Sermon of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (RTA) delivered in Sham (Part One)

Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (rta) admonishes his disciples and beloved ones in sham. The admonishment is a glad tiding in guiding all followers, students and beloved ones of shaykh through the journey to the Lord. It could also be followed strictly by all muslims as its basis is rooted to the exegesis of the ultimate commands of Allah (swt) and His Noble prophet Muhammad (saw). Before I proceed, I wish to draw your attention oh beloved reader to this statement of shaykh Ahmad Tijanni (rta), Which says;

“When you hear something about me, weight it on the scale of shari’ah if it’s measurable (fixes on the scale), work with it, if it does not refrain from it”

Shaykh Muhammad Hafiz At-tijanni explains this by asserting that

“Anything that doesn’t corroborate with the shari’ah, he (Shaykh Ahmad Tijani) desists from it”

The above assertions simply tells us that the authority that comes from shaykh Ahmad Tijanni (rta) is within the scope of shari’ah and if this is the case I believe nothing should be of doubt about him as its referred from the prophetic sayings that if you tag the truth as lie you have committed sin and vice versa and I think it’s in the interest of one who doubts his ‘personality’ to leave issues concerning him as it is instead of chiding him in order not to fall in the trap of shortcomings..

The original transcript of this sermon was retrieved from a tijani archive compiled together by shaykh Al-Haj Abubakr Al-futi Al-jalawi Al-futi (May Allah be pleased with him) and then translated by the poor servant and destitute-to-Allah, seeker of Allah’s mercy, AbdulRahmon Hussein Oke. From here I’ll proceed to the sermon which would be in three parts. May Allah give us knowledge and understanding to comprehend the truth and be able to work within the scope of the truth.

Shaykh Speaks!

“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praises are due to Allah the Most High. Blessings be upon the Prophet (may Allah’s peace be upon him). Here is a sermon to all brothers (in Islam) from the slave and destitute-to-Allah Ahmad ibn Muhammad At-tijanni Al-assani (May Allah be pleased with him). May Allah’s peace and mercy be upon you! Let it be known (may Allah’s mercy be upon you). Verily, man is not created to this world except to worship Allah, bring forth the command of Allah, refraining from the forbidden, standing by the rules (of Allah), moving his face towards Allah and with this he’ll attain the divine station and prophetic ways. Allah says ‘I have not created the jinn and man except to worship me (Quran)’, Allah (swt) says again ‘Haven’t I warned you oh children of Adam not to worship Shay’tan (Quran)... Allah (swt) says again ‘verily, this your Nation is one nation and I am your Lord, you should worship me (Quran)”

First and foremost, it is incumbent on every seeker to bear in mind that every step taken in life should be directed towards knowing Allah with the intention of seeking His majestic face. This very first part of the admonishments of Shaykh should be strictly adhered to exoterically and esoterically in order to attain the said divine station.

Shaykh speaks!

“Lay emphasis on what is to be observed with respect to solat (the five daily prayers), its verdicts, rules and regulations; these are written in the book of authors. It is also important to be mindful of terms and conditions of solat, its compulsory acts, while giving attention to stage of Rukuh and Sajdat according to the prescription of the Prophet (May Allah’s peace be upon him) in his explanation (Perform rukuh until you are certified then raise your head to stand uprightly and then make sajdat until you are certified then raise your head and seat rightly and then seat again until you are certified. Repeat the whole act for the rest of the rakat - Hadith). You should then be careful while performing rakat, one stage after the other as negligence of things that invalidate solat had nullified so many people’s salat. This is evident from statement of the prophet (saw) in sound prophet relations: the prophet was said to have ordered a man who performed solat in an unaccepted way thrice, he was commanded to perform the solat the fourth time after he had been taught the right way by the prophet (saw). And hence, the prophet said “Perform solat as you see me perform it” (hadith). Verily, he (the prophet) completes the rukuh and sujud with comportion while the verdict of comportion in solat is to complete the rules and tasbih in the duo (sujud and rukuh). ‘The first of the deeds that would be looked unto by Allah is solat, if it is accepted the rest of the deeds would looked into and if not, Allah would not looked into anything (Hadith).

The first deed to be perfected as an abd (slave) in ibadat is solat, shaykh laid emphasis on this especially the stage of rukuh and sujud as its most delicate stage that could either validate or invalidate one’s solat. It is worthy of note that patience coupled with awareness of rules guiding each stage of solat is of utmost important.

Shaykh speaks!

“It is compulsory to complete cleanliness from dirt by perfection of stage of ablution and baths. A lot of people of this generation joke with ablution and do not complete it which invalidates their solat. Anyone whose ablution is nullified, his solat is nullified. Care should be taken while standing in solat as the station of solat in iman is comparable to the station of Ruh (spirit) in the body and if there’s spirit there’s life while absence of spirit is absence of life. After solat, I admonish you on completion of the rules and regulation guiding fast, mindfulness of its verdict, its compulsory acts and invalidators both in the evening and night. This should be followed by breaking of fast with halal food. I also draw your attention to giving alms, its systems, methods and laws guiding it are all written in the books of authors. I also draw your attention to performance of the five daily prayers in congregation only if the imam will perfect the sujud and rukuh. You should also be mindful of surat fatihat, its recitation should be perfected. Hundreds of solat without recitation of surat faatihat is incomparable with one solat with faatihat”

Ablution should be carefully performed, solat in congregation is utmost importance, zakat and sadaqat and surat faatihat in solat should be carefully noted. I implore you oh beloved reader to patiently and carefully read the second part. May Allah’s mercy be with us. Amin!