Love led me to this path. The sublime thing that stirs love in the
heart, we call beauty. Beauty, then, is what brought me here.
Perhaps I owe it to the beloved souls that taught me my first
lessons in beauty. “Black is beautiful!” my father protested. “Jamillah means
beautiful on the inside,” my mother insisted, never once claiming to be an
Arabic scholar.
The goal of the path, Tariqah Tijaniyyah in my case, is nothing
other than Allah. And since we come from Allah to return to Allah, the earthly
journey to the path indeed begins with our first teachers: our parents.
My parents came to Islam from the Nation of Islam when they
followed Imam W.D. Mohammed (R) into mainstream Islam in 1975. I was born a
year later.
Fast forward 39 years later to 2015. With shining pink dhikr
beads, I am sitting in the Tijani masjid, or zawiya (the Sufi term for a place
of spiritual retreat), in my hometown of Atlanta. The state of my heart has
driven me here. The great Sufi poet and scholar Rumi captures my heart’s condition
precisely, “The lightning of love for the beloved has shot into this heart.”
I had learned through my studies both at Duke and Zaytuna that the
Sufi scholars were the masters of the heart. When we seek to purify our hearts,
to make them beautiful, and to fill them with the love of God, we are pursuing
the level of devotion described as ihsan, beauty. Only with teachers and loving
companions can one excel in this path.
When Allah favored me with the ardent desire for this path, I
turned to women for guidance—various women with teachers from several different
turuq (paths) and ethnic backgrounds. Ultimately, there is no explanation for
why I chose this tariqah. Allah chooses.
I believe, however, that growing up in the W.D. Mohammed community
greatly influenced my attraction to this tariqah. Beauty is in the eye of the
beholder, and I found this path beautiful because of how my eye, my heart, and
even my ear had been groomed in my home community.
Because of my religious roots, I easily embraced that it was a
Black African who brought the great Tijani fayda, or flood, that Shaykh Ahmad
al-Tijani, from Algeria, predicted. Thanks to Imam W.D. Mohammed, I had not
been brainwashed to believe that only Arabs and Persians could be the greatest
scholars and saints of all time.
Even the rhythm of the dhikr resonated with me because I was
nurtured to value Africa’s cultures and to believe that they adorned Islamic
practice, not tainted it. And finally, but probably most importantly, the
sisters and brothers in the zawiya made me feel at home, many of whom I already
knew from my local WDM masjid community.
Ziyarah, a universal practice
The connections between my new Sufi community and my home
community continued to emerge. I had been in the tariqah now for six months. My dear friend Sumayya called to see if I was available to speak at the Shaykh Hassan
Cisse Ziyarah to be held in December 2016 in Detroit. “Shaykh Mahy will be
there, and like every Tijani in the country,” she said convincingly.
I imagined that the Ziyarah, Arabic for a “visit” or “visitation,” would be similar to a childhood ritual that I describe in my book American Muslim Women. “Whenever Imam W. D. Mohammed visited a city, his followers would flock there from all the nearby regions to hear him speak.” This ritual included “dressing in your finest clothes” and “seeing all the faces in your community.”
It is no surprise that the concept of ziyarah would emerge as a
common thread because the practice of visiting the blessed is universal.
Ziyarah, or visiting sacred places and people, living or dead, was a widespread
practice in pre-modern societies, among both Muslims and Christians, Sufis and
non-Sufis.
Ziyarah continues to be a common practice across various Muslim
cultures in various shapes and forms. As Hajja Ayisha Jeffries Cisse noted,
“For the Sufi, it can be a visit through our worship or in our memories. The Ziyarah of Imam Shaykh Hassan Aliou Cisse (R) in
America is a sacred journey of our Spirit to his memory and his legacy.”
Indeed, the universal practice of ziyarah has taken on an
expression unique to African American Muslims through the Annual Shaykh Hassan
Cisse Ziyarah, which first took place in December 2010. Nasrul Ilm America has
organized the Ziyarah annually to commemorate the life of Shaykh Hassan Cisse,
the preeminent spokesperson of the Tariqah Tijaniyyah before his passing in
2008.
Shaykh Hassan (R) was a consummate Islamic scholar and guide,
emerging from a long and vibrant legacy of learning in West Africa. He was the
first grandson and spiritual heir of Shaykh Al-Islam, Al-Hajj Ibrahim Niasse,
who led the largest single Muslim movement in twentieth-century West Africa.
