Some have requested some of the poetry of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse, and I pray those more qualified than myself might post some (in translation) as they feel appropriate (or, indeed, any of the writings of our shuyukh). But I thought I would post an excerpt of Shaykh Ibrahim's Nafahat al-Malik al-Ghani, which is a poem he wrote during his trip from Mali to Guinea, thus the poem is also called Rihla Konakriyya. This excerpt appeared in an article by Andrea Brigaglia called "The Fayda Tijaniyya of Ibrahim Nyass: Genesis and implications of a Sufi Doctrine" in Islam et Societes au Sud du Sahara 14-15 (2000-2001). I have made a few minor changes to Brigaglia's translation; for those of you with Majmu' Rihlat al-Shaykh Ibrahim edited by Muhammad Ma'mun Niasse, the excerpt appears on pages 110-111 of the book. My intention is only to provide you all access to what has already been made available to the "academic" world, not to disclose the secrets of the shaykh. As Shaykh Ibrahim has himself said in Jawahir al-Risa'il, "Sadur al-Ahrar, Qabur al-Asrar" (the unrestrained breast is the grave of secrets).


- Zakariya Wright



By Bissikrima I passed during my outward journey

And then on my way back, as if I was carried by a river.

There I invoked Him by His greatest name,

Approaching Him with thanksgiving. Then burst

As a furnace my breast by the invocation

And it was filled with lights,

Essential Realities and spiritual knowledge,

The mystery of the mystery of the mystery, and divine gifts.

I got hold of the secret of the Seal of the Saints,

To me the tongue of my transitory state was singing hymns,

Expressing itself by the breath of the Creator

My stomach was full, while the waist was crying out:

‘Stop it! gently! You’ve loaded the abdomen

He bestowed me a special science and made of me His deputy

If I said “Be” it would instantly be.

But Him I had taken as trustee

[I had given myself] as an offering, and He had singled me out as His friend.

I said: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad has been sent by God.”

Then from me overflowed His secret

Nobody comes to me

And does not know God, the Eternal Sustainer

Young or old --

Since the Beloved, the Sanctuary, has come close --

Men or women

Tramp beggars or sovereigns

Had I wished, His effusion (fayda) would have permeated all the dry lands

The oceans would have held His mysteries

Everybody would have known them

Each one, but to hear

Is not the same as to see

And next time you will see miracles

[Proceeding] from the inundation of this Seal, leader of the noble ones

All this is al-Tijani’s Fayda

It is the assistance from the Elected of the world, al-‘Adnani

All this is a favor from the Benefactor,

Whom I praise secretly and openly,

Who indeed created me to heal the fracture –

I am the deputy of the Secret of the Secret.