Explanation of the Invalidity of the Tijaniyyah Method

Shaykh Abdulaziz, a message reached the program from a writer who is extremely agitated and uses phrases for which I ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted, to forgive us and him. The summary of the message is: defending what is called the Tijaniyyah method. I hope you would be kind enough to enlighten our brother. May Allah reward you with good. It would be wonderful if you sent him what scientific research has reached regarding this method. May Allah reward you with good and make you beneficial?
Answer: Yes, the Tijaniyyah method is a religious innovation (bid'ah) with no basis, and an evil (munkar) with no basis. We ask Allah to heal our brothers in Africa, in Senegal and elsewhere, to protect them from its evil, to free them from it, and to guide them to follow their Prophet and Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). His method, praise be to Allah, is sufficient. Allah sent him as a mercy to the worlds and completed Islam for him. Therefore, it is obligatory for the entire Muslim community (ummah) to hold fast to what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were upon, for in them is the example and the model. As Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) said in His great Book: [Al-Ahzab: 21], and He said (peace be upon him) in Surat al-Tawbah: [Al-Tawbah: 100]. Thus, those who follow them with excellence are those who proceed upon his methodology without addition or inventing innovations. And He said, Exalted is He: [Al-Imran: 31]. So Allah commanded His Prophet to say this to the people: (Say), meaning: Say, O Messenger, to the people: [Al-Imran: 31], meaning: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), [Al-Imran: 31]. So following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the path to the love of Allah, and it is the path to happiness. [An-Nisa: 80], and He said, Exalted is He: [An-Nisa: 13].
So the path to Paradise and happiness is in following Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), not in following Ahmad al-Tijani. Ahmad al-Tijani is a latecomer; he was only born in 1150 of the Hijrah, meaning one thousand, one hundred, and forty years after the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So he was born, as in the books of the people, the books of the Tijaniyyah, they mentioned that he was born in the year 1150, meaning in the twelfth century of the Hijrah. And he claims that he traveled in many lands and learned the Sufi methods, then he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the year 1196, so he taught him the daily recitation (al-wird) that he teaches people, and that he teaches the Muslim community (ummah) this daily recitation of supplication and seeking forgiveness. And he said: You are my son, and he taught the Muslim community (ummah). And he saw in the year 1200, four years after meeting the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he also taught him to add to the supplication and seeking forgiveness (Say: He is Allah, the One) and to teach the Muslim community (ummah) that. And he claimed that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) face-to-face in a waking state, not in sleep. All of this is false, for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is not seen in a waking state after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), but only in a dream. For Allah, Mighty and Majestic, does not send him except on the Day of Resurrection. Allah, Exalted is He, said in Surat (Al-Mu'minun): [Al-Mu'minun: 15-16]. So the resurrection is on the Day of Resurrection. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So his resurrection will be on the Day of Resurrection. So whoever says: He saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a waking state and he taught him such and such and such after his death, has lied, or he was lied to, or he saw a Shaytan who claimed to him that he was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And Shaytan may take on many forms and claim to the ignorant that he is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As for taking on his form, no; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , so it indicates that he may take on a form other than his form (peace and blessings be upon him), as the scholars informed us. But al-Tijani was not satisfied with this, but said: He sees him in a waking state and that he taught him in a waking state. So all of this is false, whether his lie is his own or he was lied to and a Shaytan deceived him by saying that to him.
Then also, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has clarified the path to Paradise and the path to happiness for the Muslim community (ummah), and the Companions followed it. So is there a new religion that Ahmad brings after twelve centuries that contradicts what the Companions were upon? The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are the best of people and the best of people, then those who follow them. So the religion that the Companions followed is the correct religion, it is the religion of Allah, and it is the straight path. So whoever comes with something new after that, it is rejected from him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , agreed upon as authentic. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the Friday sermon: , narrated by Muslim in the authentic collection. Al-Nasa'i added: . So it is not befitting for a person of intellect to become angry when he is warned about falsehood and when he is warned about innovations. Rather, he should say: Praise be to Allah who guided me. Praise be to Allah who made me know that this is an innovation. Praise be to Allah who guided me to good. And he should learn and understand, and not imitate people. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: , narrated by the two Shaykhs: al-Bukhari and Muslim in the two authentic collections. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And a scholar, no matter how much his virtue, is not infallible; he may err often and things may be confused upon him. So if al-Tijani was a scholar, a scholar is not infallible. Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), the famous Imam, said: None of us is free from being a refuter and being refuted, except the owner of this grave.
And al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: People have agreed that if the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) becomes clear to a person, he has no right to leave it for the saying of any person, but he is obligated to follow it.
And Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If the hadith comes from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it is upon the eye and the head. And if it comes from the Companions, it is upon the eye and the head. And if it comes from the Tabi'un, they are men and we are men; because Abu Hanifah was in the era of the Tabi'un, and it is narrated that he saw some of the Companions, so he would be from the Tabi'un if that is established.
The Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) also said: "I am amazed at a people who know the isnad and its authenticity—meaning, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—yet they follow the opinion of Sufyan—meaning, al-Thawri—while Allah the Exalted says: [An-Nur: 63], which means the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So I am amazed at a people who follow the statement of Sufyan al-Thawri and his like among the scholars and abandon the hadith. This is undoubtedly reprehensible. Thus, every Muslim, whether in Senegal or elsewhere, and every person of legal age, should be careful in his religion and ask about the way of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the religion of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and what the Companions followed and established, not what al-Tijani or Shaykh Abdul Qadir or al-Shadhili or so-and-so or so-and-so said. No, we are commanded to follow our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). We are commanded to follow the Qur'an and to follow the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). We are not commanded to follow Shaykh Abdul Qadir or Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani or al-Shadhili or so-and-so or so-and-so, or Malik or al-Shafi'i or Ahmad or Abu Hanifa or others. These are scholars (may Allah be pleased with them and have mercy on them). The four Imams are well-known scholars, but each one hits the mark and misses, and so do the other scholars. If Ahmad al-Tijani is among the scholars and has the merit of knowledge, if we assume that and say he is among the scholars, then a scholar misses and hits the mark. He erred in his claim that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while awake, and he was deceived when he saw him in a waking state. And in his claim that he knows the Ummah and that he guided them to know the entire Ummah, and that he guides them to the way he brought, meaning the Ummah was lost until Ahmad al-Tijani came to teach them! The Ummah was on the way of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, who are the people of the Sunnah and the community. So whoever is on this way is on the way of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, before al-Tijani and after him. The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) received their way from the Messenger of Allah, then those who followed them in excellence, and so on until the time of the four Imams, and after them until our time. Whoever adheres to the Qur'an and follows the Sunnah and proceeds on the methodology of the Companions is the one who truly follows, and he is the one who is truly guided. And whoever deviates from that to a new way innovated by al-Tijani or other than al-Tijani, or al-Shadhili, or Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, or al-Mursi, or so-and-so or so-and-so, all of that has no basis and it is not obligatory to follow it. Rather, it is obligatory to present everything that anyone claims to be from the Shari'ah to the Qur'an and to what is authentic from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So whatever the Qur'an or the authentic Sunnah testifies to as valid, it is obligatory to take it and accept it, even if it contradicts the opinion of your specific Shaykh or Imam, such as al-Tijani or others. This is due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: [An-Nisa: 59]; and His saying the Exalted: [Ash-Shura: 10]. And al-Tijani came in the twelfth century, as mentioned previously, and was born in the year 1150. So what was the state of the people before that? Thus, the author of Jawahir al-Ma'ani mentioned this, and thus the author of al-Rimah mentioned it: that he was born in the year 1150, and mentioned what he said: that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while awake and taught him the Wird, which is the supplication and the prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), teaching the Ummah and guiding them. Then he taught him an addition to teach them: "Say: He is Allah, the One" (Iqra: Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad) as well, and guiding them to that Wird. All of this is known to Muslims; they know that supplication is prescribed and seeking forgiveness is prescribed, and reciting "Say: He is Allah, the One" and the two protective chapters (al-Mu'awwidhatayn) is also prescribed. And: as it came in the hadith. And Allah has prescribed its recitation after every prayer, and three times after Maghrib and Fajr with the two protective chapters. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed that it is equivalent to one-third of the Qur'an. This is something known before al-Tijani came. The sensible person should be alert and not be deceived by imitating people or by advertisements that have no basis. Rather, he should reflect on the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Fatihah: 6], asking your Lord to guide you to the straight path in every prayer in Al-Fatihah. And the straight path is the religion of Allah, not the religion of Ahmad al-Tijani. The religion of Allah is what Allah sent His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with, and what the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger indicated, and that is the straight path. So it is obligatory for all people, and especially Muslims in every place, to adhere to what came in the Book and the Sunnah and to be upright upon it, and not to deviate from it because of the saying of al-Tijani or al-Shadhili or so-and-so or so-and-so, or their fathers or their ancestors. Rather, it is upon them to follow the truth. May Allah grant everyone success and guidance, and there is no power nor strength except by Allah.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. Did you hear the scholarly response, my brother Muhammad Abdullah al-Shinqiti?
We ask Allah for guidance for us and for you. As for the words you began your message with, we will not mention anything of them, but we ask Allah for guidance for you and for all Muslims.