The annual Ziyarah functions as an opportunity to visit with
Shaykh Hassan by celebrating his legacy, to visit with Shaykh Mahy Cisse, his
youngest brother and spiritual heir (may Allah bless and preserve him), and to
visit with other murids (students of a shaykh). In his speech at the 2007
International Tijaniyyah Conference in Fes, Shaykh Hassan emphasized fellowship
as a central component of Ziyarah:
“In the spiritual path, the meeting of the brothers and sisters is
more important, even than making the awrad, the remembrance of Allah. Because
of what? The dhikr, if you miss it, you can make it up another time. But the
meeting with your brother or sister, if you miss it, that’s it--you missed it,
finished! You cannot make it up. You cannot bring these people back.”
Similarly, Shaykh Mahy Cisse has described the Ziyarah as the
gathering of lovers. “We make Ziyarah to show our love for our shaykh.” He
shared the following at the 2016 Ziyarah in Detroit:
“Allah loves Ziyarah. The Prophet (S) said, ‘A man was traveling
to a village to see a brother. An angel appeared to him in the form of a human
being and asked him, “Where are you going?” He said, “I am going to this
village to see such and such.” He said, “Do you have business with him?” He
said, “No, I just love him for the sake of Allah.” The angel told him, “Allah
sent me to tell you that He loves you because you love your brother.”’
“Everybody here can have it [the divine love rewarding brotherly
love] because everyone came here for the sake of love, and that love is for
Allah, tabarakah wa ta’ala (T).
“The real mashayik, if you love them, but they know this love is
not for Allah (T), they don’t love that. They love to see people love them for
the sake of Allah. If you love them for the sake of Allah, you will follow in
their footsteps, [which] is to follow the way of Rasul Allah (S), and your
ending will be their ending….This is the real love.”
The Detroit Ziyarah
I traveled alone to Detroit. I had never met Malia, the sister
hosting me, but when she picked me up, she immediately remembered me. “I was at
the lecture you gave at Howard.” I’ve experienced this again and again in the
path: the realization that other murids and I have already crossed paths.
I anxiously hoped we would make it in time for dhikrul jumu’ah and
wazifah. Murids eagerly anticipate Ziyarah as a time to perform our awrad
(litanies) in the company of our shaykh.
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| Photo Credit: ThirdEyeLenz |
My anxiousness was amplified by the fact that I was new to the
Tijani community. And, I admit, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that I
was now in one of those “other” Black Muslim communities. It’s no secret that
Muslims outside the WDM community have made judgements about our imam and
community. And from our side, we’ve held our own set of assumptions and
stereotypes about other groups.
But as Malia and I bonded on the drive that seemed like forever,
those false walls were falling inside. And then came the moment when I knew the
whole thing was divine. We arrived at the masjid for dhikrul jumu’ah, and it
was the Muslim Center, a mosque community that identifies with the leadership
of Imam W.D. Mohammed!
The sign above the door was adorned with the emblem that signaled
home for me, a red Qur’an with the pages spread open to appear as wings, held
up by the words in Arabic, “There is none worthy of worship but God, and
Muhammad (S) is the Messenger of God.”
This is the emblem that Imam Mohammed chose for the community’s
newspaper to signal the change in direction. And again the connections flooded
in. Detroit is where the Nation of Islam started. The Muslim Center evolved out
of Temple #1, the first Nation mosque. The Muslim Center demonstrates radical
growth, love, and unity as it warmly opens its doors to the Tijanis (and other
Sufi communities). It mirrored the radical flow of love and serenity in my
heart. Just when I nervously opened myself to a new community, Allah made
everything feel like home.
Now inside the Muslim Center, the multiple conversations around the
prayer space, the laughter, and the embraces indicated that we had missed the
dhikr. Smiles greeted me from both new and familiar faces, followed by
heartfilled hugs. After praying ‘Isha, the conversation turned to visiting
Shaykh Mahy.
It was between 8 and 10 pm when we arrived at the house where
Shaykh was staying. It was bustling with men and women. The first familiar face
was a brother I grew up with in Atlanta. We exchanged words, and then Malia and
I were immediately directed to the room where Shaykh greeted visitors.
And of course, another connection was made, this time related to
gender. Sitting around Shaykh, the women outnumbered the men. Within arms reach
of Shaykh, women remained in his proximity even after they greeted him. I, in
turn, greeted him and asked two questions. He answered them, and made dua for
Allah’s ease for me in the path.
