The seal of Mouhamedian sainthood

There is told a small part of seïdina Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him).
A famous master in sufism whose name is Sidi Mokhtar El Kounty (May God be satisfied with him), had declared that the 12th century of the Hegira was comparable to that of prophet Mohammed (Peace be up on him) in many aspects and it was in that particular moment that the Seal of Mohamedian sainthood would appear.

In fact in 1737/38 (1150 from the Hegira) Seïdina Cheikh Ahmed ibn Mohamed ibn Mokhtar Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) was born in a small town of Algerian desert ‘Aïn Madhi. He was the son of the very pious and well learned Sidi Mohammed ibn Mokhtar Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) and the lofty and honourable Aïcha (May God be satisfied with her)

They themselves were of a noble lineage where one could find several gifted erudites and saints. We can mention as an example his fourth ancestor who owned in his house a special small room where he used to go alone to practice spiritual devotions. He was continuously shut in his room and nobody was allowed to enter that dwelling.
He had reached a high degree of spirituality which compelled him to wear a veil from his room of meditation to the mosque and from the mosque to his room again when he was back home. Indeed those who would see his face, could not stop watching it, lost in their contemplation they were, even if it was for a twinkling of an eye, if not they would die, what compelled him to do so for 23 years.

Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) was from a Cherifian lineage that is to say, his family-tree could be traced back to the prophet Mohammed (Peace be up on him) from Seydina Ali and Fatima (May God be satisfied with her) by way of their son Hassan (May God be satisfied with him) but he did not testify it before having asked this question to the Prophet himself (Peace be up on him) when he saw him in state of waking.


He answered him three times :
“Indeed you are my son”

Then he added :
“Your lineage from Hassan, Ali’s son is authentic”

Thus, it is in this environment of faith, science and sainthood that was born and grew up Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) His family was scrupulously applying the teach of the Koran and the Sunna in its daily life; his father called and encouraged people to carry out good deeds urged men and women to live accordingly to the Sunna while he was fighting against any innovation, without fearing for Allah’s sake alone, to be wronged by anybody; he was loved and respected.
As it often appened, his father used to be visited by spiritual beings (Rouhaniyêt) coming to meet all his needs, he would reject them and told them :

“Leave me alone with Allah. I do not want to have any other link, but that of Allah.”

People often came to sea him in his house and their only purpose was to remember Allah.

The education of the saint-child was devoted to the famous and prestigious Mohamed Ibn Hamou Tidjani (dead in 1162) under the aegis of whom he memorized the whole Koran and this, when he was seven years old. Them he learned Muslim laws (fiqh) according to Imam Malick’s school of law (May God be satisfied with him) and he studied the different treatises on jurisprudence with “the knowing by god” (Arif billah) the scholar Sidi Mabrouk ibn Bou‘afiya Madaoui Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him). Still very young, Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) made himself known thanks to his intelligence and piety; it was the same for his virtues and his modesty. He was an assiduous student and had a surprising will to succeed; he always finished everything he started doing. He never postponed something he undertook.
One day during his childhood when he was getting out of his school he saw a huge light in from of him that was climbing up to the sky, then the Prophet (Peace be up on him) appeared and enhanced him with these words :

“Go on, for you are truly following the right way”

After this event, he ran away to find refuge in his aunt’s house not far from this spot ; she covered him up and cheered him up, while she was preparing bead for him. It often happened to this young child to see in a dream what will become of him as far as his destiny was concerned. In fact, he saw himself on a throne, managing and ordering multitudes of creature. Once he saw the Prophet (Peace be up on him) riding a horse at ‘Aïn Mahdi and Seïdina Cheikh was very closely following him; he wanted to ask him for something but preferred waiting for the Prophet (Peace be up on him) to get down from his horse to feel more at ease. When the Prophet (Peace be up on him) got down he want to a field and started to pray Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) wanted to join him in his prayer but he only arrived at the moment of the second rak’a. He understood thanks to that dream that his wishes would be fulfilled only in the second part of his life, which was represented by the second rak’a.

A tragic event was to link Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani’s (May God be satisfied with him) destiny with the saint Prophet son (Peace be up on him); in fact, in 1752/53 (1166H) when he was only 16 years old his father and his mother died the same day because of a plague outbreak, what made of him an orphan.
This even did not demoralize him and he went on with still more determination to carry on his studies.

