MY VISIT TO SIDI AL-ARABI (RABAT-MOROCCO) AND
SHAYKH IBRAHIM’S TRIP
By:
Imam Fakhruddin Owaisi (Dec, 2010)
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| Arabi bin Saih Zawiyah (Rabat) |
As-Salam Alaykum dear beloved ones,
Last year, I had the honor of Visiting
Morocco and our Masters there. This was my second visit to Morocco.
In the first visit, we were honored to
visit the Blessed Zawiyah and Shrine of Sayyidna al-Qutb al-Maktum (RA) with
our Wasilah to him Shaykh Imam Hassan Cisse (RA).
However, due to time constraints, I could
not visit the Zawiyah and Shrine of the Tijani Khalifah and Qutb Sidi al-Arabi
bin al-Sa’ih (RA) in the city of Rabat.
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| Sidi al-Arabi bin al-Sa’ih (RA) |
Nevertheless, I had a burning desire to
visit this Great Master and his historic Zawiyah.
His book, the renowned Bughyat al-Mustafid
is considered the primary and most reliable reference in our Tariqah (with the
Jawahir not mentioning many points and the Rimah mentioning too many!). Indeed,
it is said الطريقة البغية i.e.
The Tariqah is the Bughyah!
You may download the Bughyah
from here:
I have great love for this Man
and his book, and it was from the first Books of the Tariqah I studied in
detail (after the Blessed Jawahir and the Powerful Rimah).
Arguably, Sidi al-Arabi (RA)
is the most important Tijani Master in Morocco, after the Master of Masters
Sidi Ahmad Tijani (RA).
Indeed, Sahib al-Faydah Shaykh
Ibrahim (RA) stated that Sidi al-Arabi (RA) is the “Door of the Shaykh
al-Tijani (RA) for the people of Morocco”. Therefore, it is the culture to
visit Sidi al-Arabi (RA) first before visiting the Sidna Shaykh (RA) in Fas.
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|
Me with the Nephew of the Khalifah-Sidi al-Sharif Mustafa al-Tijani in Rabat Morocco
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Al-Humduli’Llah, as per my
desire, during this second trip to Morocco, I had the honor of doing that.
Not only doing the Ziyarah,
but I also had the honor of performing the Zikr al-Jumah there. And with the
invitation and permission of the Muqaddam there (Sharif Sidi Mustafa bin
al-Bashir al-Tijani), grandson of al-Qutb al-Maktum (RA) I also spend a night
in the Zawiyah. In the night, the brothers in the Zawiyah sang some Qasa’id
with me and the Muazzin. The Moroccans fuqara especially liked the Burdah I
sang in the Hijazi Tone I learned as I grew up in Madinah al-Munnawarah.
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| Zawiyya at Fez |
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| Door of Zawiyya at Fez |
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| Zawiyya at Fez |
Next morning, I had some
Harirah (a delicious Moroccan soup) for breakfast and left for Fez to rub my
head at the Door of the Khatam al-Wilayah al-Muhammadiyyah (RA).
As I was leaving, the Muazzin
told me that my (Chinese) Sandal was broken and rendered useless. So I bought a
new one (a sturdy Moroccan Bulghah) from a shop next to the Zawiyah. Shaykh
Ibrahim Niasse (RA) had mentioned in a book that loosing a Sandal in a holy
place was a sign of Qubul i.e. ‘Acceptance’. I thanked Allah that my Ziyarah
was accepted and walked in the Sandals granted by Sidi Al-Arabi (RA) praying
that I walk in the footsteps of this great Khalifah.
For more on Sidi al-Arabi bin
as-Sa’ih (RA), check www.tijani.org
The Sharif at the Zawiyah
informed me that Sayyidna Shaykh Hassan Cisse (RA) had especially come to make
a special visit to Sidi al-Arabi (RA) 4 weeks before he passed away.
It was also the practice of
Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (RA) to visit Sidi al-Arabi (RA) during his visits to
Morocco.
In celebration of this
occasion, I translate here selected lines from Shaykh Ibrahim’s Travelogue of
Trip to Morocco in 1373, rendered by his traveling companion in body and spirit
Arif-Bil’Llah Shaykh Sidi al-Mishri (RA).
