BRIEF HISTORY OF THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF SHEIKH IBRAHIM NIASSE (RTA) His father’s name was Shaykh Abdullahi Niasse and was one of the greatest scholars of the Sene-gambian region in the early 20th century. He initially engaged in arms struggle against the French colonialist before settling down to become a farmer. He was the first Sene-gambian Islamic tijani scholar to obtain unlimited license of authorization (ijaza mutlaqa) which was granted to him by Shaykh Ahmad sukayrij (RTA) in Fez. His initial jihad activities against the French colonialists and his rising fame and popularity greatly alarmed the French who exiled him to Gambia in 1900 along with his students after burning down his mosque and library in Tauba, the village he founded earlier. He later returned to settle down in Kaolack probably with the help of his friend’s mediation with the then French authorities’ al-hajj Malik Sy. He was blessed to have received many favours and gifts from Allah (SWT) and was among the respected and well-versed Tijani scholars of his time. For instance, he was given the original copy of Jawahirul Ma’ani in Shaykh Ali Harazimi’s (the closest disciple of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani) own hand writing as well as the prayer rosary of Shaykh Ahmad Tijjani (RTA) by the head muqadam of the Fez zawiyya Sidi Arabi bin Muhibb. He also use to have the waking vision of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (RTA) where in one of their encounters prayed to Allah (SWT) for one of his children to become the Ghawth al-zaman (leader of all saints for the age) . Before leaving the zawiyya, he saw a vision of his young son Ibrahim in the courtyard and knew that his prayers had been answered. HIS BIRTH Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (RTA) was born in Taiba located in present day Senegal on the November 8th 1900 which was equivalent to 15 Rajab 1320 AH to Shaykh Abdullahi Niasse and Sayyada Aishatu. The month that she conceived the Shaykh, she dreamt of standing in a high place and saw the moon came down upon her. She narrated the dream to her husband who advised her to keep it secret. EDUCATION AND EARLY LIFE The Shaykh (RTA) said “I learned Quran and hadith from my father and received my first ijaza from my father, then from Shaykh Aburrahman bin al-hajj al-alawi then from Shaykh Ahmad Sukayrij who himself had eraned some 600 different ijaza from different shuyukhs”. Shaykh Ahmad Sukayrij stated that “the one to whom I gave authorization in all these chains of transmission was the Khalifa al-hajj Ibrahim Niasse.” The young Shaykh was brought up in an atmosphere of religious training and learning and by the age of 20, he started preaching and teaching Islam due to his academic brilliance and mastering of almost all fields of Islamic sciences. An important event in his early life was the foretelling of his great spiritual position of the Sahibul Fayda (Inheritor of the spiritual flood) by the Mauritanian Shaykh, Abdullahi wuld al- Hajj (RTA) a great Islamic scholar and Tijani saint who was among those who sought for the spiritual station of Sahibul Fayda (Inheritor of the spiritual flood), a very lofty spiritual position foretold by Shaykh Ahmad Tijjani (RTA) who said “ A fayda will overwhelm my companions to the point that people will enter our path in multitudes. This Fayda will come at a time when mankind will be in a state of utmost difficulties .” The clarity of the matter came to Shaykh Abdullahi wuld al- Hajj (RTA) when he discovered that Allah has already granted it to Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (RTA) in a vision just when he was about to declare the lofty spiritual position for himself. After series of eventful occurrences he was able to locate the home of the then young Ibrahim through spiritual guidance. Upon seeing him, he remarked “Allahu akbar, by Allah this is the Sahibul Fayda great saints have so longingly sought”. He ordered the Shaykh’s father to keep the matter secret until such a time Allah wills the affair to be public. Upon returning home Shaykh Abdullahi Chinguiti informed his children and admonished them to hearken to the Shaykh’s call when Allah has made the matter open to all. EARLY PREACHING AND ACTIVITIES WITHIN SENEGAL After the death of Shaykh Ibrahim’s father, Shaykh Abdullahi wuld al-Hajj returned to Kaolack to offer his condolences to the family. He chose to be accommodated in Shaykh Ibrahim’s room which provided him with the opportunity for the guest to give his host the glad tidings of his spiritual position and transfer privileged Tijani secrets to the young Shaykh. He was however warned not to disclose his status to anyone until news has reached him of his own death which the young shaykh complied with. Four years after the incident, the soul of Shaykh Abdullahi passed on to his Creator an event which made the Shaykh declared during the Maulud of the Prophet in 1929 (Salla lahu alaihi wa sallam) that he is the spiritual inheritor and Khalifa of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (RTA): the Sahibul Faydatu Tijjaniyya. His eldest brother and Khalifa of their late father asked whether the Shaykh Ibrahim was well to which he responded in the affirmative. He (his brother and khalifa of their father) then declared that the jinns have affected Ibrahim and that people should assist in