Advice and recommendations of Ahmed Tijani (may ALLAH sanctify his precious secret)

In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad, his family and his Companions. Praise be to Allah, His praise be exalted and His qualities and names be sanctified.

This letter is addressed to all our brothers, the disciples of Fez and its surroundings, may Allah protect you from all trials, difficulties and temptations. Ameen. May Allah’s peace and mercy and His blessing cover you, on behalf of the one who loves you, Ahmed Ibn Mohamed Tidjani.

I recommend to you and to myself that which Allah commands and orders, which is to preserve the sacred limits and ensure the fulfillment of the divine order, to the best of your ability, for certainly, in this day and age, the principles of the divine order have collapsed in whole or in part, and people passionately love what is nevertheless harmful to them in this world and in the hereafter. 

There is no longer any awakening to direct hearts towards Allah – may He be glorified and exalted – or even to stop at Allah’s sacred limits in the realm of commandments and prohibitions. There is no longer any power left for anyone in our time to apply Allah’s command in all its aspects, except for those clothed in the finery of Allah’s knowledge, or those who come close to it. Since things are as we have mentioned, with the servant unable to find an escape from Allah’s decree, then he who is mixed white and black is better than he who is completely black.

Forsake disobedience to Allah’s command as much as you can, carry out His command according to your ability, and perform for yourselves several atonements for sins, night and day. These are some of the recommendations and exhortations we gave you in our first advice, and they were a sufficient overview.

To these we add Hisbu Sayfee for those who have adopted it as an oration, morning and evening, at least once and with no maximum limit; as well as Mousaba’at el ‘Achra for those who have adopted it as an oration, morning and evening; and also Salat Fatihi lima ughliqa, at least a hundred times in the morning and evening. In this domain, no action, for those who work, can be superior, and no hope, for those who hope, can be more fulfilled.

Be constant in your obligatory prayers in a group and take care of them, for they are the cause of warding off the misfortunes that must befall you, except for very small exceptions that require punishment, and certainly Allah will be of immense help to the one who is constant in this. How many times did He support him when he was routed? How many times has He hidden his faults from him? How many times has He forgiven his faults? How many times did He take him by the hand when he stumbled?

I recommend you to be assiduous in the dhikr of Allah and the prayer on the Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) night and day, according to your capacity and according to what Allah grants you as free time and energy, without excess or insufficiency. Your aim should be to glorify the value and greatness of Allah and His Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and to present yourselves at Allah’s door, asking only for His satisfaction, not for a favour. He who does this, just as he who is assiduous in his prayers in a group, will have Allah’s immense attention, he will find blessing in the near and distant future, he will discover the hoped-for taste and flavor, this in the particulars and secrets.

I recommend that you preserve alms-giving, night and day, if you can, even with a copper penny or a simple mouthful, but this, after you have taken care to fulfill your financial obligations. Surely, Allah’s care for those who strive in this direction is similar to that for those who strive to preserve obligatory acts in groups.

Take care, after the Tariqa’s obligatory litanies, of Hisbu Sayfee and Salat el Fatihi, for they certainly suffice in the face of any other Wird. The grace that Allah pours out through them reaches the pinnacle of what one can desire. No work can equal them.

I recommend that you take care of your family ties in everything that softens the heart and incites love, even if it’s only through worrying about their condition and passing on greetings. Abandon the enmity of relatives, the disobedience of parents and everything that provokes hatred in the hearts of brothers. Abandon also the search for the faults of Muslims, for whoever acts in this way, Allah will reveal his faults and those of his children after him.

For all believers, and even more so for your brothers in Tariqa, forgive those who make mistakes and make excuses for those who act clumsily, because those who forgive people, Allah will often forgive them. Accept the apologies of those who have come to you after making a mistake, and forgive them, so that Allah may forgive you and remit your missteps. The worst brothers with Allah are those who do not accept apologies and do not keep silent about mistakes. Consider Allah’s verse which states:

“Hasten to a forgiveness from your Lord and a Paradise as wide as the Heavens and the Earth, having been arranged for the pious. [133] Those who spend in wealth and poverty, who repress their anger and forgive people. And Allah loves the good. [134]” (Sura 03 The Family of Imran, verses 133 and 134)

Be heedless of people’s ills and do not take into consideration what comes to you from them. It’s up to you to forgive and turn a blind eye. Indeed, disputing what comes to us from people, without forgiving, results in loss from Allah in this world and in the Hereafter. Whenever someone stoops to respond to evil with evil, then evils will multiply for him and the servant’s affairs will break down. Thus, evil should only be answered with carelessness, forgiveness and leniency.

