Tuesday, 26 May 2015

SHAYKH AL-HAJJ ABDULLAHI WULD AL-HAJJ

SHAYKH AL-HAJJ ABDULLAHI WULD AL-HAJJ: THE DIVINE TREASURE-CHEST SEEKER
{A Great Visionary (Mukashaf); The Discoverer of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse as the future bringer of the Faydah (Divine Flood)}
By: Professor Rüdiger Seesemann (Germany)

In: The Divine Flood: Ibrāhīm Niasse and the Roots of a Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival (2011).Publisher: Oxford University Press
&
The Shurafa and the Blacksmith: The Role of the Idaw 'Ali of Mauritania in the Career of the Senegalese Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (1900-75). Published in {The Transmission of Learning in Islamic Africa (2004) - [Chapter 3, pgs 72-98], Edited by Dr. Scott S. Resse}


Introduction

Abdallah wuld al-Hajj told the young Ibrahim that;

"The fayda will appear at your hands, and it will not appear at the hands of anyone else". ~ Kashif al-Ilbas


Joseph Hill (founder of medinabaay.org) stated that;

Abd Allāh wuld al-Ḥājj was known as a great a visionary (mukashaf), and when he saw Baay Ñas (Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse), he exclaimed: “There is no God but Allah [term of astonishment]! What great things God has in store for this black youth!” (“Lāᵓilāha illāLlāh, hādhā shābb al-kūriyy mā akthara mā ddakharahū Llāh!).



1.0 Shaykh Ibrahim Niass's Upbringing

The father’s standing as a Muslim scholar and his position within the Tijaniyya had a decisive influence on young Ibrahim. Hagiographical narratives of his youth in Kaolack attest that he, though still a boy at the time, already showed signs of extraordinary promise...

The Léona neighborhood of Kaolack, where Abdallah Niasse had established his home and his zawiya, soon became a busy hub of distinguished Tijani visitors, mostly representatives of the Idaw 'Ali, a tribal confederation based in Trarza and other regions of Mauritania, whose members claim descent from Ali b. Abi Talib and are widely regarded as descendants of the Prophet. In fact, the Mauritanian author of a biographical note on Niasse stresses that “there is nobody among the Alawiyyun [i.e., the scholars of the Idaw Ali], whether from the desert or from Shinqiti but he (Abdullah Niasse) knows his genealogy and chains of initiation. He knows them better than their own sons, who sometimes get the details wrong”.

The environment during Ibrahim’s adolescence in Kaolack was thus saturated with a Tijani way of life. Performance of Tijani rituals, along with the five daily prayers, structured the day, and lessons in Tijani doctrine, taught by his father, dominated his curriculum. Ibrahim is also said to have taken a great interest in the guests, and he drew particularly close to one of them, Abdallah wuld al-Hajj, who is at the center of the most important hagiographical narrative of his youth.


2.0 Al-Hajj Abdullahi Wuld al-Hajj

Abdallah wuld al-Hajj (b. 1277/1860-1861, d. 1347/1928-1929) was one of the Alawiyyun who maintained close relationships with representatives of the Tijaniyya in Senegal.

Al-Hajj Abdullahi Wuld al-Hajj is a renowned representative of the Hafiziyya tradition who had been seeking the spiritual flood (fayda) of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani for many years before recognizing it in the person of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse .

His acquaintance with Abdallah Niasse probably went back to the days when the family was still in Gambia, and he is credited with discovering a special gift in young Ibrahim....he recognized him as the future bringer of the fayda (sahib al-faydah).

Sharif [the title reserved for descendants of the Prophet] Wuld al-Hajj had come to ask al-Hajj Abdallah Niasse for the gift. Once he had been served he was about to start praying for the family members who had all gathered. But then, to the surprise of those present, he suddenly turned to young Ibrahim asking him to pray for him, the sharif. As he later confided to the father, he had “seen” in the child the sign of predestination, something that indicated that the adolescent had a calling to an extraordinary destiny, and that there was a blessed star shining in him, which distinguishes the
great men of God. Then the boy prayed for the sharif who subsequently came to visit him often and never ceased to watch his ascension from a distance.

Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse’s most significant early ijaza besides that from his father was from al-Hajj Abdullahi Wuld al-Hajj, a renowned representative of the Hafiziyya tradition who had been seeking the spiritual flood (fayda) of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani for many years before recognizing it in the person of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (Dr. Zachary Wright, tijani.org).

Muhammad al-Mahi, one of the senior sons of Ibrahim Niasse, and director of the highly regarded Institut Islamique El Hadj Abdoulaye Niasse in the Sam neighborhood of Kaolack, gave
the following version:

Abdallah Niasse had always wished and hoped that one of his sons would become the bringer of the fayda. . . . Ibrahim was still young when Abdallah wuld al-Hajj predicted that he would bring the flood, because he had perceived the scent of God in the boy. . . . Wuld al-Hajj had traveled from Mauritania to Senegal in search of the scent of God. He failed to find it in Touba and Tivaouane, and when he arrived in Kaolack, he told Abdallah Niasse to call all his sons. He looked at Ibrahim and said, “He is the one!” Abdallah wuld al-Hajj stayed for some time and was always close to the Ibrahim. They shared the same bed, and he asked the boy questions about the Quran and Hadith. Although Ibrahim was still a child, he always knew the answer.

A similar version is recounted by the Nigerian poet Ibrahim b. Harun alias Balarabe Jega in his celebrated poem “The Jug of the fayda (Goran Fayla);

“He also has Abdallah wuld al-Hajj leaving his country, though not in search of a scent, but attracted by a light that he had seen from Mauritania. After he failed to find the source of the light in Dakar, he continued his search until he reached Kaolack, where he saw the young Ibrahim in the house of Abdallah Niasse. He asked his host whether this was his son, and when he answered in the affirmative, he said: “He is the one I am looking for! I have seen his light from my home country! This is the reason why I came.” The visitor then revealed to Abdallah Niasse that Ibrahim would be the recipient of the flood.”

Abdallah wuld al-Hajj figures in the story of Ibrahim Niasse as the one who discovered in him the disposition to becoming the bringer the fayda.

Abdallah wuld al-Hajj's reputation of being able to predict the future...was acknowledged by the (french) hagiographers.

In 1931, almost two years after laying claim to the fayda, Niasse would give his own account of his relationship with the Mauritanian shaykh and assign him a crucial role in the justification of his
claim.

Joseph Hill (2007) relates yet another version in which Abdallah wuld al-Hajj not only features as the discoverer of Ibrahim Niasse as Sahib al-fayda, but also as the transmitter of the secret of the fayda that is traced back to Ahmad al-Tijani.

Professor Seesemann in "The Shurafa and the Blacksmith (2004)" submits thus;

According to available hagiographical accounts, the fact that Ibrahim Niasse kept (possesses) the secret of the fayda was first discovered by the above-mentioned 'Abdallah ibn al-Hajj al-'Alawi from Trarza who, at one point, had expressed the hope that he would be the owner of the fayda himself.

On one of his visits to the zawiya at Kaolack he told 'Abdallah Niasse that he wished to see Ibrahim, who was still a boy at that time.

When Ibrahim arrived, the distinguished visitor said that this boy had extraordinary hidden qualities and would one day become the supreme leader of the Tijaniyya.

To the surprise of the people present, 'Abdallah ibn al-Hajj then asked Ibrahim to pray for him, so that God might grant him salvation in the Hereafter.

'Abdallah ibn al-Hajj was already dead when Niasse publicly declared himself the owner of the fayda and was thus not directly involved in the events that followed this declaration.

Yet, the fact that young Ibrahim was 'discovered' by a shaykh of the Idaw 'Ali later came to be emphasized as proof of the truth of Niasse's claims.

According to Niasse's own account in Kashif al-ilbas, 'Abdallah said to him:

"The fayda will appear at your hands, and it will not appear at the hands of anyone else".

