THE BRIEF HISTORY OF SHEIKH IBRAHIM NIYAS (R.T.A)

The biography of “Maollan Sheikh Alhaji Ibrahim Niyass can be trace to the Sunnah, (prophet Muhammad’s tradition) Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullahi Niyass was born in rural Senegal On Thursday 15th RaJab 1320 AH= 1900 m. After Ashri in Taubat Niyass between the Senegal city of Kaolaq and the border of Gambia, he was the son of Alhaji Abdullahi Niyass(1840-1922), the main representative of the Tijjani order in the Saalum region at the beginning of the twentieth century. During his youth, he moved with his father to the city of Kaolaq, where they established the religious center(Zawiya Mosque) After his father's death in Niyass Village, his older brother, Muhammad Al-Halifa, became his father's successor know as Halifa, but due to his charisma and precocious knowledge, Sheikh Ibrahim gained the large number of disciples and tensions arose between his own disciples and those of his older brother. In 1929, while all children of Sheikh Abdullahi farming in the family fields of the village. The young Sheikh Ibrahim announced that the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) had revealed to him the secrets of knowledge of God and that anyone who wished to know God should follow him with truth. In 1930, after the prayer of Ramadan endimg ʿ(Edil-Fitr)a certain fight occured between Sheikh Ibrahim disciples and those of Muhammad Al-Halifa and he immediately knew that he would have to move with his disciples. 

In that day evening, Sheikh Ibrahim set out with a small group of his closest disciples to find a new place to settle down and the next day they began to established a new Zawiyya in his new town called (MEDINAT BAYEE), a village that was later incorporated into the growing city of the City knew as Kaolaq. During the following years, he divided his time between farming and teaching in during of rainy season and teaching in Medina Baaye. During the summer of 1945 he reestablished himself in his father's house in his natal village of Taubat Niyass, Sheikh Ibrahim rebuilding the village after a fire destroyed much of it. His followers numbered in the millions and comprised the largest single Muslim movement in West Africa (1984). He was also well-known among the all saints (Ulamahu) Sheikh Ibrahim also maintained close relations with several prominent leaders in the independence movements. During the 1960, He campaigned tirelessly for governments to respect the rights of Muslims and the oppressed world-wide. He spoke out on several international causes, such as Israeli aggression toward the Palestinians, but he was also interested in interfaith issues and maintained good relations with Vatican representatives. He also became involved in social concerns, stressing racial equality and the rights of women. In that regards, Sheikh Ibrahim Niyass (R.T.A) encouraged women to compete with men interm of knowledge. Mostly, Islamic one of knowledge.

In 1922, the son of Alhaji Abdullah Muhammad Niyass. Alhaji Abdullahi, Sheikh Ibrahim represented the culmination of a long line of Islamic scholars in the Senegambia region, and was himself a well-traveled and consummate Sheikh, Shelkh Ibrahim Niyass attract students from all around the region as far away as Mauritania. Sheikh Ibrahim was educated primarily from his father, with full access to his father’s extensive library. Sheikh Ibrahim mastered at an early age from his father the full range of Islamic sciences: the Qur’an and its interpretation, the Hadith and their explanation, jurisprudence and Sufism.

In reference to his educational background and achievements, Sheikh Ibrahim says, “I learned Qur’an and Hadith first from my father, and from my father, I received an Ijaza (diplomatic) first from my father in both Qur’an and Hadith, then from Abdurrahman and another Ijaza from Sheikh Ahmad Sukayrij (Morocco) who himself had earned some six hundred Ijaza from six hundred dif­ferent Sheikhs whose names are mentioned in his book” ‘The only one to whom I gave authorization in all these Sheikhs of transmission was the Maollana Sheikh Alhaji Ibrahim Niyass.’” Sheikh Ibrahim once says, concerning his scholarly credentials: “What I have in the way of Ijaza and Mukadam authorizations would indeed fill so many books.

Sheik Ibrahim Inyass was blessed by almighty Allah with many followers since the beginning of his time, as a result of this, Sheikh Ibrahim Niyass (R.T.A) left the Kaolaq to found his own town and his religion Center (Zawiyya) on Monday 16/02/1349AH.
 

The construction of his Zawiyya was in a very short term. Five (5) daily prayers are been observed in that Mosque (Zawiyya) and Wazifa with Thikrullah Day and Night. However, many Sheiks praise the Zawiyya their poem and the Sheikh himself ask Allah forgiveness and guidance to any person contribute in conducting the activities of his Zawiyya.

Sheikh Ibrahim was the best example of a Sufizim. According to the description “The Sufi is the son of his hour (ibn waqtihi).” He will respond to the needs of the time. At every moment, he is dealing with the requirements of that moment. The Muslim who is greatest in understanding and who submits to the rule of his hour. That is, he gives everything the position it requires in action and speech. He is a person moving with time in a circle. He does not attempt to stop time, not to become stagnant in it, not to regret in it. His effort is aimed at continually moving forward. In any Ramadan season, he reads Qur’an and Hadith and presents their explanations to the follower members. In the season of Hajj, he expounds the virtues of the Muslims pilgrimage. At the time of Maolud Nabiyi, he recites the Prophet’s Biography Sira.

All of these behavior, characterized as the activitis of Zufism. Sheikh Ibrahim was based on action and practice his goal was to direct Muslims to the right path. Sickness did not bother Sheikh Ibrahim unless it halted his activity in behalf of spreading Islam. Indeed, his spiritual Jony (Tasawwuf) was not characterized by heedlessness and neglect. It was based on real Islam, mastering himself (Nafs) and rul­ing over it with Qur’an and Sunnah (Prophet Muhammad tradition). His Sufism was producing and working in various fields of life.