In 1757/58 (1171H) when he was 21 years old he left ‘Aïn Madhi under the impulsion of an extremely strong thirst of learning, he want to Fes which was at time a well known city of knowledge with notably its famous University and at the same time The Mosque of Qarrawiyyin. This town was also a place where famous masters and saint used to meet and Seïdina Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) was to visit it so as to take advantage from their blessings (Baraka). Every day the knowledge he has got from the scholars of the University above mentioned increased ; he got all the degrees that enabled him to teach all the science known by Muslims of that time but his strong thirst to learn was not yet quenched as much. His efforts and fear of Allah, his modesty, his love of truth and his dislike of falsehood compelled everyone to respect him.

One day he met a Cheikh (master) who belonged to the happy few for whom God had revealed his secrets (kachf) and this man urged him to go back to his native town, what he did ; on his way back he stopped at many “Zaouiya” and met a great number of pious men. After leaving ‘Aïn Madhi, he went to Abiod Sidi Cheikh where he stayed for some time with Sidi Cheikh Ben Eddin (May God be satisfied with him) for 5 years then he left for Tlemcen in 1767/68 (1181). He was at that time 31 years old and had taught there for many years.
In Tlemcen, he was loved and respected by the scientists for his wide knowledge and wisdom. To those who asked him questions about the identity of the great erudite who would have taught him so much knowledge, he always answered :

“He did not receive this science from one person only but from those he had met while traveling.”

During all these past years, Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) was successively the follower of many spiritual ways (6 all told) and he had met famous saints (wali among those ways there was that of the Qutb Mawlana Taïb ibn Mouhamed (May God be satisfied with him) dead in 1180, the spiritual way of Sidi Abdelqader Djilani (May God be satisfied with him); he took in Fes the Nassiriya with Saint Sidi Mouhamed ibn Abdallah Tazani (May God be satisfied with him) then that of the Qutb Sidi Ahmed el Habib ibn Mohamed (May God be satisfied with him) dead in 1165 known under the name of El Ghamary Sejelmassi. Besides this great qutb, miraculously after his death, came to see Seïdina Ahme Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) in a dream and gave him one Divine Name to invoke constantly ; he also got something from Saint Malamati Sidi Ahmed Tawachi (May God be satisfied with him) dead in 1204. This one gave him a Divine Name to invoke repeatedly and told him :
“You must go into retreat (khalwa); in solitude (el wahda) and in the remembrance of God. Be patient till God reveals his secrets to you, for you are among the elected ones and you are going to reach a very high rank.”

Seïdi Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) disliked those conditions, and then Sidi Ahmed Tawachi (May God be satisfied with him) told him :

“You must never stop repeating this invocation in any case, be constant in doing so, without any retirement or loneliness Allah will make you know his secrets in such cases.”

Once he assimilated the teaching and the secrets of the well know scholars he had met and when he reached the spiritual rank he was yearning for, this thirst and desire to know more about Allah that obsessed him still urged him to go further in his quest. Some famous Saints told him that he would attain a high rank he would never have expected; thus, he met the great Saint (Wali) whom God had revealed secrets; Sidi Mohamed ibn Hassan el Wanjali (May God be satisfied with him) (dead in 1185) who told him that he would reach the station of the famous Cheikh and Qutb of his time Sidi Abou el Hassan Chadhili (May God be satisfied with him) and he revealed other secrets too.
One day he also met Saint Sidi Abdallah ibn Sidi Arbi ibn Ahmed (May God be satisfied with him) from Aouled Ma’an el Andaloussia (dead in 1188) in Fes who after talking with Seïdina Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) repeated three times :

“Allah will guide you”

One day again Seïdina (May God be satisfied with him) saw in a dream the famous Saint and Qutb of his time, El Ghawth Sidi Abou Madian (May God be satisfied with him) among a gathering of people where he was saying :

“He who gives me something, I will give him what he is longing for.”

Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) then replied:
“I give you four Mathaqil (Unity of monetary weight) and secure the Qotbaniya el ‘Odhma for me.”

He answered :
“Yes I do secure it for you and you will not die without getting it.”

