahmad Tijjani stayed long enough to accomplish the rights of the Hajji in
Mecca.
Sheikh Ahmad Tijjani’s contact
with some of the more significant luminaries of eighteenth century Moroccan
Sufism. Al-Toyyib b. Muhammad al-Sharif of Wazan in 1180/1767, who was head of
the Wazzaniyya Sufi order at the time and the student of the famous Sheikh
Tuhami descending from the Jazuli. Sheikh Ahmad al-Sarsari, gave Tijjani
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.
Sammaniyya order. Before Sheikh
Tijjani’s departure, al-Samman informed him of certain secret “names” and told
him that he was to be the comprehensive Pole (al-qutub l-jami)
On his return from the Hijaz,
Sheikh Tijjani 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 Sheikhs (Ulamahu) of the city came to
visit the travelling scholar during this second visit. Demonstrating his
profound respect for his teachers of the Khalwati tradition, Tijjani accepted
from al-Kurdi to be a Muqadam (The propagator) of the Khalwati order
in North Africa. Although Tijjani’s later initiation at the hands of the
Prophet Muhammad S.A.W would obviate
its need, the Jawahir reproduces the chain of Tijjaniya sprit transmission
(Siru silsilah), stretching from the Prophet through
Ali Ibn Abu Talib, Hassan al-Basri, Junayd, Umar al-Khalwati (from whom the
order derives its name), Kurdi and Bakri.
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