SHAIKH IBRAHIM’S WORDS AT THE EVENT OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MASJID IN MEDINA BAYE, SENEGAL
By: Shaikh Ibrāhīm Inyās, may Allāh be pleased with him
Published in: “al-Jūz al-Thālith min Khuṭab wa Rasā-il”, pgs. 205-6.
Translated by: Imam Muhammad AbdulLatif Finch
via: UNLIMITEDMERCY Blog
All praise is due to Allāh. Peace be upon you. I say before everything else that I congratulate these forerunners from
every township from far off lands. I say to you that everyone must say, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh’. Every service raises Islām. This service is a construction
for Allāh, principally, as long as they are
mosques. Every building that has an honor for Islām deserves that Muslims should work
together towards it until they finish it. If it is a structure that bares that
which is a demolition of disbelief then Muslims should work together until they
erect it. So, I congratulate you and command you all to say with your tongues
and hearts, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh’. There is no else on the face of the earth doing this service
outside of you except a masjid built by kings or a people who work with kings.
As for poor people like yourselves to build the likes of this, they are not
found on the face of the earth today and all praise is due to Allāh.
These are the type of mosques that endure because they are for Allāh. As for those mosques that are
built for kings, they have crumbled and have become demolished. No mosque will
endure but these mosques, Allāh willing. Whoever of you who has made the pilgrimage to
the House of Allāh has seen the House of Ādam built still standing, and it is the Sanctified House
of Allāh, and he sees the station of Ibrāhīm. Whoever goes to Shām sees the House of the Holy and that is because
whatever is for Allāh maintains and is connected while whatever is for other than Him
discontinues and is disconnected. For this reason we hope, from the grace of
Allāh, that our companionship continues
and connects in the world and the hereafter because it is for Allāh’s sake, through Allāh, and in Allāh. That is because whatever was for
Allāh maintained and connected.
On this basis, all of you should say, ‘All praise is due to Allāh, Lord of the Worlds’. Allāh’s praise is obligatory for us in every situation. We are
the ones whose Lord is the One-Who-Is-Praised (al-Maḥmūd), a name derived from the word ‘praise’ (ḥamd). Our prophet Muḥammad, peace be upon him, is derived from the word
‘praise’ (ḥamd). Shaikh Aḥmad is derived from ‘praise’ (ḥamd). We are Praisers (Ḥāmidūn). For this reason our religion is the religion of
praise. Our spiritual path is a path of praise. Our banner on the Day of
Judgment is Praise. For this reason the door of Praise was opened and will not
be closed, ever. Every door will be found closed but the door of Praise.
Praise is the reality of Iḥsān. For that reason we say, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh, al-Ḥamdu lillāh, al-Ḥamdu lillāh’. If we had said, ‘Our Lord is Allāh’, that would suffice us. Our Lord
is Allāh in good times. Our Lord is Allāh in hard times. This suffices us if our Lord suffices
us that we say, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh’. Allāh described his Friends in His saying, ‘The angels descend upon those who say our Lord is Allāh and then are upright’ until the end of the āyah (41:30) We have stated that our Lord is Allāh and uprightness is Praise. So,
one who says, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillah’ has been upright. Some of the
scholars of quranic exegesis have said, ‘The angels with Allāh descend upon them in this world
and the next saying to them, ‘Don’t be afraid.’ They respond, ‘what would we be afraid of since
Allāh has said to us’ ‘Do not be afraid’.
(Note: meaning even they wonder at the angels who would feel the
need to tell them not to be afraid when they say, al-Ḥamdu lillāh and are thus upright. Those who
are upright need not be afraid. Allāh knows best)
The consequence is that you should say, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh’.
The slave (of Allah) has four times:
1) the time of blessing
2) the time of trial
3) the time of obedience
4) the time of disobedience.
In the time of blessing the slave says, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillah’.
In the time of trial the slave endures and says while being
patient, ‘al-Hamdu lillāh’.
In the time of obedience there is the etiquette of al-Ḥamdu lillah.
In the time of disobedience, if he has repented, he says, ‘al-Ḥamdu lillāh.