What confirmed his dream was that another day Seïdina Cheikh (May God be satisfied with him) came across a man known by the fact that he could see in a state of waking spiritual beings (Rouhani) and these ones informed him about everything he wanted to know.
Seïdina Cheikh (May God be satisfied with him) told him :
“I have hidden something deep in my heart; can you telle me what is it ? ”

When the man questioned the “Rouhani” they replied that Seïdina Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) is interrogating about the Qotbaniya ; the man realized that a mysterious person near the spiritual beings said :
“ Who allowed you to talk about that matter ? ”

These spiritual of beings (Rouhani) then answered him :

“ It is him who questions about that ”

That mysterious person then answered them :
“ It is me who guarantees him this Qotbaniya in Tlemcen before his departure ; he will not die without getting it ; then don’t meddle with that matter, neither you nor the others ” and this pious person was no one else but Sidi Abou Madian the Ghawth (May God be satisfied with him) the man who could speak to those spiritual beings had never seen Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) before and he did not know him either.

After many efforts, he felt like going on pilgrimage in Mecca ; it was in 1772 (1186), he was 36 years old at that time. While he was travelling, he met other important personalities such as Sidi Mohamed ibn Abderrehman el Azhari (May God be satisfied with him) in Zwawa area near Algiers, next to whom he enters the Khalwatiya spiritual ways, then when he arrived in Tunisia where he met Saint Sidi Abdsalam Rahaoui (May God be satisfied with him) Seïdina Cheikh (May God be satisfied with him) saw the Prophet in Tunisia who told him :

“Invoke Allah to get knowledge or everything else you desire and I would say Amen for your prayer to be granted.”

Seïdina Cheikh therefore invoked God and the Prophet said Amen, after that he recited the Sourate “wa douha” (Sourate 93) and when he came up to the verse that reads as follow :

“Indeed your Lord will award His favour and then you will meet your wishes…” The Prophet (Peace be up on him) fixed his noble eyes on Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) and finally recited the mentioned sourate. Seïdina Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) stayed in Tunisia for one year between the town of Tunis and that of Sousse. He was teaching there a variety of science as well as the Hikam of Ibn Ata Allah.
Dazzled with the extension of Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani knowledge the Emir of the country sent him a message asking him to stay in Tunisia forever so as to teach there the sublime science and to deal with religious matters. He ever gave him a house, a high salary in the Zaïtouna University. When Seïdina (May God be satisfied with him) got the Emir’s letter he kept quiet then the day after he left the town and took a boat for Cairo in Egypt, with the firm intention to meet the famous Saint, the majestic and the perfectly-knowing by God (Arif bi llah), Sidi Mahmoud el Kourdiou (May God be satisfied with him) who was originated from Iraq.
At there first encounter this one told Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) :

“You will be loved by God here in this world and in the next world”

Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) asked him :

“How do you know that ? ”

Sidi Mahmoud el Kourdiou (May God be satisfied with him) announced him :

“I hold this truth from Allah !”

Then Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) told him :

“I had seen you when I was in Tunisia and I had told you I am wholly made of steel” you answered : “Yes, Thus I am going to turn your steel into gold.”

When Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) told this dream to Sidi Mahmoud el Kourdiou (May God be satisfied with him) he answered him :
“Yes it is as you have seen”

Few days later, Sidi Mahmoud el Kourdiou (May God be satisfied with him) questioned Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) about his ambition to which Seïdina replied :

“My ambitious is to reach the most high-ranking Qoutbaniya” (El Qotbaniya el ‘Odhma).

Then the famous scholar declared firmly :

“Oh my friend, The Almighty One will give you more than that.”

He finally joined the holy town of Mecca and got in touch with pious men devoted to God’s worshiping ; there too he had a most important meeting with Cheikh Sidi Ahmed ibn Abdallah el Hindi (May God be satisfied with him) who was not allowed to meet anyone else. He sent a letter in which he announced him :

“You are the heir of my science, my secrets, my gifts and my lights (Divine knowledge)”

While he was writing this words to Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani, Sidi Ahmed Ibn Abdallah el Hindi declared to his servant :

“He is the very man I was waiting for, he is my heir”

What is servant objected to exclaiming :

“I have been your servant for 18 years and today a man has come from the Maghreb and you tell me he is your heir : What about me ?”

