Have
you noticed that there is the sticker of an old bearded Islamic cleric on many
commercial buses, trucks and tankers across Nigeria? His name is Sheik Ibrahim
Niasse. It’s a fact that you are most likely to see his picture on one out of
every 10 trucks you see along the highway from Lagos up North. He is also very
prominent in the Northern region of Nigeria.
Many
people don’t know Sheik Ibrahim is not a Nigerian but from Senegal. But the
account of his many deeds in West Africa, and Nigeria, in particular, gave
credence to his prominence in Africa and the Middle East.
Sheik
Ibrahim Tijani was a major leader of the Tijani Sufi order of Islam in West
Africa.
His
followers in the Senegambia region affectionately refer to him in Wolof as Baay
or “father.” He is the founder of the Ibrahimiyyah branch of the Tijani order,
whose adherents designate themselves in Arabic as the people of the Faydah
Tijaniyyah (Tijani Flood) or, in Wolof, as Taalibé Baay (disciples of Baay).
Outsiders
often refer to his disciples as Ñaseen, which in Wolof means “of or pertaining
to the Ñas family,” although his disciples do not generally use this
designation. Baye Niass(Sheik Ibrahim Niass) is estimated to have about
250-300million followers today.
There
are records of testimonies and display of divine wisdom credited to the cleric,
while he was alive and even in death. Some of his followers believe the call of
his name awakens his spirit and therefore, the psyche, Niasse is usually
pronounced after his name is called anywhere and anytime.
So, who is Sheik Ibrahim Niass?
We can
tell you. He was born in 1900 in the village of Tayba Ñaseen between the
Senegalese city of Kaolack and the border of Gambia, he was the son of Alhaji
Abdullahi Ñas the main representative of the Tijani Sufi Order, often referred
to as Tareeqat al-Tijjaniyyaa, in the Saloum region at the beginning of the
twentieth century.
During
his youthful days, Sheik Ibrahim relocated with his father to the city of
Kaolack, where they established a religious centre. After his father’s death in
Lewna Ñaseen in 1922, Sheik Ibrahim’s elder brother, Muhammad al-Khalifa,
became his father’s successor or Khalifa.
The
22-year-old Sheik Ibrahim spent most of his time farming in the family’s fields
and teaching a growing number of disciples in the nearby village of Kóosi
Mbittéyeen. Although Sheik Ibrahim never claimed to be his father’s successor,
due to his charisma and precocious knowledge, he gained a large number of
disciples, and tensions arose between his disciples and those of his elder
brother, Muhammad al-Khalifa.
In
1929, Sheik Ibrahim announced that he had been given the Key to Secrets of
Divine Knowledge, and thus became the Khalifa of Sheik Tijani in the Tijaniyya
Order, a position yet to be attained by anyone as of that time.
In
1930, after the prayer of Eid el-Fitr (the end of the month of Ramadan), a
fight broke out between Sheik Ibrahim’s disciples and those of Muhammad
al-Khalifa The incident made Sheik Ibrahim immediately decides to relocate with
his disciples to a new place.
During
the summer of 1945, he re-established himself in his father’s house in his
natal village of Tayba Ñaseen, rebuilding and reorganizing the village after a
fire outbreak had destroyed much of it.
Sheik
used to say “I learned the Quran and Hadith from my father and from him, I
received my ijaza”. It is notable among many that Sheik Ibrahim Niass learned
both Quran and Fiqh all from his father. It is evident that after the demise of
Alhaji Abdullahi Niass, the Sheik gained access to his father’s library and
mastered several books at that young stage.
He used
to also say that ‘I’ve two teachers: the outward one and the inner one – the
outward Sheik I’ve is my father and the inner one is Sheik Ahmad Tijani and he
never lives my side for even a second’.
Sheik
Ibrahim’s fame quickly spread throughout the countryside, and most of his
father’s disciples ultimately became his disciples in spite of his junior
status in the family. Although his disciples remain a minority within Senegal,
they form the largest branch of the Tijaniyyah worldwide. In an unlikely role
reversal during the 1930s, several leaders of the Arab ‘Idaw?Ali tribe in
Mauritania—the same tribe that introduced the Tijani order to West
Africa—declared themselves disciples of Shaykh Ibrahim. Notable among them were
Shaykhani, Muhammad Wuld an-Na?wi, and Mu?ammad al-Mishri.
Tareeqa
al-Tijaniyya al-Ibrahimiyya, as the shaykh’s disciples came to be known,
flourished and gained large numbers of followers during the 1930s and 1940s
throughout North and West Africa. In 1937 upon meeting Sheik Ibrahim during a
pilgrimage to Makkah, the Emir of Kano, Nigeria, Alhaji ‘Abdullahi Bayero gave
his oath of allegiance to the shaykh and declared himself a disciple of Sheik
Ibrahim. That incident made Sheik Ibrahim gain the allegiance of many of the
prominent Tijani leaders of Northern Nigeria and also many others who were not
Tijani prior to this time.
