Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse - SIN

Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse was born in Senegal in the year 1901 AD. His Father also a renowned Tijani Shaykh use to recite 60,000 Salat al-Fatih, every night. Happened so much so that SIN was born in his household.

As a boy, the Shaykh was highly intelligent & blessed with good character & potential. These characteristics once prompted his father to say, “You do not need to travel as your brothers do. If you but sit, people will come to you. It is the duty of the river to be full. If the neighboring cows do not come to drink, those who are from afar will.” In reference to his educational background & achievements, Shaykh ibrahim said, “I learned Qur’an & Hadith first from my Shaykh, my Father & He from his Father. I received an Ijaza (degree from the majalis al-’ilm) first from my Father in both Qur’an & Hadith, then from Abdur Rahman ben al-Hajj Alawi & another Ijaza from Shaykh Ahmed Suckrage, who himself, had earned some six hundred Ijazas from six hundred different Shaykhs whose names are mentioned in his book where he writes, “The first one to whom I gave authorization in all these chains of transmission was the Khalifa al-Hajj Ibrahim Niasse.”

When Shaykh Ibrahim entered upon the Sufi path, he took the Tariqah Tijani from his Father. The step was momentous, for it was within the Tariqah that he was to play a major role. It was, in fact, a role without parallel since Shaykh Umar Tal al-Futi's earlier role in the spread of the Tijaniyyah.

Starting with his Father, Shaykh Ibrahim received many appointments as propagator [Muqaddam] of the Tijaniyyah. Before dying his Father instructed Shaykh Muhammad Mahmoud ash-Shinqiti of Mauritania to appoint his Son a Muqaddam. Shaykh ash-Shinqiti, however, told Shaykh Ibrahim, “You have no need for an Ijazah from a creature because you have your appointment from the Creator.” He had additional appointments from al-Hajj Abdullah ben al-Hajj al-Alawi of Mauritania & the master Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Tijani of Egypt, as well as Shaykh Ahmed Suckrage of Morocco, The closest link to Shaykh Ahmed Tijani in the chains of initiatory transmission (silsila). He certified that Shaykh Ibrahim was the inheritor (khalifa) of Shaykh Ahmed Tijani.

Shaykh Ibrahim once said, “What I have in the way of Ijaza & Muqaddam authorization would indeed fill a book.” Although, he was the youngest of his Father's children, he became the most outstanding among them. In fact, shortly after his father’s death in 1922, he became the most important Shaykh, both within his Father’s house & throughout the Area. His importance is reflected in Notes Et Etudes Sur L’islam En Afrique Noir where we find the statement, “al-Hajj Ibrahim Niasse is indisputably the most remarkable religious personality of the Senegalese Tijaniiyah in the Sine-Saloum region & of the Niasse scholarly family.” For the first time since the Tariqa’s founder, Shaykh Ahmed Tijani, there is once again found an International Muslim following.

Shaykh Ibrahim was thus blessed with a special charisma for his mission. It should not surprise us, therefore, that this advent was foretold not only by Shaykh Ahmed Tijani, but also by Uthman Dan Fodio (d. 1817). Shaykh Ahmed Tijani predicted, “A flood (fayda), will overwhelm my companions to the point that people will enter our path in multitudes. This Fayda will come at a time when Mankind will be in a state of utmost difficulties.” Shaykh Ibrahim begins his mission in 1929 - the year of the beginning of the Great Despression. Prior to Shaykh Ibrahim, there were many claimants to the possession of the fayda, yet, in none of them is the characteristic so well reflected as it is in the Shaykh Ibrahim. The fact that Shaykh Ibrahim was indeed the owner of the fayda has been acknowledged & corroborated by many prominent Tijani leaders.

~ Pearls from the Divine Flood - Shaykh Hassan Aliyu Cisse (Edited by Zachary Wright & Yahya Weldon)

What SAT means by overwhelmed is often misunderstood by the critics of the Tariqah. And a lot of people within & outside the Tariqah has described, “The overwhelming,” according to their knowledge, minds & understandings. What I understood of it in my Journey in the Tariqah Tijani is as follows:

The Prophet [SAW] can't be Allah but Allah can be Prophet, Prophet can be Sahaba but Sahaba can't be Prophet, Sahaba's can be Saints & Sages but Saints & Sages can't be Sahaba's. But it's just the Energy patterns that's usually matched besides Everyone mentioned. Nobody can be Allah, that was the whole point of Dawah to begin with. You can be Him for a moment or an hour or may be a week but in the end you have to come down back to your senses.

He is the one & the only. He doesn't have off-springs nor he was born from someone. He doesn't have a family either. But even suppose if He does the only way to get His attention is to remember Him & He will remember you. There's absolutely no other way & that's how it is for all of us.

The moment you see Him or meet Him depending on the flight similar to Mi'raj, either He can bless you with a Workstation or finish you off for causing evilness. But either way it's death as it is. But you remember Him so much that He becomes you & you don't die because He became but that's totally another thing.

Back to the lecture at hand, after the early studies, Shaykh Ibrahim wrote plenty of works on the Tariqah. It was beyond a normal Ph.D. and the age was just 20. Later, he went to Fes, where he met Shaykh Ahmed Suckrage, The Official Qadi of Morocco, who renewed his Tariqah and all the Permissions in the Sharyah.

From then on, he had to face a lot of resistance from within and without. As of now, nobody really knows who he is. Even the staunch Tijanis can talk about him and his teachings for hours. He sits with them converse and leaves without a trace, and nobody ever finds-out what happened. He's the best kept secret of the Tariqah and heir of all the artifacts, ancient books, places, knowledge & secrets.