Sidi Abdallah el Hindi (May God be satisfied with him) then revealed him this secret :

“I was waiting for but him and that matter I have no responsibility, Allah by his mercy, chooses whom He wants if I were to decide I would have chosen my own son for along time.”

So, he transmitted everything he knows as far as his science, secret and light were concerned. Then he died after having trusted him with his only son to be initiated by Seïdina (May God be satisfied with him). He also announced him his impending encounter with the well know Saint and “Supreme Pole” Qutb Jami, Sidi Mohamed ibn Abdel Karim Samman (May God be satisfied with him) who died in 1775. In fact, he had met him in Medina and this one made him go on a retreat for three days and revealed him the great powers and secrets of famous pious men. After Medina, the flood-lit town and the call on the Saint Prophet’s tomb, Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani rejoined Cairo and during this new meeting Sidi Mahmoud el Kourdiou (May God be satisfied with him) transmitted him the Khalwatiya tenet and delivered him a degree that enabled him to initiate, educated and teach his followers in this religious order.
Finally he left for the Maghreb, went through some cities and stopped in some towns. After that, he went to live alone in the Algerian desert (departure from Tlemcen in 1196) in the villages of Chellala (from 1196 to 1199) and Boussemghoune (from 1199 to 1213). It was just in the village of Boussemghoune that Seydina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) had got the right to know some well-hidden religious secrets (Fath el Akbar). In fact, when he was 46 years old (1196) during his spiritual retirement, in broad day light, the Prophet (Peace be up on him) in a state of waking, came up to him and told him :

“From new onwards, I am your initiator and your guide ; nobody else will pretend to be your initiator ; consequently, you must give up everything you have got from previous religious orders, nobody will reproach you anything, for I would be your intermediary next to Allah and I would help you.”

Therefore he became the trustee of the Prophet’s himself spiritual legacy of the other spiritual way. This Tariqa he received is called the Ahmedian, Mohamedian, Ibrahimiya Hanifiya Tariqa which contains so many God’s blessing never included in any other ways, the same way as Mohammad’s community has had graces never obtained by any other community. The virtues that one can find out in the Prophet’s way or worshiping Allah and his Khalife Sidi Ahmed Tidjani are uncountable. Thus, therefore the Prophet (Peace be up on him) taught Seydina Cheikh his Wird (religious prayers one must repeat daily) and dictated him the conditions of this religious order he personally gave him among other pieces of advice :

“Keep on following this Tariqa’s condition without retiring from this word neither ceasing your relationship with other human beings till you attain spiritual station which you are promised while being true to yourself, without any discomfort neither difficulties nor excessive religious practice, stop calling on any saint from now on.”

He received yearly a direct initiation from the Prophet (Peace be up on him) and ordered and allowed him to call people to this spiritual way ; then came and expansion-period that had lasted 13 years in this area ; people came from several countries to profit from his Baraka and shared what the Prophet (Peace be up on him) trusted him with.
This religious order expanded considerably in a twinkling of an eye and this phenomenon stirred up the jealousy and the restlessness of the Turkish authorities of that time and there again Seydina Cheikh Tidjani’s destiny was going once more to be strangely similar enough to that of the Prophet (Peace be up on him), for as the Prophet (Peace be up on him) was to go into banishment from Mecca to Medine, Seydina Cheikh had to do same exile from Boussemghoune to Fes (departure from Abi Semghoune in Rabi’ Awwal 17th arrived in Fes in Rabi’ Thani 6th, 1213)
From there and from his dwelling he was busy initiating and educating his followers, teaching and explaining the holy Coran and the Prophet’s traditions (Sunna) to his pupils still more and more numerous.
The wide extension of his particular knowledge, the depth of his teachings and the disclosure of his genuine wonders will still win the esteem of more and more people very soon, among then we can find a specular number of well-leaned scientists, perfect saints and spiritual guides ; many of them were of noble lineage from our Prophet Mohammed (Peace be up on him). Thus, since his meeting with the messenger of Allah in Boussemghoune, he had never stopped applying his teachings and education on all year long, in proportion as the events evolved till the so much announced and predicted day during his life time when he reached the high rank of Qoutbaniya el ‘Odhma in Mouharam month in 1214 (in Arafat through a prodigy). He attained two single stations in the saint’s spiritual hierarchy, that of Khatmiya (the seal of sainthood; the higgest rank among saints. He closed forever the sainthood’s stations) and that of Katmiya “the hidden pole” a spiritual rank know only by Allah and His Prophet (Peace be up on him). He was awarded this high rank in the month of Safar 18th, he is the spiritual intermediary between Prophets (Peace of God be on them all) and all the other saints.