The Mauritanian Sharif writes:
سافر من كولح إلى المغرب
إمام
كل مشرق و مغرب
He traveled from Kaolack to
Morocco
The Imam of the Easterners and
the Westerners
شيخ الشيوخ سيد السادات
عبد الإله
كامل الصفات
The Shaykh of the Shaykhs, the
Master of Masters
The Slave of Allah, the
Perfect of Character
خرج يوم السبت من مدينا
و ودع
الأحباب أجمعينا
He left from Medina (Baye) on
Saturday
And he bid farewell to all
loved ones
و أبو الوجود أحمد التجاني
يصحبنا في السر و الإعلان
And the Father of Existence
Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani (RA)
Was accompanying us in private
and public
إليه نلجأ و فيه نطرب
و لم نكن إالا إليه نذهب
Indeed, to him (RA) we flee,
and in him we rejoice
And we were going to none but
him
سرنا إليه نحو فاسه القديم
حباً و شوقاً لجنابه العظيم
We traveled towards his
ancient (city of) of Fez
In love and yearning for his
Esteemed Presence
زرنا ضريح الأحمدي الصالح
سيدنا العربي نجل السائح
We visited the Tomb of the
pious Ahmadi saint
Our Master, al-Arabi the son
of al-Sa’ih (RA)
ثم
نزلنا في سرور
جامع
بالفندق المشهور قصر الجامع
Then we settled in complete
joy
In the hotel known as “Qasr
al-Jami”
بتنا بباب شيخنا التجاني
يضيفنا
في الحس و المعاني
We spent the night by the
Doorstep of our Shaykh al-Tijani (RA)
Indeed, He hosted us
Physically and Spiritually
في حضرة الظل العظيم الشأن
نشهده
بالعين و الجنان
In the Presence of the Grand
Shadow (of the Nabi SAW)
We were witnessing him (RA)
with our eyes and our hearts
جئنا الضريح عند حل النافله
و الكل
أخلص له و قابله
So we approached the Noble
Tomb after the Obligatory Prayers
And all of us faced him (RA)
in sincerity and total devotion
هذا
محل خاتم الأفراد
في حضرة
الإيجاد و الإمداد
Indeed, this is the Station of
the Seal of the Unique Saints
In this Realm of Existence and
Providence
هذا
مقام شأنه لا يعرف
و الأوليا منه جميعاً غرفوا
Indeed, this is a Station
whose Rank is Unknowable
For all the Saints have drunk
from it only
Then mentioning their return
to Rabat and visitation of Sidi al-Arabi (RA) again he mentions:
ثم
رجعنا لرباط الفتح
بالفوز و النصر معاً و الفتح
Then we returned to Rabat
With all Success, Victory and
Opening
ثم
في الختام يختم
السفر
بحضرة
إبن السائح الغوث الأبر
Thereafter, we concluded our
Journey
In the Presence of Ibn
al-Sa’ih (RA), the Pious Ghawth
Then mentioning the Shaykh
(RA)’s meeting with the Descendants of Shaykhuna al-Tijani (RA) in Rabat, he
writes:
أبناء شيخنا التجاني ودعا
عند الوداع و
دعوا ثم دعا
He bid farewell to the Sons of
our Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (RA)
They prayed (for him), then He
prayed (for all)
Mentioning the final Wazifah they performed
on the boat before arriving back in Medina, he writes:
وظيفة الشيخ التجاني قد أمر
بها
الخليفة الذي منه
ظهر
And the Wazifah of the Shaykh
al-Tijani (RA) was commanded (to be recited)
By the Khalifah (RA) that
appeared from him (RA)
The Hotel Qasr al-Jami (Palais
Jamie) mentioned in his Poem is located very close to the Entrance Gate of the
Old City of Fez, where Sidna Shaykh al-Tijani (RA) is buried. Praise be to Allah,
during our Trip to Morocco for the Tijani Conference, we were accommodated at
this very Hotel where Mawlana Sahib al-Faydah (RA) also stayed.
However, during his first Trip
to Morocco, Shaykh Ibrahim (RA) had stayed at the house of a Moroccan Disciple,
very close to the Grand-Zawiyah. Some brothers in Fez showed me this old room
during my last trip in June.
Here I also wish to thank the
brothers who assisted and guided me in this Trip. May Allah reward them. Amen.
Soon I will post a more
detailed account of Shaykh Ibrahim’s visits to Morocco.
Attached are some photos from
the trip.
Also attached is hand-drawn
image of Sidi al-Arabi bin al-Sa'ih (RA), especially drawn for me by a Moroccan
Sharifian friend who grew up in front of the Rabat Zawiyah and had many visions
of Sidi al-Arabi (RA). He drew this picture based on the visions.