The entire life of the slave is al-Ḥamdu lillāh. If the human being is alive and doesn’t thank Allāh then he is actually dead. As long as the human being acts they
are alive and if he didn’t do anything, he is dead. The act itself, if you
examine it, returns to Praise. The tradition indicates this fact: Allāh loves to see the effect of His
blessings on His slave. (Fayḍ al-Qadīr Sharḥ Jāmi’u al-Saghīr)
(Note: Meaning and Allāh knows best, that as every act has an effect, and the
blessing is the effect of Allāh’s having acted, the activity of displaying one’s blessings is all based upon Allāh’s original act of choosing to bless someone. This is
because there is no existing thing but that it exists as a blessing of Allāh who chose to act so that it would
exist through His having created it. Thus every existing thing, just like the
act of displaying the blessing of Allāh in this tradition all return to Allāh’s Act of allowing things to exist
in the first place.)
Whoever built a nice castle or purchased a goodly riding animal
has displayed the blessing of Allāh upon them. However, this (note: building of the
mosque) is better than all of that entirely. Our building of this mosque is
praise to Allāh. An increase in the praise of Allāh is that we spend from the furthest of our capacities
toward its completion. This night of remembrance (note: this speech occurred
during a celebration of the birth of the Prophet, peace be upon him) is the
establishment of the construction of this mosque. You have spent yourselves and
what you value in it until it stands as you see now. Thus you have come to know
that you have an assistant inwardly and outwardly (note: as the mosque did
manifest, and all praise is due to Allāh). Allāh has said, ‘And whatever you spend of anything
(in Allāh’s cause), He will replace it and He is the Best of
Providers.’ (34:39) In a tradition it states, ‘Whoever builds a mosque for Allah – though it be the size of the
ground nest of a sandgrouse – Allah will build for him a house in Paradise’.
(Ibn Mājah) The meaning of the term ‘the House of Allah’ is just, ‘Allāh’ and this is why some of the Righteous have desired it,
as in His words, ‘She said (note: a reference to Āsia, the wife of Pharaoh), ‘My Lord build a house for me with You in Paradise.’ (66:11) She did not say, ‘Build me something in Paradise’. Rather, she said, ‘Build me a house with You in
Paradise’ and the meaning of ‘house’ is Allāh, in reality (note: meaning, and
Allāh knows best, she only wanted Allāh, specifically, in Paradise. Thus
she was from amongst those people that come in the next āyah Shaikh Ibrāhīm, may Allāh be pleased with him, cites). He said, ‘Truly, the Allāh-Conscious are in the midst gardens and rivers (54:54)
in the seat of truth, near the Omnipotent King. (54:55) (note: meaning their
consciousness is already sitting with Allāh prior to leaving this world and they want there what they
are given here, as opposed to any building or any particular “thing”
whatsoever, and Allāh knows best).
-Shaikh Ibrāhīm Inyās, may
Allāh be
pleased with him, al-Jūz al-Thālith min Khuṭab wa Rasā-il, pgs. 205-6.
Translated by Imam Muhammad AbdulLatif Finch
INAUGURATION/OPENING OF THE FIRST MOSQUE IN MEDINA IN DHŪ L-QAʿDA 1350/APRIL 1931 & IT’S COMMISSIONING IN FEBRUARY 1938
By: Professor Rüdiger Seesemann
Culled from:
“The Divine Flood: Ibrāhīm Niasse and the Roots of a Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival”
............Scroll down to read these excerpts........
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2. Rihlat Konakriyah (A trip to Conakry), Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse - (Translated by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)
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4. The Icon of Mystics: Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse Al-Kawlakhy (Compiled by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)
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7. A Brief Biography of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibrahim Niasse (Compiled by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)
8. Risalat at-Tawbah (Epistle of Repentance) of Shaykh Ibrahim Niyass al-Kawlakhi" – (Translation & Commentary by Dr. Razzaq Solagberu)
9. Islamic Law of Inheritance, by Sayyid Ali ibn Abubakar al-Muthanna ibn Abdullah Niasse (Translated by Dr. Sulaiman Shittu)
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INAUGURATION/OPENING OF THE FIRST MOSQUE IN MEDINA
IN DHŪ L-QAʿDA 1350/APRIL 1931 & IT’S COMMISSIONING IN
FEBRUARY 1938
By: Professor Rüdiger Seesemann
Culled from:
“The Divine Flood:
Ibrāhīm Niasse and the
Roots of a Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival”
Shortly after the emergence of the fayḍa the relationship between Ibrāhīm Niasse and Mauritanian Tijānīs intensified. Guests from Mauritania were already present at the
inauguration of the first mosque in Medina Baye in 1931, as evidenced by their
praise poetry quoted in Kāshif al-ilbās.
