Advice of Sidi Ahmed Tijani, may Allah be pleased with him – Attachment to ALLAH, may He be glorified and exalted

By the Name of Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.

What I exhort and advise you to do is to take heed to Allah – may He be glorified and exalted -, in secret and in public, purifying your heart of all opposition to His command, to trust Allah with your heart, to agree with His decision in each of your affairs, to endure the ways of His decree in all your situations, and help yourself with all this by means of abundant invocation, with the presence of the heart, as much as possible; this will be a support to you in what I have advised you.

And know that the most beneficial of Allah’s invocations, the most effective and the most advantageous, is the prayer upon the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) with the presence of the heart. It will take care of every request, in this world and in the Hereafter, to repel or attract all things. Whoever abounds in its use will then become among Allah’s greatest sincere friends.

The second matter to which I exhort you is to abandon the use of money declared illicit by the Law, for eating, clothing and accommodation, for the lawful is the pole around which all the stars of worship orbit; he who forsakes it (the lawful) will then have forsaken all the gain connected with worship. And beware of saying, “But where is it? Certainly, it exists in abundance in every place and at every time, but it can only be found after having sought to perfectly fulfill Allah’s commandments, outwardly as well as inwardly. Taking into account the needs of the moment, if one does not find what is unquestionably licit, then this calls for a scrupulous knowledge of jurisprudence as well as an extensive knowledge of the prescriptions of the Law. Whoever acts in accordance with this will have no difficulty in finding what is lawful.

After all this, it is essential to cling to Allah, choosing Him as refuge, returning to Him and forsaking all other than Him, both in general and in particular, and this is both the beginning and the end of all situations. If the servant can bring his heart back to Allah, in every situation and through every aspect, that would be the goal. If he is unable to do so, let him then, after each prayer, perform the following invocation, three or seven times, and let it move in his heart, outside the obligatory prayers, while imposing it on his nafs, until he achieves the inner state of it:

“O Allah! It is You that I rely on, it is with You that my refuge is, and with You that my entrenchment is. It is with You that my faith and my trust are, and on Your strength and Your power that I rely. I accept all the vicissitudes of Your decrees. I acknowledge the perfect implication of Your sustenance in everything and the negation of any possibility that anything, negligible or important, could be outside the scope of Your knowledge or dominion, until the last moment of my life.”

He should persist in its recitation whenever he finds that the state of his nafs is not in accordance with this invocation, remembering the meaning contained in this invocation and being patient while submitting his nafs. By doing so, it will be easier for him to direct his heart towards Allah, abandoning all other than Him.

This is a great gateway to knowledge, known by those who have tasted a tiny part of the knowledge of Men (i.e. the Knowers here), and whose value they know. Do not neglect this, and do not forget to purify yourself as much as possible, for certainly life is short, the journey is long, the obstacles are immense, the burden is heavy, and the accounts with Allah are rigorous, yet fulfilling the commandments is what enables you to escape all these situations. 

The holy sheikh, an elite of the first rank, the Knower in Allah Sidi Muhammad Sammak (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “He who devotes himself to Allah through his heart, Allah devotes Himself to him with His Mercy and directs the faces of people towards him. As for the one who turns away from Allah, Allah turns away from him completely. But whoever devotes himself to Him from time to time, Allah will grant him His Mercy at one time or another”.

Thus, what is required by Allah is to reject all that is other than Him. However, if you are troubled by having to deal with people and having to frequent them, then frequent them but act towards them for the sake of Allah! For, surely, Allah loves the fact of being kind to His creature.

And the thing to which I urge you most is to pray upon the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him), with the presence of the heart; for this is the supreme treasure and the most excellent provision.  

Extract from Djawahiru-l-Ma’ani 

Research and translation by Zawiya Tidjaniya El Kubra of Europe