Ibrahim Niass

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Ibrāhīm Niass (1900-1975)—also written Ibrahima Niasse in French, Ibrayima Ñas in Wolof, Shaykh al-'Islām al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥājj ʿAbd Allāh at-Tijānī al-Kawlakhī in Arabic— was a major leader of the Tijānī 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 Ibrāhīmiyyah branch of the Tijānī order, whose adherents designate themselves in Arabic as the people of the Faydah Tijāniyyah (Tijānī Flood) or in Wolof as Taalibé Baay (discipes 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.

[edit] Life

Born in the village of Tayba Ñaseen (spelled Taïba Niassène in French), between the Senegalese city of Kaolack and the border of Gambia, he was the son of Allaaji Abdulaay Ñas (1840-1922), the main representative of the Tijānī order in the Saalum region at the beginning of the twentieth century. During his youth, he moved with his father to the city of Kaolack, where they established the zāwiya (religious center) of Lewna Ñaseen. After his father's death in Lewna Ñaseen, his older brother, Muhammad al-Khalīfa, became his father's successor or Khalīfa, but due to his charisma and precocious knowledge, Ibrāhīm gained a large number of disciples, and tensions arose between his own disciples and those of his older brother. In 1929, while farming in the family fields of the village of Kóosi Mbittéyeen, young Ibrāhīm announced that the Prophet Muhammad had revealed to him the secrets of knowledge of God, and that anyone who wished to know God should follow him. In 1930, after the prayer of ʿĪd al-Fiṭr (the end of the month of Ramaḍān), a fight broke out between his disciples and those of Muhammad al-Khalīfa, and he immediately knew that he would have to move with his disciples.

That evening, he set out with a small group of his closest disciples to find a new place to live, and the next day they began to establish a new zāwiya in Medina Baay, a village that was later incorporated into the growing city of Kaolack. During the following years, he divided his time between farming and teaching in Kóosi Mbittéyeen during the rainy season and teaching in Medina Baay. During the summer of 1945 he reestablished himself in his father's house in his natal village of Tayba Ñaseen, rebuilding and reorganizing the village after a fire destroyed much of it. His 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. In an unlikely role reversal, several leaders of the Arab 'Idaw ʿAli tribe in Mauritania—the same tribe that introduced the Tijānī order to West Africa—became his disciples, including Shaykhāni, Muḥammad wuld an-Naḥwi, and Muḥammad al-Mishri.

In the 1940s, after meeting the Emir of Kano (Nigeria) during his pilgrimage in Makkah, he gained the allegiance of many of the prominent Tijānī leaders of Northern Nigeria. He became a major leader throughout Hausa areas of West Africa and in fact ended up with far more disciples outside of Senegal than within it.

By his death in 1975 in London, Ibrahim Niass had millions of followers throughout West Africa. His branch of the Tijāniyya has become the largest branch in the world. After his death the community was led by his closest disciple Alliw Siise and his oldest son Allaaji Abdulaaay Ibrayima Ñas. The current Khalīfa in Medina Baay is his oldest surviving son, Aḥmadu Ñas (known as “Daam”), and the Imam of the mosque is his grandson Shaykh Ḥasan Sise (also spelled Assane Cissé), who is probably the most prominent Tijānī leader in the world today.

[edit] Works

His many works include:

• Kāshif al-'ilbās ʿan Fayḍati l-Khatmi 'Abī l-ʿAbbās ("Lifting the confusion about the Fayḍa [Flood] of the Seal [of the saints] Abū l-ʿAbbās [Ahmad at-Tijānī]"). Edited by Shaykh Tijānī ʿAlī Sīse. Ash-Sharīka ad-dawliyya li-ṭ-ṭibāʿa, Cairo, Egypt.
• Jawāhir ar-rasā'il ("Pearls of the letters"), a compendium of letters by Ibrāhīm Ñas.
• As-sirr al-'akbar ("The greatest secret")
• Countless anthologies of poems, which have been published in Ad-Dawāwīn as-Sitt ("the Six Anthologies"), Jāmiʿ Jawāmiʿ ad-Dawāwīn ("Collection of collections of Anthologies"), and Majmūʿ Riḥlāt ash-Shaykh 'Ibrāhīm ("The Compendium of Travels of Shaykh Ibrāhīm"). All of these were edited by his son Shaykh Muḥammad al-Ma'mūn Ibrāhīm Ñas.
• Kitāb at-taṣrīf ("The Book of Arabic morphology"), a book commonly used in Arabic schools throughout Senegal.
• Manāsik al-ḥajj al-mubārakah al-musammāt: tuḥfat 'ahl al-ḥādirah bi-mā yanfaʿ al-ḥājj siyyamā fī ṭ-ṭā'irah ("Rituals of the blessed pilgrimage, or: gems for city people to benefit the pilgrim, especially one traveling by airplane"). Edited by Shaykh Tijānī ʿAlī Sīse.
• A number of fatwas (legal opinions), including: Wajh at-taḥqīq fī kawn jāmiʿ medīna huwa l-ʿatīq ("Verification that the longstanding rule of the precondition of a mosque is a city"), concerning the circumstances in which a Friday mosque should be built; and Baḥth fī thubūt ru'yat al-hilāl ("Study on establishing the sighting of the new moon"), concerning when to end the month of Ramaḍān and its fast.

In addition to his printed works, dozens of cassette tapes of Ibrāhīm Ñas are readily available in Senegal, including complete Tafsīr al-Qur'ān (interpretations of the Qur'ān) in Wolof and Arabic, several recitations of the Mawlid an-nabawī (birth [and life] of Muhammad), also in Wolof and Arabic, and speeches on various religious and practical subjects in Wolof.