All praises and gratitude to Allah the Magnificent
and the Merciful. May Allah continue to shower His blessings on the chieftain
of creation, the Noble Prophet Muhammad. The finest of Allah’s mercy also be
upon the seal of sainthood, the hidden pole, Shaykh Ahmad Tijanni. This piece
of admonition by our Noble Shaykh is retrieved from a tijani work (Mifathu
Sahadatuh-l-Abadiyah Fih Fatalib-l-Ahamadiyya) written by shaykh Al-Haj Abubakr
Al-futi Al-jalawi Al-futi (ra) translated with exegesis by AbdulRahmon Hussein
Oke and its intended to reach all muslims especially those who wish to be well grounded
in the course of gratitude and the Tariqat Tijanniyat’ due way of appreciating
Allah’s Rahma and Majesty in any state.
“Mandate
upon yourselves gratitude to Allah in all occurrences with or without cause.
Giving thanks to Allah is a due course in following Allah the most exalted. You
should have the integrity to be grateful to Allah in all ramifications, the
easiest of the appreciation means is giving ‘thanks by tongue’ and nothing
should hinder you from that while the greatest height in giving thanks by
tongue could be reached by recitation of (surat) faatihat following the mercy
of Allah. One should intend drowning deep in gratitude secretly or publicly
anytime Allah gives mercy. Anyone who recites this will find his name as a
great person in Allah and it (surat faatihat) could be recited from one to
hundred times and the reward (for the recital) will continue to increase in
Allah’s benevolence according to the recital’s station as truthfully promised.
The extent of praises cannot be measured as said by the prophet (saw) and among
the praises is (this supplication) ‘Allahuma laka l amdu wa laka shukru mislu
maa ahata bihi ilmuka min sifaatika wa jamihi mahaamiduka alati hamidta bihi
nafsaka bi kalmaatika wa lati hamidta biha kula fardi min khalqika bi ayyi lafs
zikrika bihi kuli hamdu minka wa min jamihi khalqika adada maa ahaata bihi
ilmika ala jamihi maa ahata bihi ilmika min nihaamika ala fahuwa hamdu jaamihu
li anwaahi l mahaamidi mustagriq li shukri ala jamiji niham”
“I
implore you to be mindful of things that devastate the mercy of Allah, be
careful of stretching your hand into what Allah is not pleased with such as:
drinking of alcohol, fornication, bribery and other vices like struggle for
leadership and kingship or making omen befall Muslims by murdering them,
embezzlement of their monies, enslavement of their relatives or slightly injuring them. Whoever does these
while he dwells in Allah’s fortune would surely find the fortune devastated by
Allah and He’ll also be angry with such person. Anyone who indulges in such
acts and does not find his fortune devastated should bear in mind that he’ll
surely experience the anger of Allah and His wrath in life and hereafter”
In accordance to the divine injunction and prophetic
tradition it is mandatory on every muslim to give thanks and be grateful to Allah
in any state while most of us think giving gratitude to Allah is only mandatory
when Allah’s mercy descends, our Noble Shaykh Ahmad Tijanni made us know that
it is incumbent to give thanks to Allah when vice-events happen to us and this
is predominantly the way of the Sufi gnosticism.
From Tariqat Tijanniyat point of view, it is worthy
of note from the admonition that the best way to being grateful is recitation
of surat faatihat and in another Shaykh Ahmad Tijanni’s admonition he implores
his disciples to recite the surat faatihat with Bismillah Rahman Raheem and
this is basically while the secrets of the Tijanniya path is dominated by surat
faatihat as the tariqat is rooted to the path of giving Shukr to Allah. Recitation
of surat faatihat will also accord bountiful reward from Allah as it is the hub
of the divine words apart from being the surat of gratitude.
From Sufi point of view, the path of shukr is the
most promising way to get closer to Allah. Shaykh Abdul-Azeez Ad-dabbagy (ra)
was asked about the best way to move closer to Allah and he genuely asserted
that walking on the path of shukr would make one nearer compare to the path of
riyada (engaging in activities that will draw one to spiritual height) and it
also encompasses all other ways to attain spirituality. It could be recollected
that the great Succour, Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (ra) is always enigmatically saying
the statement “Alhamdulilah ala kuli ahl – gratitude to Allah in all states”
Giving gratitude to Allah in state of adversity and sadness draws one closer to
Allah and will increase one’s station if pronounced with sincerity. This also
serve as a thin chance with high reward to worship Allah, the exalted and it is
with this golden opportunity the people of Gnosticism attain illumination of
vanishing into Allah in the course of shukr and by these they gain the easiest
way to appraise Allah’s Majesty
Care should be taken not to fall victim as an
ingrate by indulging in acts that would label one a tyrant using the fortunes
given by Allah to torment others.
May Allah illuminate the eye of our heart to see,
appraise and follow the truth. AMIN!
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