“The message has been closed by our saint Prophet and the sainthood has been closed by Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani ;
what we mean here is to make people be aware of the supreme and single sainthood ;
as for the Pole of come on sainthood he will always exist as time goes by,
but by the mere favour of our glorious Lord (Praised be his name).”

He is on the top of the sainthood ladder. Only the Prophets (Peace be up on them) and the Prophet’s companions occupy a more high-ranking station. He is the Hidden Pole who will be known only at the last judgement day through a voice that will shout :

“Oh! People who are gathering here, here is your guide who transmitted you Divine lights since the beginning of the creation, till now.”

Seydina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) has revealed :

“The master of the universe has loudly and clearly informed me that I am the Hidden Pole and this when I was waking state not in a dream.”

He has also explained the role of the Hidden pole to me on these terms :

“Any saint does not drink or quenched by an ocean of lights (flux) since the creation of the world until the Doomsday when an angel will blow into the horn of the last judgment day.”
He has also said :
“All the ebbing and the flowing of light or anything else coming from the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be up on him) are collected by the spirits of the other Prophets after that by Seydina Cheikh spirit and from him it is shared among the creatures since the beginning of the world till the day when an angel blows into the Horn of the last judgment day. I have received sciences through which I have been favoured between the Prophets and there is no intermediary between the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be up on him) and me.”
These words have been uttered in the intention to allow the followers to understand better the importance and the values of the blessings that Allah has bestowed and the Owner of this spiritual rank never attained by any other saint and therefore to be grateful towards Allah who in His Holy Koran :

“And as far as your Lord’s blessings are concerned, tell them to people”

In the same vein, the Prophet (Peace be up on him) had proclaimed :

“I was already a Prophet while Adam was between water and clay”

The Prophet (Peace be up on him) had also declared :

“I will be the first to raise from the dead, the resurrection day, I will be the speaker when resurrected people are gathered and the announcer of good news when people are desperate, I’m the older of Allah’s praise-banner without any pretentiousness. I will be the first to ask for intercession and get it ; I will be the first to knock at Paradise’s and to be allowed to enter. I will do so with poor believers and I’m the most deserving among all Adam’s children next to my Lord without any pretentiousness.”

Seïdina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) had said :

“My two feet you can see here are set on the neck of any saint”

Sidi Mohammed el Ghali (May God be satisfied with him) a prominent Seïdina’s companion made him note that Sidi Abdel Qader Djilani had almost said a similar sentence.
Seïdina Cheikh Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) replied :

“He was perfectly right to say such a thing, but he was talking about the saints of his time, as for me, I repeat it again : “My two feet that you can see here, have never ceased being on the neck of any saint”

Sidi Mohammed el Ghali (May God be satisfied with him) had said about Seydina’s role and rank :
“It is through his intermediary that all the saints, without being aware of it, do receive the ebbing and the flowing of the Prophet’s Divine lights.”

Seydina Ahmed Tidjani (May God be satisfied with him) left this world on Thursday 17th Chawal 1230 when he was 80 years old. After having finished his morning prayer, he laid down his side, asked for a cup of water, he drank out of it, then his blessed soul left his blessed body forever.
He was buried in the garden which juxtaposed the walls of Fes’ blessed Zaouiya. After that event, gradually, during its enlargement this plot of land was included in the walls of the Zaouiya that began to build since 1215. Since his death the light he had inherited from the Prophet (Peace be up on him) never ceased to spread around the world.

salam alikum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatuhu, wa salamu allahi ala rasulina muhammad.

Hassan, do you mind if I clean this article up a bit and post it on Wikipedia?

Bismillah! please do