This will be my last post about Saydi Ali Cisse(RTA) for a while. It is quite long, but very beneficial for all that love this Tijani-Fayda.
I only do this for the benefit of those among us that do not know the history associated with the Cisse family and their positions as the Imams of the community of the Tijani-Fayda-Ibrahimiyya. As well as their "adoption" of the American Muslim community. We here in America and the west must never forget that the First American Muqaddam of the Tariqa Tijaniyya is still alive, and was given that position by Saydi Ali Cisse himself. Our collective lineage here in America is traced directly through Saydi Ali and his sons. Finally, we must never forget that it was Shaykh Hassan Cisse and his brethren that created and maintain the African American Islamic Institute (AAII), an organization that invited us to Madina Kaolack to live and learn this most pristine path of Tariqa Muhamadiyya.
Please do not misconstrue my words and intentions here. We are not required to follow the Cisse family only. As Tijanis, it is well known that "Baye is a Huge Tree with Many Branches", and any branch that a person grasps onto, will lead him/her to success. But, I can not help but to express my love, happiness and appreciation for the 'branch' that I have grasped.
My love and gratitude will always be given to my Shaykhs and Teachers among the family of Baye Niass. Khalifa Alhaj Abdulahi Niass was my teacher and like a grandfather to me. Sayda Rockiya Niass is my Teacher and grandmother, Yaa Fatuh Niasse is also my Teacher and grandmother. They all share in the success of the American Jamaat. They, along with their other brethren and other Khulafa of Baye around the world, are collectively our leaders.
Alhamdulilah, all of the above mentioned will verify the truthfulness of this statement that Shaykh Ibrahim Niass wrote in his last will and testament.....
....for he (Saydi) is the shaykh of my children and my companions and my inheritor (khalīfa) after God.
In a letter to the community when the Shaykh was about to leave for Mecca in 1965, Shaykh Ibrāhīm wrote: “I have left Saydī al-Hajj Ali Cisse as deputy on
my behalf, the holder of my station (maqām) in everything – in the religion, the world, my family and my money – and I advise my two sons Ahmad [Dem Niasse] and Shaykh [Tijānī Niasse] to help him and to follow the way.”
A private letter to Saydī ʿAlī on the same occasion explained further: “You are the holder of my station (maqām) in my absence and in my presence.”
.... Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s letters demonstrated profound affection for Saydī ʿAlī. Responding to Saydī ʿAlī’s request to make Hajj, Shaykh Ibrāhīm addressed his disciple: “Peace to you, and mercy and blessing, locus of my secret, one worthy of grace and goodness, the son of my spirit, the cure for my bleeding heart, the scholar of scholars, the exemplar of comprehension, the divine cognizant, al-Hajj ʿAlī Cisse b. Sayyid al-Hassan.”
In another letter the Shaykh wrote to Saydī ʿAlī Cisse while his disciple was apparently touring Nigeria on his behalf, Shaykh Ibrāhīm wrote:
The son of my spirit, the trustee of my secret, the locus of my gaze (naẓr), the
carrier of the cloak of devotions, the one with whom I am pleased for myself, my
family, my spiritual state (ḥāl), my wealth, my brethren and my followers. May God reward him with abundant good: Sayyid Abu al-Hassan ʿAlī Cisse b. al-Hassan, may the peace, mercy and blessing of God the Most High be with you.
In a letter from the late 1960s, Shaykh Ibrāhīm referred to his disciple as: “The scholar of scholars, the servant (‘abd) of his Lord, the one annihilated in love for Him, the successor (khalīfa) of Shaykh al-Tijānī without contention or difficulty, a gift from the Infinite Presence, al-Hajj ʿAlī Cisse, the son of al-Hassan, the father of al-Hassan.
Essentially, Shaykh Ibrahim was describing his disciple as the direct heir to the Seal of Saints, the distinguishing position claimed by Shaykh Ibrahim himself. Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s writings to Saydī ʿAlī Cisse can only be understood by blurring the distinction between shaykh and disciple. As Shaykh Māḥī b. ʿAlī Cisse explained: The communication between Shaykh Ibrahiim and Saydī ʿAlī was so close that sometimes it is as if Shaykh Ibrāhīm was addressing himself. For example, in one letter Shaykh Ibrāhīm addresses Saydī Ali: ‘To the essence of my spiritual reality’ (‘ayn ḥaḍratī) …” In other words, the true disciple was the shaykh himself.
Significantly, discourse surrounding shaykh-disciple relations has often portrayed Saydi ‘Ali’s example as an open invitation to disciples, rather than as an unattainable ideal. Even while asserting the privileged position of his father in relationship to the Shaykh, Shaykh Hassan thus subtly generalized the paradigmatic shaykh-disciple relationship: “Shaykh Ibrāhīm once said, ‘Wherever Saydī ʿAlī goes, I consider myself to have gone there.’ I also consider my disciple as myself.”
The practical implication of Saydī ʿAlī’s relationship with Shaykh Ibrāhīm was
that all of the Shaykh’s affairs passed through Saydī ʿAlī’s hands. Certainly the arranging of Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s writings was a weighty affair, and Shaykh Ibrāhīm even dedicated a verse of his poetry to Saydī ʿAlī on this account: “Ali is my servant (khadīm), the treasury of my secret, and my writer. In arranging my verses of praise to the Prophet (madḥ), he has surpassed all contemporaries.”
Letters from Shaykh Ibrāhīm to Saydī ʿAlī reveal there was apparently little Shaykh Ibrāhīm did not share with Saydī ʿAlī. He discussed the affairs of his children studying in Cairo; he spoke of his own travels and reported to him at different stages of his journey; he gave him news of various marriages in the community; he alerted him as to who should receive certificates of authorization (ijāza) for particular subjects; he gave messages for Saydī ʿAlī to tell the rest of the disciples. Even more striking is the fact many letters were written while both Shaykh Ibrāhīm and Saydī ʿAlī were present in Medina-Baye, meaning the Shaykh took time to write missives to be delivered scarcely 200 meters from his own house.