I recommend that you do not dispute the positions in which Allah has placed certain people, positions that are praiseworthy neither in law nor in good manners. Indeed, their affairs follow only the divine will, they are embraced by Allah’s grip and have no escape; all their affairs depend on His decree and predestination. This is only permissible where the law commands action against them, by incitement and reprimand, in certain special cases and circumstances, at certain times and not all the time. Consider the words of the Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when he said:

“Command the good and forbid the evil. When you see avarice obeyed, passion followed and everyone’s admiration for their own opinions, then take care of yourself.”

“It is part of one’s beautiful Islam not to mind what does not concern him.”

You must advise your brothers in Tariqa with gentleness, kindness and diplomacy, without malice or hatred. Let each of you devote a moment when he invokes Allah alone, at least as long as the essential litanies of the Tariqa require. This will bring you blessing in all your needs as well as in your conduct.

You must obey the muqadem who has conferred the Wird upon you, whatever he orders as right and blames as wrong, or seeks to arrange conflicts between you. Perform wadhifa morning and evening for those who can, otherwise only once in the morning or evening […].

I advise the mouqadem who transmits the Wird to forgive the mistakes of his brothers. Let him extend the mantle of his forgiveness for every error and avoid anything that might provoke resentment, shame or hatred in their hearts. May he work to unite hearts and settle conflicts. If ever a fire is kindled between them, let him hasten to extinguish it. Above all, let this be done for the satisfaction of Allah, not for any other advantage. Let him also rebuke those who indulge in backbiting, admonishing them with kindness and using kind words.

He must treat brothers with gentleness and ease of character, taking care not to provoke in them aversion or difficulties in what he orders or defends, in the field of divine rights and the rights of brothers, conforming in this to the words of the Prophet (prayer and peace of Allah be upon him):

“Make things easy and do not make them difficult, announce the good news and do not repulse people.”

He must not pay attention to what they possess from this world nor ask anything from them, with the firm belief that only Allah gives and deprives, demeans and elevates. His concern must be to free them from waste relating to the share of this world that has been granted to them. He must not ask them for anything as a gift, in the little as in the much, except what they give from themselves without any previous request, for people reason according to this and interpret their affairs based on this notion.

Leave in peace, for the common people as well as for the rulers, the situation in which Allah has established them, without opposing them with repugnance, hatred or hostility, for Allah has placed His creature in what He has willed and no one has the ability to remove them from where Allah has established them. Forget the search for authority and its causes, for it is the Kaaba around which all evils converge, the focus of perdition in this world and the Hereafter.

If any of you is afflicted by any evil, let him be patient until Allah frees him, for every difficulty has an end and every torment has its relief. If the situation becomes critical, the servant must then humble himself while beseeching Allah to bring him deliverance, thus reaching the height of his hope.

We must not grieve in the face of misfortunes, trials and difficulties, for surely Allah – may He be glorified and exalted – has brought His servants down into this world only to have them encounter the vicissitudes of divine decrees and lordly destinies, which place the nafs in a state of discomfort.

Servants cannot escape this, nor is it possible for the slave to be at rest in the face of the trials of this world; however, the sensible are not unaware that the situation of the people of this world is, forever, alternating between moments of tightening and loosening, between good and evil, between moments of joy and sadness. No one in this world can escape this fate.

So, if misfortune strikes and the situation tightens, there will certainly come a time when it will end, followed by deliverance and joy. So whoever has understood from Allah what the management of this world is all about, will welcome every misfortune with patience, satisfaction with destiny and complete thanksgiving for Allah’s blessings.

And may peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

Translated by the Zawiya Tijaniya el kubra of Europe (Lyon, France)