exorcizing Ibrahim’s jinns. The Shaykh insisted he is sound in body and mind and said all he said was with authority. The khalifa denied him outright and instructed his students to do likewise. Shaykh Ibrahim continued to call people to Allah and teaching them all forms of Islamic sciences and tasawwuf. He met stiff resistance and decided to relocate to Kossi a village founded by his father where he continued his Islamic and spiritual mission. He attracted large followers from all parts of Africa who had come to drink from his ocean of knowledge and spiritual illuminations. The enmity other Islamic scholars had for him was so great that when he came back to his home town in Kaolack, he was stoned and stopped from praying inside his father’s mosque. MIGRATION AND COMMENCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES After much opposition and oppression, Shaykh Ibrahim decided to migrate away from Kaolack and find his own settlement due to the difficulties he and his students were experiencing in carrying out their religious and other daily activities. On a fateful morning after the fajr prayers, he informed his students and all those who wish to follow him to leave Kaolack. After obtaining permission from the colonial officers governing Kaolack administrative area, he migrated about 3 miles east of kaolack and camped by a big tree which was to become his home till date. His town is now called Madinatu Kaolack. Since the newly founded abode provided an atmosphere of security and peace he wanted for his students and himself, he focused his attention to fulfill the rites of hajj pilgrimage which he did later the same year. Upon returning back from the pilgrimage, he started the project of building his own mosque, converting people to Islam, educating the Muslims and revival of the sunnah of the Prophet (salla lahu alaihi wa sallam) through the proper understanding of fiqh, Iman and helping them attain the perfect state of Ihsan through the tariqa Muhammadiyya Tijaniyya which he had become its spiritual inheritor and Khalifa. These activities were not only confided within Senegal but throughout North and West African regions. His style, methodology and spiritual zeal had made all and sundry flock to him to quench their thirst from the overflowing flood of knowledge, illuminations, secrets, understanding and perfect state of Ihsan from Shaykh Ibrahim and the tariqa. His distractors were greatly alarmed and disturbed by his success and progress in calling people towards Allah and upliftment of Islam in the surrounding regions and beyond which eclipsed their combined efforts and make them look like amateurs. They connived against him by lying to the French administrator of the region named Bulus that he was trying to build an army of supporters to rebel against the French colonialist, a claim the Shaykh dispelled and was allowed to continue to with his teaching and preaching. GLOBAL IMPACT Shaykh Ibrahim (RTA) has traveled vastly throughout the world in order to spread Islam. To him goes primarily the credit of turning Senegal into a Muslim majority country. In Ghana alone, he converted no fewer than 8 thousand Christians and pagans to Islam. It is not surprising therefore that he was feared as a “terror” by Christian missionaries in West Africa. It is because of men like the Shaykh, his disciples, students and followers that islam is today spreading in Africa in the face of other other religions and resurgent paganism. He has swept the Muslim lands he had visited with such a spiritual force through the tariqa Tijaniyya that multitude of Muslims have now tasted the rare sweetness of pure tawhid and monotheism in an unprecedented manner never before seen in Africa since the time of the early Muslim generation. A clear and unmistaken example is in Nigeria where the frequent proclamation of “lailaha illa lahu” has dominated the sky lines with an intense love of the holy Prophet (salla lahu alaihi wa sallam). He was not only an erudite and versatile scholar but also a prolific writer who has written over 70 books on various subjects including fiqh (muslim canon law), arabic language and grammar, Islamic ethics, tasawwuf (Islamic mysticism), seerat (life of the noble Prophet salla lahu alaihi wa sallam), tafsir (Quranic exegesis) among many other Islamic disciplines which he treated with admirable competence and excellence. He was a poet of the highest order composing some eight anthologies. Due to his immense knowledge and understanding of Islam, he was awarded the title of Shaykhul Islam by the eminent head of the al-Azhar University Cairo Egypt Muhammad Mahmud Shaltut. This title is only given to Islamic scholars who have attained a level of competence and mastery in at least 25 disciplines in Islam. He advocated for mass education for both males and females. In reference to this, the shaykh said in a speech that “women should compete with men in knowledge”. It is because of this that women of the path are found to be well versed in quran and hadith. Suffice to say that all his female children have memorized the entire Quran and are Islamic scholars in their own rights who engage in continuous education of women and children throughout sub-sahara Africa. He also established a zawiyya (Islamic study centre) in his hometown of kaolack which has now developed into an institute that is affiliated with Al-azhar University in