Letter of Seyyidina Ahmed Tijani: Tips and recommendations

"After praising ALLAH, may his praise be expanded and may His Qualities and His Names be sanctified, this letter is addressed to all our brothers, the disciples of Fez, and its surroundings, May ALLAH protect you from all the hardships and difficulties of temptations. Ameen.

May Peace and Mercy of ALLAH as well as His Blessings embrace you and your situation, from the one who loves you, Ahmed Ibn Muhammad Tijani, then:

I recommend you and myself what ALLAH commands and order us. That is to preserve the sacred limits and to perform the Divine order according to your efforts and your ability, because certainly, today, the principles of the Divine order have collapsed either entirely or in detail and people passionately like what harms them in this world.

We notice that there is no awakening that allows hearts to go back to ALLAH (The Glorified, The Exalted) and that allows to stop at the sacred limits of ALLAH whether in command or prohibition.

No one has the power to put into practice the order of ALLAH in all its aspects anymore, in our time, except for the one who wears the dress of the knowledge of ALLAH or one who comes near it.

But for the rest, things being what they are and the servant not being able to find loopholes to what ALLAH has decreed, the one who is mixed with white and black is better than the one who is totally black.

Abandon disobedience to ALLAH as much as you can, execute his order according to your capacities and atone much for your sins night and day. As we have already explained during our first advice which is a sufficient insight.
In addition, there is Hisb Saifi for whoever took it as morning and evening prayer at least once (a day) and at the maximum without limits, as well as Musaba'at al 'Achra for whoever took it as morning and evening prayer and Salatul Fatihi at least 100 times in the morning and the evening. In this area, no action of those who work (religious effort) can exceed them, and no hope of those who hope can be more fulfilled.

Be steadfast in performing your mandatory prayers in assembly and take care of them because they are the cause that allows withdraw misfortunes that should fall, except for very small exceptions that require punishment and ALLAH will certainly aid, with a great aid, one who will be constant in that.

How many times did He sustain him (the servant of ALLAH) after he was routed? How many times did He veil his faults? How many times did He forgive his sins? How many times did He hold his hand whenever he made a mistake?

I recommend you regularity in the Dhikr of ALLAH and the prayers on the Prophet (peace be upon him) night and day according to your ability and according to what ALLAH grants you as free time and energy, without excess or shortage.

Aim through this the glorification of the value of ALLAH and His Greatness and that of His Prophet (peace be upon him), and imagine you before the door of ALLAH asking only for His Satisfaction and not for a chance.

Anyone who works in this way will get a huge focus of ALLAH; he will find the blessings of such works in the near and distant future. He will discover the taste and flavor in what he does. This is one of the specificities and secrets to the same extent as a regular attendance to prayers in group.

I recommend you preserve alms, night and day, if you can, even if it is only a copper penny or a mere mouthful, but, after having ensured the fulfillment of financial obligations. Certainly, the attention of ALLAH is near to those who work and preserve the mandatory acts in congregation.

Take care, after the obligatory litanies of the Tariqa, of Hisbu Saifi and Salatul Fatihi, because they are certainly enough compared to any other wird (litany) and the favors that ALLAH grants through them comes at the height of what might be desired. No task can equalize them.

I recommend you take care of your family ties in everything that softens the heart and encourages love, abandon enmity towards relatives, disobedience of parents and anything that provokes hatred in the heart of the brothers, and abandon also looking for flaws in Muslims because, one who does this, ALLAH will also unveil the defects of his children after him.

Forgive those who make mistakes and excuse those who perform clumsily among all believers and, even more so, with your brothers in Tariqa, because certainly ALLAH often forgives those who forgive people who make mistakes.

Whoever is wrong and comes to apologize to you, accept his apology and forgive him so that ALLAH may accept yours and forgive you your mistakes. The worst brothers with ALLAH are those who do not accept excuses and do not forgive mistakes, examine the verses of ALLAH who says:

"Be quick in the race for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a Garden whose width is that (of the whole) of the heavens and of the earth, prepared for the righteous,
Those who spend (freely), whether in prosperity, or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men; for ALLAH loves those who do good;"(Surah 03, The Family of Imran, verses 133 and 134).