Throughout the 1930s, the influx of visitors from Mauritania seems to
have continuously increased, and more and more of them recognized Niasse as the
bringer of the flood. Not all of these early Mauritanian followers had a strong
scholarly background, though some of them were from distinguished families of sharīfian origin, such as
Muḥammaddu wuld Anaḥwī (b. 1325/1907-1908, d. 1424/2003), who is
considered the first Mauritanian follower of Niasse and remembered as working
tirelessly on the fields of Kosi, contrary to what one would expect from a
person of sharīfian status.
One version of the story of Wuld Anaḥwī, recounted to me by a senior son of Ibrāhīm Niasse, goes as follows:
When the Mauritanians heard that there was a man in Senegal claiming to
be the bringer of the fayḍa, they were of course
skeptical, because under normal circumstances they would never submit to the
authority of a black person. They could not imagine that a black man should
have received the fayḍa. A black scholar or
legal expert (mujtahid), that was still conceivable. But a black man as the carrier of such a
divine secret, this was just unthinkable. Therefore one of the Mauritanians
came to Kaolack to dissuade Shaykh Ibrāhīm from insisting on his claim. This was Muḥammaddu wuld Anaḥwī. He came to Senegal
to get to the bottom of the matter. Otherwise the Mauritanians only came to the
black people to collect their gifts (hadāyā). Wuld Anaḥwī knew the description
of the bringer of the fayḍa, but he did not know
Shaykh Ibrāhīm yet. When he met
with him he was immediately convinced, and he wrote back to Mauritania that the
fayḍa had indeed appeared
in Kosi.
One of them is Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh b. al-Muṣṭafā al-ʿAlawī (d. 1363/1944), whose
verses describe Niasse as ṣāḥib waqtihi (“master of his time,” a Sufi title given to the supreme saint of an
era) and bringer of the fayḍa. The verses suggest
that they were composed on the occasion of the opening of the mosque in Medina
in Dhū l-Qaʿda 1350/April 1931.
Kāshif al-Ilbās ‘an
Faydat al-Khatm Abī al-‘Abbās (Removal of Confusion Concerning the Flood of the Saintly
Seal Ahmad al-Tijānī) by Shaykh al-Islam Al-Hājj Ibrāhīm b. ‘Abd-Allah Niasse “Translation
by Zachary Wright et. al” records thus;
The following
verses
were written by the erudite scholar of comprehensive understanding, the most distinguished and excellent
judge (qādī), Sīdī Muhammad ‘Abd-Allah
b. al-Mustafa al-‘Alawī:
Is not the mosque of Ibrāhīm founded on piety (taqwa)?
This your land (O Shaykh), where
there is neither misdeeds nor vain talk
For the companions of Abū ‘Abbās (al-Tijānī) are gathered around you
Obtaining from the Most High the
greatest of ranks
Your finest city is the best of
cities
For therein every stranger finds a
place of refuge (ma’wan)
For here the Religion continues to
spread in secret
For a thing has a share in that which its name is
enfolded
One is immediately taken upon entry
(into the city)
By the fact the Religion has occupied
the center of concentration
We came in troubled conditions
And we obtained there what lifted our
distress
From among the successors (khulafā’) of the Shaykh (al-Tijānī), there is one deputy (khalīfa)
Throughout all time, none can attain
his rank
A cup of love makes the rounds among
the drinkers
And with this (drink), there is no
drunkenness and no sobering-up
When they are vigilantly engaged in
the remembrance of the Guardian Lord (al-Muhaymin)
It is as if they quake, transported
with joy and pleasure
They crave a draught from the sea of
gnostic understandings
A sip that cures whatever worries
they have acquired
Their spiritual states emerge as a
testimony of what they have claimed
And not every state is a testimony to
the soundness of the claim
Accept the Shaykh of the (Sufi)
people and travel his path
Do not follow any direction except
that set by him
The inheritance (khilāfa) of Abū ‘Abbas (al-Tijānī) is distributed by him
His command in every affair is
followed
He dictates to his companions all
sorts of knowledge
Filling them with jurisprudence and
grammar
Who among the human race possesses
such qualities
He has no like among people, this day
or the next
So hold fast to this beautiful inheritance,
which came at such sacrifice
It
is pronouncing to you its wishes and desires
How
its ranks have been arranged! Free from every fault
No support or reinforcement is
required
Its end result is nothing but benefit
And surely every affair is (judged)
by the goodness of its ending
Blessing and peace on the master of
creation
Muhammad, the one sent, who has no
comparison.