Cairo through which thousands of students all over the world attend to complete their studies. This scholarly act was imitated by his disciple who established many of these zawiyyas all over Africa, a consequent of which literacy has been improved. At a time when the Muslim world were still rejecting the recitation of Quran over the radio and other electronic gadgets such as loudspeakers, he issued a fatwa that not only is it allowed but compulsory for Muslims to embrace these inventions because they promote piety and helps to spread Islam. He was among the first West African Islamic scholars to write a book explaining the rules of pilgrimage to Makkah for those traveling by plane. Not only did the Shaykh emphasize on Islamic knowledge, he also encouraged western education as is evident in the speech he gave for the maulud at kaolack in 1386 AH where he addressed the muslim youth saying “Go ahead and be vanguard in all things for the future of nations is based on its youth and make every efforts to seek and do your best to acquire knowledge not only Islamic knowledge and mathematics but also be part of and co-operate with those whose zeal is to discover the unknown and unseen things of this world (by that he meant sciences).” Shaykh Ibrahim was a distinguished and highly honoured member and official of global Islamic organisations such as the Muta’amarul alamil Islami (Islamic World Congress)in Karachi Pakistan for which he was vice president and Majmaul Buhuthil islamiyya (Academy of Islamic Studies) in Egypt for which he was a highly respected contributor. He was a co-founder of the Muslim World League, and a member of General Islamic Conference for Jerusalem, Association of Islamic Universities based in Morocco and High Islamic Council in Algeria (Majlisul aala li shuunil Islamiyyah). He attended various Islamic international conventions whose central theme was mostly on daawah (call to Islam). Contrary to the claims of distractors and scoffers who try to taint the tariqa as being bid’ah, to the shaykh (RTA) goes the full credit of reviving a neglected sunnah of placing the hands over the chest while praying in salat for which he wrote the book Rafal malam. He even went through the troubles of snapping a picture of himself praying with his hands over the chest to confirm to the sub-saharan muslim population that this is the right way thereby setting an example that got wide acceptance till this day (the strategy of a picture was used to visually show people that this sunnah practice was indeed endorsed and advocated by the Shaykh as television was not a luxury enjoyed by millions of Africans then). By doing this he revived a long neglected sunnah of the Prophet (salla lahu alaihi was sallam) He contributed towards socio-political stability in countries he had visited with his methods and preaching of tolerance and mutual respect. For example, he sowed seeds of love and understanding as well as cementing trust among various tribes through promoting inter-tribal marriages in Nigeria and international marriages in other West African countries. A very significant number of inter-tribal marriages (if not majority) between the Hausa-Yoruba are found among those of the tariqa. Other examples are marriages between Morrocan- Senegalese, Algerian-Senegalese etc. He preached religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence with people of other faiths. It is worthy of note that in addition for advocating for the welfare of muslims in countries he visited, he also gave advises to Christian leaders towards ensuring political stability and peace as was the case with Kwame Nkrumah (former president of Ghana), General Yakubu Gowon (former military president of Nigeria), Leopold Singore (former president of Senegal). The Shaykh had great disdain for oppression and transgression prompting him to write several treatises on the plight of the colonized people world-wide. In one of his famous pro-freedom treatise Al Ifriqiyya lil Ifriqiyyin (Africa to the Africans), he accurately predicted that Africans will rule Africans (alluding to the end of colonialism) before his life comes to an end. Indeed, very shortly after the publication of this treatise (within few months), there was a massive galore of independence granted to many African countries around the 1960s. He caught global attention because of this treatise especially among the middle-eastern leaders who invited him for discourses and advice on several occasions. A well-known visit was the one he had with President Jamal Abdunasser of Egypt and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. (The responsibility for publishing this treatise was given to one of the closest confidante of Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse (RA) in person of Shaikh Sani Awwalu (RA). See the full treatise which has a written authorization of Sheikh Ibrahim (RA) himself to Sheikh Muhammadu Sani Awwalu under tijaniyya books). Shaykh Ibrahim (RTA) was recognised internationally for his unprecedented efforts. Among the numerous awards given to him for his exceptional service to humanity include: 1. Medallion of the Throne (Morocco) 2. Medallion of the Republic of Tunisia 3. Medallion of Nigeria 4. Legion d’Honneur (France) 5. Medal of Merit of the society of Ancient Warriors (France) 6. Grand Croix (Senegal)
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:53:37 +0000