Do not care about harm of people and do not take into account everything that comes from them. You should forgive and ignore this because contesting all that comes from people, without forgiving, causes loss from ALLAH in this world and in the hereafter.

Whenever someone belittles himself by responding to evil with evil then, for him, the evils will multiply and the affairs of that servant will fail. Therefore, we must respond to evil with unconcern, forgiveness and indulgence.

I recommend you not to claim the positions where ALLAH has placed some people, this is not good either in law or in good manners, because their affairs only follow the Divine Will, they are embraced by the grip of ALLAH, they have no way out his decree and all their affairs depend on his decree and his predestination.

This is possible only if ordered by law to act against them by command and reprimand, in case of a contestation or a need, sometimes, not all the time, conforming to the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who said: "A sign of one’s excellence in his Islam, is ignoring what does not concern him."

You must advise your brothers in Tariqa with gentleness, kindness and diplomacy, without grimace or hatred, and each one of you should dedicate a time to mention ALLAH lonely, at least the time it takes for the essential prayers of the Tariqa. This will provide him with blessings in all his needs and his behaviour.

You must obey the Muqaddam who gave you the Wird in whatever he orders you that is good, in whatever he rebukes you being evil, or seeks to settle conflicts among you.

Perform the Wadhifa in the morning and evening for those who can. Otherwise, perform it only once in the morning or evening. [...]

I advise the Muqaddam who gives the Wird to forgive the mistakes of the brothers, to extend the mantle of his forgiveness for any wrongdoing and to avoid anything that can cause in their heart grudge, shame, hatred. Moreover, he should work to settle dispute between them and implement all that will unite their hearts.

If a fire lit among them, he should act quickly to extinguish it and, above all, all this should be done in order to satisfy ALLAH, not for any other advantage.

He must also blame those who backbite, admonishing them kindly by using soft words. He must deal with the brothers gently, with soft character, without trying to provoke in them aversion and difficulties by what he orders or prohibits them in the field of Divine rights and the rights of brothers, thus complying with the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who said: "Facilitate things to people (concerning religious matters), and do not make it hard for them and give them good tidings and do not make them run away (from Islam)."

He must take them away from the love of this world and not pay attention to what they possess with the firm belief that ALLAH is the one who gives and deprives, demeans and elevates.

He must consider that his concern is to liberate them from squandering and scattering in their worldly goods. He should not ask them for anything as a gift, may it be in small quantity or large quantity except what they give themselves without being asked to, because the idea of people revolves around that and their cases are interpreted from this point of view.

Leave in peace, the common people as well as the leaders, in the situation where ALLAH has established them, without trying to oppose with revulsion, hatred, or hostility, because it is ALLAH who has put His creatures in what he wanted and nobody has the ability to remove them from where ALLAH has established them.

Do not search for authority and its causes, because it is the Kaaba around which revolve all evils, it is perdition in this world and the hereafter.

If one of you experiences a misfortune or the evils reach him, he should be patient until ALLAH frees him, because each difficulty has absolutely an end and each torment has one day a release. If the situation becomes critical then he should humble himself while pleading to ALLAH so that he reaches, through the relief from ALLAH, the height of his hope.

You should not be grieved at miseries and hardships, because ALLAH (The Glorified, The Exalted) has sent down his servants in this world only for the vicissitudes of the Divine decrees and Lordly destinies which put the nafs (ego) in a state of trouble because of hardships and difficulties.

The servants cannot escape this, it is not possible for a slave not to have hardships in this world and so to be at rest, but the sensible person must know that the situations of people in this world are forever alternating between moments of tightening and loosening, between good and evil, between moments of joy and sadness. No inhabitant of this world can escape this fate.

Therefore, if a misfortune befalls and the situation tightens, one must know that it will end and after come relief and joy. Thus, one who understands that from ALLAH vis-à-vis the trials and tribulations of this world will meet every misfortune with patience and will be satisfied of the destiny and will fully thank ALLAH for His blessings.

And may peace and mercy of ALLAH be upon you."