Perhaps most significantly, Saydī ʿAlī was primarily responsible for conducting spiritual training (tarbiya) on behalf of Shaykh Ibrāhīm and for writing the spiritual authorization (ijāza) Shaykh Ibrāhīm may have desired to bestow on a disciple.
This extended to Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s own children. Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s eldest son ‘Abd-Allāh once said during a celebration of the life of Saydī ʿAlī, “All I learned, I learned from Saydī ʿAlī.”
One of Saydī ʿAlī’s grandsons thus remarked, “Saydī Ali was the disciple of Shaykh Ibrāhīm; the rest of the disciples were Saydī Ali’s disciples.”
Claims of Saydī ʿAlī’s unrivaled position within the community did not emerge only from the Cisse family. Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s renowned Fulani muqaddam, Thierno Hassan Dem, addressed Saydī ʿAlī in a private letter: “Peace to you and mercy and blessings, O excellent master (sayyid), the arrived shaykh, the perfected connector, Abu al-Hassan ʿAlī Cisse.” He then described a dream in which he saw “a great light, of clear luminosity, descending” on Medina-Baye. He related how he had related the dream to Shaykh Ibrāhīm, who told him, “This great light, no one is able to bear or carry it except Saydī Ali Cisse, and this light is a light of increase and continuous spiritual elevation.” Hassan Dem concluded his letter by mentioning his dream had occurred on the twelfth night of the month of Muḥarram: “which is the same night Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijānī obtained his station (maqām) of hidden sainthood (maktūm); so your maqām in your time will be like that of Shaykh al-Tijānī over the entirety of the saints.”
Shaykh Ibrāhīm openly recommended other disciples to emulate Saydī ʿAlī. He
once commended a disciple for approaching the Shaykh through Saydī ʿAlī, saying he attained success by “entering the house through its door.”
In the same letter, Shaykh Ibrāhīm gave permission for Saydī ʿAlī to make the Hajj, adding, “Whoever goes with you goes in the pocket of the Prophet.” Elsewhere, Shaykh Ibrāhīm referenced Saydī ʿAlī’s position in relation to the rest of the disciples, by calling him the “door to the heavenly zephyrs.”
Another letter asked Saydī ʿAlī to pray for the journey of one of the Shaykh’s sons; and went on to ask Saydī ʿAlī to pay special attention to the Shaykh’s children, “for my children are your disciples, do not leave them … I have not found the free time necessary to follow their affairs, so you have the blessing (baraka) of ʿAlī al-Tamāsīnī.”
Oral accounts report similarly pointed recommendations Shaykh Ibrahim
gave disciples in regards to Saydi Ali. According to a son of one of Shaykh Ibrahim’s prominent disciples from Ghana: Alhaj Muhammad Anan (Teacher) and my father (Ahmed Dimson) once came to visit Shaykh Ibrahim in Medina-Baye. In the middle of teaching them, he began to speak very highly of Saydi Ali Cisse. He said, “Saydi Ali is the shaykh of all my followers.” Then he became quiet, bowed his head, and began to perspire. He raised his head and said, “If Saydi Ali Cisse lived before the Prophet Muhammad, he and his sons would have been prophets of God.”
This statement would likely have been understood by followers in the context of the Prophet Muhammad’s words, “The scholars of my community are like the prophets of the children of Israel.”
Since prophecy had been sealed with Muḥammad, Saydi Ali and his sons Hassan, Shaykh Tijani, and Mahi were true scholars who carried the prophetic inheritance. Saydi ‘Ali was thus proof that discipleship to the “perfected one of the age” could transform the student into a paradigmatic personification of God’s religion.
...Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s statement in his final will and testament:
If I should die, and none lives forever except God, God is my inheritor in my
affairs, and then the righteous son, the most pleasing servant, the scholar, the
knowledgeable one (ʿārif) of God and everything, Sayyid Ali Cisse. He is the
custodian of my affairs, for he is the shaykh of my children and my companions and my inheritor (khalīfa) after God.
...After Shaykh Ibrahim’s passing, it seems Saydī ʿAlī later downplayed his own privileged position with Shaykh Ibrāhīm. The current Imam of Medina, Shaykh Tijānī Cisse, defined his father’s inheritance from Shaykh Ibrāhīm by his ability to provide benefit to the rest of the disciples rather than stressing his mastery over them: “What Shaykh Ibrāhīm brought was not for blood. Anybody can be called khalīfa, but the real khalīfa is the one fulfilling the needs of the people.”
After reading an exchange of letters between Shaykh Ibrāhīm and
Saydī ʿAlī at a public event memorializing Saydī ʿAlī Cisse, Shaykh Tijānī Cisse told the audience, which included some of the sons of Shaykh Ibrāhīm: “I have not brought out these letters to show off the spiritual station of Saydī ʿAlī, only to demonstrate the good manners of these men, to show how we should all behave with each other as Muslims.”
Saydī ʿAlī’s spiritual inheritance from Shaykh Ibrāhīm has thus been consciously maneuvered so as to avoid political contestation. In this way, Saydī ʿAlī Cisse’s example of paradigmatic discipleship has continued to serve a widely accessible source of inspiration for student-teacher relationships within the community.
Please Share with the Brethren.
Excerpts from the book: Living Knowledge in West African Islam
Author: Ustadz Zachary Wright
May Allah give us ALLAH.
Ibrahim Ahmed Dimson.
Thank you so much, for helping us to understand the relationship between the Sheikhs am so excited about it thanks
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