Alhaji
Abdulmalik Atta – a prince from Okene and the first High Commissioner of
Nigeria to the United Kingdom – was one of Sheik Ibrahim’s closest disciples as
well as the shaykh’s father-in-law through his daughter Sayyida Bilkisu. Sheik
Ibrahim became a renowned Sheik al-Tareeqa (Master of the Sufi Order)
throughout the Hausa areas of West Africa. In the end, he had far disciples
outside of Senegal than within it. At the time of his death in 1975 in London,
England, Sheik Ibrahim Niass had millions of followers throughout West Africa.
The
Sheik was the first West African to have led the Azhar mosque in Egypt after
which he was honoured ‘Shaykhul Islam’. He became very close with many freedom
fighters in West Africa due to his contribution to Independence in the African
States. The Sheik became friends with Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah
who became fond of him and always seek advice from the Sheik.
Others
such as Gamel Abdul-Nasser of Egypt were all friends to him. The then King of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Faisal also loved him so much and respected him.
Sheik served as the Vice President of the World Muslim League with the King
being the President.
His branch of the Tijaniyya, Tareeqa
al-Tijaniyya al-Ibrahimiyya has become the largest branch in the world. Sheik
Ibrahim, during his lifetime, performed many miracles that can’t be explained
by the laws of natural physics.
There
was a time he went to Egypt and was tested by all the men of deep knowledge and
the king, the Shayk answered all the questions perfectly. After there seemed
not to be any more question, Gamel Abdul-Nasser ask him to prove the law of
Archimedes in physics wrong. A glass full of water was placed before the Sheik
and was asked to add a substance without the water dripping out of the cup.
The
crowd stood still and wonder how the Sheik would solve the problem, but Sheik
Ibrahim, sitting there relaxed did not look worried. He reportedly pulled out a
strand of his beard and placed on the water. It flowed on top and no drop of
liquid fell out of the cup. The crowd stood with their hands raised in
applauds.
There
was also an account of Shayk visiting a country and was surprised by the
inscription at the border town. An inscription had stated that visitors are
advised to pull down their robe and baggage of knowledge as “This is where true
knowledge starts and ends”
Sheik
Ibrahim stood by the bother, while he wrote on the soil of the border. Within
minutes, it was reported that the power grid went off across the country, and
no one was able to fix it. After rigorous search and inquiry to identify the
problem, the government was hinted about the man at the border. He was
contacted and implored to restore the power plant back to efficiency after a
profound apology. He was said to have erased what he wrote in the sand before
the power was restored.
Sheik
Ibrahim had once been reported to have appeared in two countries at a time. He
was said to be in Saudi Arabia and at the same time, leading prayer in Senegal.
His followers did not believe until the listen to the radio and got the news
that he is actually in Saudi Arabia for a conference, while they look at him
materially in front of them.
There
was an account of a very massive frog that once crosses the rail line at the
risk of causing a fatal train wreck. The coach driver was alerted and Sheik
Ibrahim who was in the train got down and move so close to the frog which was
double the size of a truck, and dialogue with the amphibian creature, after
which the frog dragged itself away from the rail. This proved the argument that
Sheik Ibrahim also speaks with animals of all kinds.
The
Grand Shaykh died in London on 26 July 1975 in St. Thomas Hospital at 12:03
noon. The Shaykh’s death shocked many people.
In an
account of the life of Sheik Ibrahim, one of his prominent students, the Grand
Mufti of Nigeria, Sheik Sherif Ibrahim Salleh Al-Husseini said that before the
Sheik died, he asked his last wife, Sayyida Bilkiss to try and get Married
because he is not a prophet, for it is only Prophets whose wives are not
allowed to marry after their death.
It will shock you that even in death, Sheik
Ibrahim is still performing miracles beyond imagine, especially for those who
still doubt the mysteries in Islam.
In the
mid-1990s, of a student of the University Of Lagos, Unilag, according to report
once painted the face of Shayk Ibrahim in a sticker pasted on Maruwa tricycle,
and her vision went blind immediately. Her vision was restored after several
prayers and supplication and the ink on the sticker removed.
A
middle-aged woman woke up to find a 7-man robbery gang, comfortably seated in
front of her shop, after carting her valuable belongings from her shop and
placing them right in front of her shop.
The
gang were questioned and they stated their intention, is to rob the store, but
according to them, an old the bearded man whom they met inside the store
ordered them to wait for the shop owner.
When
asked about the identity of the old man, the robbers pointed to the sticker of
Sheik Ibrahim. The woman, who is a Christian said she met the sticker in the
shop when she rented it but decided to keep the sticker because he seems to
like the man in the picture.
Sheik
Ibrahim is the first-ever & only Muslim scholar worldwide to be visited by
King Faisal of al-mighty Saudi Arabia in his remote village (kaolack): and the
first-ever Muslim scholar worldwide to receive red carpet treatment & be
treated like a president in Egypt and other countries….and the first-ever
Islamic scholar from African to deliver khutbah at the Masjid of Azhar and led
them in Jumu’ah Salat.
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