Page 2 biography of sidi Ahmad Tijjani Ain Madhi (literally, Spring of the Past) is located in the Eastern Sahara; an ancient Moroccan territory today under Algerian control. It is located in western-central Algeria about 30 miles from the city of Laghuat (al-Aghwat). Earlier to the birth of Sidna Shaykh, his grandfather the great saint Sidi Mohammed ibn Salim migrated from the town of Asafi (Safi) on the Atlantic coast to Ain Madhi and settled among the clan of Tijana. He got married from them and thus gained the nickname of at-Tijani, a surname that permanently passed on to his descendents. Sidna Shaykh grew up there. His parents gave him the best of parental care and upbringing. His father, Sidi Mohammed ibn al-Mokhtar, has been a God-fearing scholar and saint. He has had communication with the world of spirits (al-ruhaniya). These spirits apparently even consulted him for the fulfilment of their wishes. The story has it that he usually noted their requests with the excuse of not wanting to interfere with divine issues. Sidna Shaykh mother was Lalla Aicha al-Sanusi. She had many children, most of whom died. The surviving children were Sidna Shaykh himself, his brother Sidi Mohammed and elder sister called Lalla Ruqayya. Sidna Shaykh became an orphan at the age of 15 when he applied himself to his studies. Having learned the Quran by heart at the early age of seven under the tutelage of Shaykh Abu Abdellah Sidi Mohammed ibn Hammu Tijani, a proponent of the Nafi mode of recitation, he studied the fundamentals of Maliki jurisprudence with local righteous scholars such as Shaykh Sidi Aissa Bouakkaz Tijani and Shaykh Sidi Ibn Bouafiya Tijani. Sidna Shaykh set himself the task of seeking knowledge in the religious sciences and to become an icon in the discipline. He was noted for undertaking whatever he intended to do without backing out, perusing it to its logical conclusion. He then took the teaching and even gave legal opinions (fatawa) at a very tender age. He was also noted for strong adherence to the sunnah (tradition) of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) and for following its ethical code of conduct very strictly. He was also said to have restrained himself from indulging in what the people of his time were accustomed to and deemed permissible. He is reputed to have responded to questions very cautiously. Though he lost both his parents at the age of 21 (1171/1756), and on the same way, as a result of a plague that hit the locality, this did not distract him from his quest for knowledge. It rather served as a turning point in his life towards treading the Sufi path. In the same year, during the reign of the Sultan Mawlana Mohammed ibn Abdellah (d. 1204/1789), an intellectual who wrote several books on Quranic commentary and tradition ruling Morocco from 1757 to 1789, Sidna Shaykh entered al-Qarawiyyine University of Fez and studied in particular the books on the Tradition of the Prophet (al-Hadith Nabawi Sharif) such al-Bukhari and Muslim. Meanwhile Sidna Shaykh busied himself with meeting Sufi teachers. He started searching throughout the sharifian kingdom in order to meet with and learned from almost all the available aqatab (poles) or masters of his day. This took him to Fez, Wazzan and Taza. He first met the head of Shadhilite Wazzaniya order, the Shaykh, Moulay Tayyeb ibn Mohammed ibn al-Qutb Moulay Abdellah Sharif al-Wazzani (d. 1181/1766). He initiated Sidna Shaykh into his order and gave him the authorization to initiate others, although Sidna never did exercise this privilege, for tow reasons: firstly, he was engrossed in his own spiritual self-development, and secondly, he was not sure of his exact position in the spiritual hierarchy at the time.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:54:24 +0000