Was-Salam,
Servant of the Tijani Door,
Fakhruddin bin Ahmad al-Tijani
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| me at Tomb of Sidi al-Arabi |
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At the entance of Sidi al-Arabi
Further Reading;
By:
Imam Fakhruddin Owaisi
Sayyidina
al-Shaykh al-‘Arif bi-Llah Abū-Hāmid Muhammad al-Arabī bin Muhammad al-Sā’ih
al-Sharqī al-Umarī was born in the ancient city of Meknes, Morocco, in 1229
(1814), to a family who were direct descendants of Sayyidinā Umar al-Fārūq ibn
al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him.
He was a renowned nineteenth-century Moroccan scholar of Hadīth, Maliki Fiqh, Tasawwuf and Arabic poetry. His teachers included men like al-Faqih al-Muhaddith Sidi Abd-al-Qādir al-Kawhan, al-‘Allāmah Muhammad al-Hādi Bādu, Shaykh al-Sharīf Walīd al-Irāqi and other savants. He also exchanged Ijāzahs with many famous North African scholars.
Moreover, al-Wali al-Sālih, Sīdī al-Arabī bin al-Sā’ih was one of the greatest Tijāni Saints of his time. He took the Tijāni Tarīqah from accomplished spiritual masters such as Sīdī Abd-al-Wahhāb al-Ahmar and Mawlay Muhammad bin Abu’n-Nasr al-Alawi of Fez, and the Qutb Sīdī Ali al-Tamāsīni of Algeria, all of whom were venerated Muqaddams of the Muhammadan Saint Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijāni (R.A.).
Renowned as a friend of Allāh, countless seekers approached him to take the Way. Among these were men who later on became great spiritual masters themselves.
Sīdi al-Arabi also established a beautiful Tijāni Zāwiyah in Rabat that became a well-known center of Islamic knowledge and spirituality and remains so till today. It is also from these few Zāwiyahs which have preserved the traditional Moroccan Fāsi style of reciting the blessed Qasīdat al-Burdah.
His greatest service to the Tarīqah was authoring the masterpiece called Bughyat al-Mustafīd which became one of the major source-books of Tijāni Sufism. The work was a detailed commentary on the Sufi Poem called Munyat al-Murīd, written by the Mauritanian Tijāni master, Shaykh Ahmad Tijāni bin Sīdī Bāba al-Alawi al-Shinqītī.
Due to his mastery of the sciences of Sharī’ah and Haqīqah, as well as deep understanding of the Tijani Path, Sīdī al-Arabi’s works became essential reference works for later Tijānis.
Sīdī al-Arabī also mastered the works of al-Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyi’ddīn Ibn-Arabi and quotes from them extensively in his own works.
The Bughyat al-Mustafīd is a brilliant exposition of Tasawwuf and has gone through numerous prints, the best one being the 2002 edition by the Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah of Beirut. The poem Munyat al-Murīd can be read on this site: http://www.nafahat7.net/
Here are two quotes from the celebrated Bughyah. Explaining the Wirds (litanies) that disciples of the Sufi Orders recite after gaining permission from their Shaykhs, he writes:
“The reality of
the Awrād is that they are contracts and commitments that Allāh has taken from
His servants through the Shaykhs. Therefore, he who has honored the Shaykhs and
stayed true to his contract and fulfilled his commitments will gain the
goodness of both Worlds. Allāh most High says: ‘O Ye who Believe! Fulfill your
contracts’ (Surat al-Maidah: 1). And He has said: ‘Among the believers are men
who have been true to the contract they made with Allah’ (Surat al-Ahzab : 23).
And he who makes little of the Shaykhs, and neglects the contracts and commitments
(he made), then that will be the cause of his zaygh (deviation from the
Straight Path) and the puncturing of his boat (i.e. his destruction). Allāh
most High says: ‘It is deeply abhorrent to Allah that you should say what you
do not do’ (Surat al-Saff : 3).
Explaining the Maqām
(spiritual rank) of Khātam al-Wilāyah al-Muhammadiyyah (Seal of Muhammadan
Sainthood), which Tijanis attribute to Shaykh Sīdi Ahmad al-Tijāni, he writes:
The meaning of his
(Shaykh Sīdi Ahmad al-Tijāni) being the Khātam (Seal) of the rank of al-Wilāyah
al-Muhammadiyyah (Muhammadan Sainthood) is that none will appear in that rank
in the (complete) way that he appeared, therefore, he is the Seal of the
complete manifestation of that rank, and not (the seal of) the rank itself.