Thus, 'Abdallah ibn al-Hajj figures as the first Mauritanian Tijani to have recognised the Senegalese as the owner of the fayda, and the episode played a crucial role in the later acceptance of Niasse by the other representatives of the Idaw 'Ali.

According to "The Divine Flood (2011)" by Prof. Seesemaan;

Abdallah wuld al-Hajj, figures as the discoverer of Ibrahim as the future bringer of the flood.

He therefore refers to two contemporaries of his father from Trarza, who, as recognized caliphs of the Tijaniyya, had laid claim to the fayda. According to Niasse, their claims were widely considered invalid, which meant that the position was still vacant.

The first candidate Niasse considers a failure is Muhammad al-Hafiz b. al-Khayr al-'Alawi, a scholar from Trarza with a high reputation for his extraordinary knowledge of the Qur'an. Niasse cites four verses by Muhammad al-Hafiz where he expresses his hope to be the anticipated bringer of the flood, who was to come towards the end of time.

The second failed candidate is Abdallah wuld al-Hajj, the same person who, according to popular hagiography, discovered Niasse as the future bringer of the fayda, and who gave him his first Hafizi chain in 1345/1926-1927.

According to the Kashif al-ilbas, 'Abdallah wuld al-Hajj used to receive disclosures (kushifa lahu) about the fayda. He initially thought that he himself would be its bringer, but later began to search for a sign of it among his disciples. Finally, when he became aware of his imminent death and the flood had still evaded him and his disciples, he began to appoint a large number of deputies and traveled extensively, since he wanted at least to act as the liaison to the person endowed with the fayda.

It is only after this subtle invocation of divine and Prophetic sanction that Niasse takes the last, decisive step in arguing why his claim to the flood was legitimate. The key statement comes from no other than 'Abdallah wuld al-Hajj, who had been searching for the fayda among his disciples for years:

'Abdallah b. al-Hajj al-'Alawi said to me (Ibrahim Niasse):

“The fayda is truly coming through your hand and certainly not through others who claim it. And you will experience an onslaught of envy no one has ever experienced before.”

He also said: “You are the greatest in the Tijaniyya in your time“, and he said other things modesty prevents my pen from recording.

'Abdallah wuld al-Hajj must have made this statement well before Niasse began to publicize his claim to the fayda. The official year of the advent of the flood is 1348 (June 1929 to May 1930), and Niasse’s Mauritanian mentor had died in 1347/1928-1929.

In other words, his utterance has the character of a prophecy, and as such it has been documented in various versions in the popular hagiography.

Although 'Abdallah wuld al-Hajj’s word certainly carried weight, his statement was a prediction, not an actual confirmation of the emergence of flood.

'Abdallah wuld al-Hajj al-'Alawi once told me:

“The purpose of the recitations in the Tijaniyya is to get a fragrance of the Muhammadan Reality.”


3.0 Conclusion

The spread of the fayda in Trarza, and subsequently throughout West Africa, appears....as the proof that 'Abdallah’s prediction did indeed come true.


Sources;

The Divine Flood: Ibrāhīm Niasse and the Roots of a Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival (2011), by Professor Rüdiger Seesemann (Germany)

“Divine Knowledge and Islamic Authority: Religious Specialization among Disciples of Baay Ñas”, by Dr. Joseph Hill (2007)







Further Readings (on Faydah in Mauritania);

SHAYKH MANNA ABBA WULD TULBA (SHAYKHĀNĪ) {The Second Illustrious and Favorite Muqaddam of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse in Mauritania}

SHAYKH MUHAMMAD AL-MISHRI WULD AL-HAJJ {Prominent Mauritanian Disciple of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse}

THE LAWFUL ENCHANTMENT: FROM THE GOLDMINES OF MANNA ABBA (BY SHAYKHĀNĪ)

SHAYKH MUHAMMAD WULD ANAHWI AL-'ALAWI (1908-2003) [The First Mauritanian Follower of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse]

SHAYKH MUHAMMAD AL-HADI WULD SAYYID MAWLUD FAAL {One of the earliest Mauritanian Followers of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse & his Special Envoy to Northern-Nigeria, Niger and Ghana}  
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