Ahmad at-Tijani

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Ahmad at-Tijānī (* 1737 in ʿAin Madi , † 1815 in Fez ; Arabic سيدي أحمد التجاني, DMG Sīdī Aḥmad at-Tiǧānī ; also Abu l-ʿAbbās Ahmad at-Tijānī  /أبو العباس أحمد التيجاني; al-Tijani after English translation ) is the founding father of the Tijani order, a moderate-Orthodox Sufi brotherhood ( Tariqa ) within Sunni Islam.

A shrine in the Moulay Idriss Mausoleum

Childhood and youth

Ahmad at-Tidschani was born in ʿAin Madi , Algeria , and felt called to serve as a Sufi at an early age. At the age of seven he was able to recite the entire Koran by heart. At the age of 17, Ahmad became an orphan because his two parents fell victim to a smallpox epidemic that raged in 1752/53 .

At the age of 20/21 Ahmad traveled to Fez and initially joined the Wazzaniya brotherhood of Sheikh Tayyeb el Wazzani († 1766), switched to the orders of other Sheikhs and delved into the study of prophetic traditions. He had become a member of the Sufi brotherhood of Ahmed al-Habib bin Muhammad , the Qadiriyya and the Nasiriyya . On the recommendation of Wali Muhammad bin al-Hasan al-Wanjili, he retired for five years to the south to Al-Abiad on the edge of the desert in the meeting house (Zāwiya) of Sidi Abdul Qadir bin Muhammad for meditation.

In 1768 he returned to northwest Algeria and taught in Tlemcen , where he also received his first vision from the Prophet Mohammed . He then went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1772 , where he arrived a year later. There he met the Indian scholar Ahmad bin Abdullah. After Ahmad bin Abdullah's death, it was said that Ahmad had received the master's mystical power at the meeting. He also paid a visit to Medina before returning to the Maghreb. After his return he announced that the prophet had appeared to him and had told him that he should stop all previous activities, form and lead a tariqa, that he, Mohammed, would not blame him and would be his advocate.

Tijani Order

In 1778, according to other sources a few years later, he founded a Zawiya in Fès , which he headed until his death in 1815. At the beginning of the order, most of the followers and students were either ʿulamāʾ (religious students ), fuqahāʾ (law students), Qādī (judges), Muftī (officially appointed religious leaders ).

Through the publication of his salvation teachings in the midst of an environment of conservative, hierarchically structured brotherhoods, a more contemporary way of life was presented in West Africa, which could make the understanding of the Sufi doctrine better understandable. He held the rank of khatm al-awliyah (seal of the saints) and thus implied the connection to Mohammed and to all past and future saints.

After his death in 1815, his teachings were even more widely spread throughout West Africa, especially by Tukulor conqueror Al-Hajj Omar Tall , Wolof leader El Hadj Malick Sy (1855–1922), and perhaps most strongly by Ibrahim Baye Niass . The Tijaniyya became the most influential order in North Africa. The bond with Sheikh Tijani as the only master, which is mandatory for religious students, and the simple acceptance ritual have favored the spread, especially in the black African south.

The body of Ahmad at-Tidschani lies in his mausoleum in Fez today . Recently restored and re-decorated with rich traditional carvings, this is probably the second most visited shrine after the founder of Fès, Moulay Idriss .

literature

  • Hammad Berrada: Fes de bab en bab. Promenades dans la Medina . Editions PM, Casablanca 2002, ISBN 99-8117-186-7 .
  • Basil Davidson : Africa in History. Themes and outlines . Simon & Schuster, New York 1995, ISBN 0-684-82667-4 (reprint of the London 1968 edition).
  • John L. Esposito (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. OUP, Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-512558-4 .
  • Jean-Louis Michon : Le soufi marocain Ahmad Ibn 'Ajiba et son Miraj (Études musulmanes; Vol. 14). Vrin, Paris 1973.
    • The Autobiography of a Moroccan Soufi. Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba (1747-1809). Fons Vitae, Louisville, Ky. 1999, ISBN 1-887752-20-X .
  • Jean Louis Triaud, David Robinson (eds.): La Tijâniyya. Une confrérie musulmane à la conquête de l'Afrique. Karthala, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-8458-6086-2 .
  • John Spencer Trimingham: The Sufi Orders in Islam. OUP, New York 1998, ISBN 978-0-19-512058-5 (EA Oxford 1971).
  • Jamil M. Abun-Nasr: The Tiyânniya. A Sufi Order in the Modern World (Middle Eastern Monographs; Vol. 7). University Press, Oxford 1965 (also dissertation, University Oxford)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tariqa Tijaniyya. Introduction. ( Memento of February 26, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) The African American Islamic Institute, Detroit
  2. ↑ John L. Esposito (ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Islam , p. 320.
  3. ↑ Hammad Berrada: Fez From Bab to Bab . 2006, p. 139.
personal data
SURNAME Tijani, Ahmad at-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tijani, Sidi Ahmad al
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founding father of the Tijani Order
DATE OF BIRTH 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH ʿAin Madi
DATE OF DEATH 1815
Place of death Fez