Quite a few
scholars authored separate works on Sīdi’s al-Arabi’s life and intellectual and
spiritual achievements, such as the Moroccan historian Shaykh al-Faqīh Muhammad
al-Hajūjī who authored al-Azhār al-Atirat al-Rawā’ih fī al-Ta’rīf bī Mawlāna al-‘Arabī
bin al-Sā’ih, and the contemporary Moroccan Tijāni research scholar Dr. al-Sharīf
Muhammad al-Rādi Gannoun al-Hasanī al-Idrīsī who authored al-Misk al-Fa’ih
bi-Dhikr ba’d Manāqib Sīdī al-‘Arabī bin al-Sā’ih, and Shaykh al-Arabī bin
Abd-Allāh al-Wazzānī. One of the foremost representatives of Sidi al-‘Arabi b.
Sa’ih’s legacy in contemporary Morocco is the distinguished Professor Abdelaziz
Benabdallah, who has also authored a comprehensive work concerning Ibn Sa’ih
and the Bughyat al-Mustafid, which has been entitled, Le Soufisme
Afro-Maghrebin aux XIXè et XXè Siècles (available online at www.abdelaziz-benabdallah.org/oeuvre_soufisme.htm).
The biography of Ibn Sa’ih can also be found in Al-A’lām by al-Zarakli,
Al-Ightibāt bi-Tarājim A’lām al-Rabāt by al-Bojandār, and A’lām al-Fikr al-Mu’āsir
bi’l-Udwatayn by Abd-Allāh al-Jarrāri.
His trusted
friend, the saintly scholar and poet, Sīdi Muhammd Balamīnu al-Rabāti wrote
about him:
I traveled the
lands of the East and the West (in vain)
To find the
likeness of the Imam al-‘Arabi bin al-Sā’ih
The Star of
Guidance, the Pole of (spiritual) height, Our Teacher
The succor of
every inanimate and animate object.
Sīdī al-‘Arabī bin al-Sā’ih passed away in 1309 (1892) in Rabāt, where he used to live, and where his blessed Tomb and Zāwiyah remain.
May Allah sanctify
his Secret. Amīn.
Source: tijani.org
ENGLISH BOOKS BY/ON SHAYKH IBRAHIM NIASSE AND THE TIJANI TARIQAH (AVAILABLE FOR SALE)
1. Vessel of
Spiritual Flood, Translation of Goran Faydah by Shaykh Balarabe Haroon Jega -
(Translated by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)
2. Rihlat Konakriyah
(A trip to Conakry), Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse - (Translated by Khalifah Awwal Baba
Taofiq)
3. Shariah and
Haqeeqah: In the Light of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions (Compiled by
Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)
4. The Icon of
Mystics: Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse Al-Kawlakhy (Compiled by Khalifah Awwal Baba
Taofiq)
5. Kano Conferences
(Majlis Kano) and the khutba titled (Hadiqat al-Anwar fii ma ihtawa alayhi
qawaaid al-Islam minal hikam wal asrar) - (Translated by Sayyidah Bilqis
Grillo)
6. Katsina and
Kaduna Conferences (Jadhbul ahbab ila hadrat Rabbil arbab) and Mecca Conference
- (Translated by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)
7. A Brief Biography
of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibrahim Niasse (Compiled by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)
8. Al-Kanz (faydah)
Magazine (1st edition) - (Edited by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)
9. Al-Kanz (faydah)
Magazine (5th edition) - (Compiled by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)
10. Al-Kanz Muslim
Ummah Magazine (1st edition) - (Compiled by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)
11. Risalat
at-Tawbah (Epistle of Repentance) of Shaykh Ibrahim Niyass al-Kawlakhi" –
(Translation & Commentary by Dr. Razzaq Solagberu)
12. Islamic Law of
Inheritance, by Sayyid Ali ibn Abubakar al-Muthanna ibn Abdullah Niasse
(Translated by Dr. Sulaiman Shittu)
13. Numerous
“English” Sufism & Tijaniyyah Tariqah E-books/Journals/Articles (soft
copies - to be sent via email)
14. Numerous
“Arabic” Sufism & Tijaniyyah Tariqah E-books/Journals/Articles (soft copies
- to be sent via email)
To
order for copies, contact;
Call/Whatsapp:
+2348034656467
Email:
smilebak2004@gmail.com
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