He also said:
Felicitous is your star of fortune,
each time
And the zodiac sign is one of
happiness and safety
O sun of the Hashimite Religion,
congratulations are due to you
You are the returning point of all
doctrines
I am speaking of Abū Ishāq (Ibrāhīm Niasse), the shining vanguard of
his age
He who gives men to drink from cups
brimming with gnosis
He is naught but the master of his
time
The Tijānī Flood (Fayda) is at his hand
If compared with his peers, all
fingers point to him alone
What a wonder! To him belongs an
ocean that includes oceans
From the flux of the Lord of the
Throne and all created beings
In him, the Divine Reality is an
ocean at high tide
And the Sacred Law is a second ocean
in him
As for jurisprudence (fiqh) and religious principles (usūl); along with their understandings
And their branches: each of them is
an ocean (in him)
The same is true for the sciences of
rhetoric,
Linguistics and logic
The proof of my words is clear
And true is the speech with clear
proofs
Ever
and ceaselessly are all his moments
Filled
with remembrance and the Qur’ān
From all around, people descend on
him
Like pigeons flocking on seeds
Every most pious individual, possessed
of high morals and intelligence
Who is keen on purifying his heart
Surely destiny will pull him to this
Shaykh
For the pulling of destiny is like
the pulling of the horse’s reins
And nothing can prevent him, not the
mention of his loved ones
Not his family or his country
When he finds himself far from the
locus of his longing
Burning in love will you find his
heart
And when Allah is mentioned, you find
him swaying
Like the swaying of the drunkard
Among all creation, the Shaykh’s
position is raised ceaselessly
Until he has become higher than Orion
(jawzā’), and the mansions of the moon
May Allah protect you, our Abū Ishāq
From the evil of the enemies
And from those harboring evil intent
and evil words
From the evil of enviers and
oppressors
And may He award you to follow Muhammad
And may He give you the most
honorable virtues and excellence
And give you the love of the masters
of knowledge and their sciences
And the love of the brotherhood of the Shaykh (Tijānī)
(End of Quotation from Kashif al-Ilbas)
Continuation of Quote from...
“The Divine
Flood: Ibrāhīm Niasse and the
Roots of a Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival”, by Professor Rüdiger
Seesemann;
Another good illustration of this mechanism was the commissioning of the
new mosque of Medina in February 1938. Niasse had begun to pursue the mosque project
immediately on his return from the Ḥijāz in March 1937. He clearly envisioned the new mosque as a further step towards
enhancing his visibility and asserting his independence as a religious leader in
the Senegalese context.
Already in 1932, shortly after the founding of Medina, he had written a
short treatise in which he claimed the right to perform the Friday Prayer in
his mosque—a proposition that was likely to provoke controversy, as it was a
consensus among religious scholars of the Mālikī School of Law that all Muslims of one town should convene in one mosque
to perform the Friday Prayer. Six years later, Niasse proceeded with his plans
and did indeed declare his mosque a Friday mosque, a step he justified in
another text eventually published under the title Wajh al-taḥqīq fī kawn jāmiʿ Madīna huwa l-ʿatīq. In his view, which was
also advocated by religious scholars in many other growing urban areas under
Maliki influence, there was no objection to holding the Friday Prayer in more
than one mosque in a specific town provided that the existing mosque was
difficult to reach or failed to provide enough space for the congregation.
In the particular case of Kaolack, Niasse argued, there was even
sufficient reason to abandon the existing Friday Mosque, as it had been
constructed with the support of “foreigners” (ajānib; most likely a reference to French officials), who continued to meddle
in its affairs. Therefore the mosque of Medina was the one that could
rightfully claim the title al-jāmiʿ al-ʿatīq, i.e., the original
Friday Mosque.
At the official inauguration of the mosque in February 1938, a
panegyrist of the Idaw ʿAlī, the author, Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh b. al-Muṣṭafā al-ʿAlawī, declared:
He is none other than the Sahib al-Faydah (Possessor of the Divine Flood),
I have decisive evidence for this;
he is a spiritual trainer through whom the aspirant gets what he
desires.
What remains is only that all countries heed his call.
His guidance (hudāhu) has encompassed all creation:
no other shaykh is left, no one else who can be beneficial [to
humanity].
- Wajh al-taḥqīq fī kawn jāmiʿ Madīna huwa l-ʿatīq. Casablanca: Maṭbaʿat al-Najāḥ al-Jadīda, 1996.
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