FAIDHA ~ The Divine Flood

FAIDHA 

الفيضة… وما أدراك ما هي

The truth, indeed, the absolute truth is that this Fayḍah manifested at the hands of Shaykh al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm ‘Abdullāh Niasse al-Kawlakhī in the year 1349 AH, in the village of Kossi, a remote settlement in south-eastern Senegal. Allah chose that land as the place where this Fayḍah would burst forth and spread, as He says:

ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ

“That is the bounty of Allah; He grants it to whom He wills, and Allah is the Possessor of immense bounty.”

Years before its appearance, Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse alluded to the nearness of this Fayḍah in his words:

وتأتي قريبًا فيضةُ الختمِ هيِّئوا

بتفريغِ أغيارٍ فتحظى بموضعِ

“Soon shall the Fayḍah of the Seal arrive

Prepare yourselves by emptying the heart of all that is other than Him,

And you shall attain your rightful station.”

The manifestation of the Fayḍah at the hands of Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse (may Allah be pleased with him) was affirmed by the foremost authorities of the Tijānī path among his contemporaries, those whose testimony alone carries weight in such a matter.

Among them is the great scholar and judge, Qutb al-Ṭarīqah Sīdī Aḥmad Sukayrij al-‘Ayyāshī (raḍiya’Llāhu ‘anhu), who said:

شهدتُ لكم فتحًا مبينًا بما لكم

به الحقُّ من بين البريةِ قد خصا

ورثتَ عن الشيخِ التجاني خلافةً

وإني لكم فيها أنصُّ لكم نصا

وإني أرى الشيخَ التجاني خاتمًا

وأنتَ الذي قد صرتَ في الخاتمِ الفصا

وما قلتُ هذا عن هوىً وتبجحٍ

ولا كان عن شطحٍ رقصتُ به رقصا

ولكنه عن واردٍ جاء ناشرًا

لواءَ سرورٍ منه حاسدُكم غصا

وكم طائرٍ فخرًا يُعِدُّ مزاحمًا

لكم في المعالي والجناحُ له قُصا

“I bear witness that you have been granted a manifest opening,

By which the Truth has singled you out among all creation.

You inherited the caliphate of Shaykh al-Tijānī,

And I sincerely counsel you concerning it.

I see Shaykh al-Tijānī as the Seal,

And you are the jewel set within that Seal.

I did not say this out of desire or boastfulness,

Nor from ecstatic excess or heedless display.

Rather, it came as a divine influx,

Unfurling a banner of joy that choked your envier with grief.

How many a bird sought to rival you in honor,

Yet its wing was clipped while yours soared high.”

Also among those who confirmed the Fayḍah is the spiritual pole Sīdī al-Ḥājj ‘Abdullāh ibn al-Ḥājj al-‘Alawī al-Shinqīṭī, who stated that he was granted an unveiling of the Fayḍah and witnessed it directly. When he later realized that his death was near and the Fayḍah had not yet appeared in his lifetime, he understood that it would manifest through one of his students. For this reason, he increased spiritual introductions and mediation.

He later stated with certainty to Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse:

«تأتي الفيضةُ على يدِك حقيقةً لا مجازًا،

وعلى يدِ غيرِك ممّن يدّعيها مجازًا لا غير»

“The Fayḍah will come through your hands in reality, not metaphorically;

and through anyone else who claims it, it will only be metaphorical.”

Many scholars of the Tijānī path affirmed this truth in both prose and poetry. Among them is Sīdī Muḥammad ‘Abdullāh ibn al-Muṣṭafā al-‘Alawī al-Shinqīṭī, who said:

ما هو إلا هو صاحبُ وقتِه

وعلى يديه فيضةُ التجاني

عجبٌ له بحرٌ تضمَّن أبحرًا

من فيضِ ربِّ العرشِ والأكوان

فمن الحقيقةِ فيه بحرٌ زاهرٌ

ومن الشريعةِ فيه بحرٌ ثاني

“He is none other than the master of his time,

And upon his hands flows the Fayḍah of al-Tijānī.

A marvel is he—a sea that contains many seas,

Overflowing from the grace of the Lord of the Throne and all existence.

From the perspective of Reality, he is a radiant sea,

And from the perspective of Sacred Law, he is another sea.”

Likewise, the scholar and judge Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Sālik ibn Bāb, known as al-Naḥḥ, said:

لستُ مرتابًا في خلافةِ الشيخِ

ولا مُصغيًا إلى مرتابِ

أنتَ لبُّ اللبابِ ممّن يُربّي

وقليلٌ في الناسِ لبُّ اللبابِ

“I harbor no doubt regarding the Shaykh’s succession,

Nor do I listen to the words of the doubters.

You are the very essence among those who nurture souls,

And few among people truly possess such an essence.”

Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse himself comments on these testimonies in his writings, saying:

«قلتُ: وهؤلاء هم مشائخُ الإسلامِ ورجالُ طريقتِنا،

فما عداهم عيالٌ لهم،

وكلُّهم أقرّوا بوقوعِ الفيضةِ على يدِ العبدِ الجاني»

“I say: these are the Shaykhs of Islam and the men of our Ṭarīqah.

Whoever is outside them is dependent upon them.

All of them have affirmed that the Fayḍah occurred at the hands of this sinful servant.