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| Photo Credit: ThirdEyeLenz |
The gender interaction in the space certainly sustained my sense
that I had left home only to return. Sure, there were gender boundaries but
also signs that the boundaries were soft and flexible. A brother, for example,
selling dresses and scarves from Senegal, sat comfortably among the women, his
customers. A wife sitting with her husband in the midst of brothers, for they
were her brothers too. This movement across gender lines indicated that women
were valued and their voices were fairly heard, what I had been accustomed to
in my home community.
Commemoration Night: Shaykh Mahy Cisse and Shaykh Abdul Karim
Yahya
The commemoration program was filled with speeches on the legacy
of Shaykh Hassan (R), dhikr, poetry of praise on the Prophet (S), and
recognition of community members’ work and service. The stellar choice of
speakers made the night exceptionally memorable; however, there were two talks that
especially stood out to me as a new murid still internalizing Sufi concepts and
practices.
The first talk was by Shaykh Abdul Karim Yahya. He gave an
excellent explanation of why we seek a shaykh as part of the prophetic
tradition. This practice stands upon the concept of seeking “our opening
through those who have seen the one we did not see.”
This concept is grounded in a hadith in Bukhari and Muslim that
ends, “A time will come where a people will go forth [fighting], and they will
say, ‘Is there anyone among you who saw someone who kept the company of someone
who kept the company of Allah’s messenger (S)?’ And it will be said, ‘Yes,’ and
so their opening will be granted.”
What Shayky Abdul Karim imparted was that “those who see those who
saw those who preceded them, it is as if they saw them or they gained that
opening and that benefit.” This is the concept of asanid, chains of connection
going back to the Prophet Muhammad (S).
Shaykh Abdul Karim continued with gracious recognition of the
light and beauty he saw in our teachers:
“It’s not adab to mention one’s tariqah in the company of other
turuq, but I’ll just say that Allah privileged me to study in the city with a
group of the prophetic family that’s known as the highest concentration of ahl
bayt on this earth and gaze at them and their way.
“And then we met the likes of Imam Joseph, and we saw here what we
saw there. And in his sons, we saw here what we saw there. And when we had the
opportunity to make hajj with Shaykh Mahy, we saw what we heard in the
biographies of like twelfth-century imams that this great imam--you will have a
legal question and you’d be looking for him. Go among the common people and you
will find him!
“We made hajj with Shaykh Mahy, and he doesn’t want me to say
this, but understand those from whom you are taking [because otherwise you may
not realize his station because of Shaykh’s practice to sit with the common
people]. On the hajj, he was an obscurity just lying among the African
brothers.
“These asanid take us back to Allah’s Messenger (S). Imam Salim
Joseph alluded to this when he spoke, and Shaykh Mahy will not mind me saying
this. See in Shaykh Mahy, Shaykh Hassan. And see in him, Shaykh Ibrahim. And
see in them, Sayyidina Rasul Allah (S), because to the extent of your honesty,
your genuineness, the various links in that chain will dissolve and you will
connect more and more to Allah’s Messenger. As our Imam al-Haddad said, ‘So
through the real, let us take the knowledge of their path, hand to hand, up to
the station of prophecy.’”
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| Photo Credit: ThirdEyeLenz |
Shaykh Mahy closed the program with beautiful remarks. I
especially gained from his explanation of the arrangement of dhikr in the
Tijani awrad:
“Everyone comes to this gathering wearing nice clothes. Why?
Because you want to meet Shaykh, you want to meet brother. So what do you think
if you want to go to the presence of Allah (T)? That’s why in the awrad of
tariqah, you start with istighfar. You empty yourself of all the bad things.
That is the nice clothes you wear to go into the presence of Allah (T).
And no way do you get to
the presence of Allah (T) without passing through the door of Rasul Allah (S).
“The Prophet Muhammad (S) said, ‘Allah is the giver, but I’m the distributor.’
So no way you can get anything without passing through Prophet Muhammad (S).
“This is what awrad Tijaniyyah teaches you. After istighfar, you
say salat ‘ala an-nabi because you want to enter into the presence of Allah
(T)...You make salat ‘ala an-nabi, and that salat will guide you to the
presence of Rasul Allah (S) first because he will take the darkness--‘you take
humanity from the darkness into the light’ [recited in Arabic]. The real nur,
the real light, is Rasul Allah (S). After salat ‘ala an-nabi, that will raise
you to get to la ilaha illallah...This is the way of our tariqah.”
To Be Continued
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