THE DIVINE FLOOD: SIDI MAWLUD FAL (RA)

SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF SIDI MAWLUD FAL (RA)

Sidi Mawlud Fal (R.A.) of Mauritania was one of the biggest Khalifahs of Tijaniyyah in the 19th century, and thousands entered the Tariqah on his hands.

He took Tariqah from Shaykh Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Shinqiti (R.A.) who took it directly from Sidi Abul-Abbas Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (R.A).

He used to be a great Shariah scholar giving lectures, but one day a well-known Majzuba lady of the area interrupted his lesson and said to him: If you want real knowledge go to Muhammad al-Hafiz.

So he went and submitted. Sometime after taking Tariqah, he walked all the way to Fas, to Ziyarah the Grand-Shaykh, reciting Salat al-Fatih at every step!

After arriving there, he was told that the Shaykh al-Tijani (RA) had just passed away, but had left some things for him, e.g. his Musalla and Tasbih.

Among those who benefited from Sidi Mawlud include the great Tijani Warrior-Saint al-Haj Umar Tall (R.A.) who personally called him to honor his camp.

Al-Haj Umar (R.A.) gave Sidi Mawlud a bagful of gold coins as a Hadya in return for what he learned from him. Sidi Mawlud returned the bag and said: What I really want is a copy of your book on the Tariqah, the Rimah.

As Sidi Mawlud was travelling the next morning, al-Haj Umar distributed the pages of the book to all his disciples asking them to copy each a page, so as to prepare complete a copy of the book before Dawn.

Sidi Mawlud's descendants remain great Shayksh of the Tariqah today and were from the first to enter the Faydah Tijaniyyah of Shaykh al-Islam Alhajj Ibrahim Niasse (R.A.).

Here is also a narration about Sidi Mawlud Fal from the famous Mauritanian Qadi and Faqih, Sidi Muhannad Baba Walad Ubayd al-Daymani (d. 1865), the author of Al-Adb al-Yamani in defence of the Way of Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani.

There is an interesting story on his taking of the Tariqah Tijaniyyah.

Contemporary Mauritanian Scholar Shaykh Sidi Abd-Allah al-Hadi al-Ya’qubi narrates in his biography of his grandfather Sidi Mawlud Fal entitled Tawali al-Su’ud fi Hayat wa Manaqib Abi’s-Su’ud (p.136) that:

Sidi Muhannad Baba had actually seen a dream in which he saw the caravan of Prophet (S.A.W.) stopping to rest by a certain spot near his desert encampment.

Thereafter the Prophet (S.A.W.) asked him to prepare a tent for him to make his prayers, which he did. Then, after Maghrib Salah, he saw the Prophet (S.A.W) making a certain unique Zikr with his Sahabah there. Then the dream ended.

Soon after seeing this dream, the caravan of the great Mauritanian Tijani saint Sayyidi Mawlud Fal stopped near his desert encampment at the same spot the caravan of Prophet (S.A.W.) had stopped in the dream. After a while, Sayyidi Mawlud asked Sidi Muhammad to prepare a tent for him to make his prayers, which he did. Then, to his amazement, he saw Sayyidi Mawlud making the same Zikr with his disciples after Maghrib Salah that he had seen the Prophet (SAW) make in the dream.

When Sidi Muhammad asked Sayyid Mawlud Fal what Zikr he was making, the saint told him that it was the daily Tijani Wazifah, which the Prophet (SAW) had instructed al-Qutb al-Maktum Shaykh Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani (R.A.) and his followers to make.

This was more than enough sign for Sidi Muhammad Baba.

So he immediately took bay’ah in the Tijani Way, and went on to become a renowned Mauritanian Sufi Alim.

Sidi Mawlud Fal died in the year 1859 and is buried in the village of Tambu'ayl in Mauritania. The great Tijani saint al-Haj Malick Sy meditated by his Grave for one whole month.

Mawlana Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (RA) and Shaykh Hassan Cisse (RA) also visited his grave.

Prominent in that family today are Shaykh Tijani Fal (who recites 12,000 Salat al-Fatih daily) and his brother Shaykh Abdullahi Fal.

Note that this family are descendants of Sayyidah Zaynab bint Ali (R.A.), the noble daughter of Sayyidah Fatimah al-Zahra (RA) and sister of Imam's Hasan and Husayn (R.A.).

May Allah be pleased with them all. Ameen!

Servant of the Tijani Door

Fakhruddin Owaisi

Sep 9, 2013.


Shaykh Hadi ibn Mawlud Fal

(Close disciple of Shaikh Ibrahim Niasse and his Special Envoy to fayda communities in Nigeria, Niger and Gold Coast/Ghana in the 1940s & 50s)