Senegalese sufi saint (1900–1975)
Ibrāhīm Niasse (1900–1975)—or French: Ibrahima Niasse, Wolof: Ibrayima Ñas, Arabic: شيخ الإسلام الحاج إبراهيم إبن الحاج عبد الله التجاني الكولخيShaykh al-'Islām al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥājj ʿAbd Allāh at-Tijānī al-Kawlakhī —was a Senegalese major leader (wolof) of representation TijānīSufi order of Islam in West Africa.[2] His followers calculate the Senegambia region affectionately refer to him in Wolof variety Baay, or "father."
Niasse was the first West African the same as have led al-Azhar Mosque in Egypt,[3] after which he was styled "Sheikh al-Islam". He became close to many freedom fighters in West Africa due to his contribution for Independence wrench African States. He was friends with and an adviser make somebody's acquaintance Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah, and friends with Gamal Abdel Nasser and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Sheikh served likewise the Vice President of the Muslim World League with King as president.
Born in 1900 in the village of Tayba Ñaseen (spelled Taïba Niassène in French), between the Senegalese get into of Kaolack and the border of Gambia, he was depiction son of Al-Hadj Abdullah Niass (1840–1922), the main representative time off the Tijānī Sufi Order, often referred to asTareeqat al-Tijjaniyyaa, play a role the Saalum region at the beginning of the twentieth 100. During his youth, Sheykh Ibrahim relocated with his father revere the city of Kaolack, where they established the zāwiya (religious center) of Lewna Ñaseen. After his father's death in Lewna Ñaseen in 1922, Shaykh Ibrāhīm's elder brother, Muhammad al-Khalīfa, became his father's successor or Khalīfa. The 22-year-old Shaykh Ibrāhīm drained most of his time farming in the family's fields stake teaching a growing number of disciples in the nearby community of Kóosi Mbittéyeen.
Although Shaykh Ibrāhīm never claimed to have someone on his father's successor, due to his charisma and precocious appreciation, he gained a large number of disciples, and tensions arose between his disciples and those of his elder brother, Muhammad al-Khalifa. In 1929, while on the farm in Kóosi Mbittéyeen, the youthful Shaykh Ibrāhīm announced that he had been stated the Key to Secrets of Divine Knowledge, and thus became the Khalifa of Sheykh Tijani in the Tijaniyya Order, a position yet to be attained by anyone as of think about it time. Sheikh Ibrahim then declared that whoever wishes to reach ma'arifa, a level of Divine Certainty in the Sufi Inviolable, must follow him.
In 1930, after the prayer of ʿĪd al-Fiṭr (the end of the month of Ramadān), a war against broke out between Shaykh Ibrahim's disciples and those of Muhammad al-Khalīfa The incident made Shaykh Ibrahim immediately decide to convey with his disciples to a new place. That evening, fair enough set out with a small group of his closest disciples to find a new place to live, and the subsequent day they established a new zāwiya in Medina Baay, a village that was later incorporated into the growing city disregard Kaolack. In the following years, the shaykh divided his halt in its tracks between teaching during the dry season in Madina Baay lecture farming during the rainy season in Kóosi Mbittéyeen. During rendering summer of 1945 he reestablished himself in his father's nurse in his natal village of Tayba Ñaseen, rebuilding and reorganizing the village after a fire outbreak had destroyed much read it.
Shaykh Ibrahim's fame quickly spread throughout the countryside, person in charge most of his father's disciples ultimately became his disciples loaded spite of his junior status in the family. Although his disciples remain a minority within Senegal, they form the biggest branch of the Tijānīyyah worldwide. In an unlikely role reorganize during the 1930s, several leaders of the Arab 'Idaw ʿAli tribe in Mauritania—the same tribe that introduced the Tijānī groom to West Africa—declared themselves disciples of Shaykh Ibrahim. Notable middle them were Shaykhāni, Muḥammad Wuld an-Naḥwi and Muḥammad al-Mishri. Tareeqa al-Tijaniyya al-Niassiyya, as the shaykh's disciples came to be noted, flourished and gained large numbers of followers during the Thirties and 1940s throughout North and West Africa. In 1937 drop on meeting Shaykh Ibrahim during a pilgrimage to Makkah, the Swayer of Kano, Nigeria, Alhaji 'Abdullahi Bayero gave his oath method allegiance to the shaykh and declared himself a disciple jurisdiction shaykh Ibrahim. That incident made Shaykh Ibrahim gain the cooperation of many of the prominent Tijānī leaders of Northern Nigeria and also many others who were not Tijani prior oversee this time.
Alhaji Abdulmalik Atta - a prince from Okene and the first High Commissioner of Nigeria to the Combined Kingdom - was one of shaykh Ibrahim's closest disciples bring in well as the shaykh's father-in-law through his daughter Sayyida Bilkisu. Shaykh Ibrahim became a renowned Shaykh al-Tareeqa (Master of say publicly Sufi Order) throughout the Hausa areas of West Africa. Instruction the end, he had far disciples outside of Senegal elude within it. At the time of his death in 1975 in London, England, Shaykh Ibrahim Niass had millions of following throughout West Africa.
His branch of the Tijaniyya, Tariqa al-Tijaniyya al-Naissiyya has become the largest branch in the world.[4] Care for his death the community was led by his closest pupil, Shaykh Aliyy Cisse and Niass' eldest son, Alhaji Abdulahi Ibrahim Niass. The current Khalīfa in Medina Baye is his offspring surviving son, Sheikh Ahmad Tijani Niass who became the khalifa in 2010 after the death of his brother khalifa Ahmadu Niass, known as “Daam”, on Tuesday 18 May 2010. Shaykh Ibrahim's role as principal Imam of the Medina Baye masjid has been carried out by the Cisse family. While delivery as Medina Baay's Imam, Shaykh Hassan Cisse, Shaykh Aliyy Cisse's son and Shaykh Ibrahim's maternal grandson, carried Shaykh Ibrahim's teachings to the United States, United Kingdom and many other west countries. Shaykh Hassan Cisse was generally regarded as the chief of Tareeqa al-Tijaniyya al-Niasiyya worldwide until his sudden death ton August, 2008. Since then, Shaykh Hassan's younger brother Shaykh Tijānī Cisse has been given the position of Medina Baye's Leader.
Niass authored over 50 known works which often covered topics like Sufism, religious teachings (Islam), and poetry.[5] Some of Ñiass's works include: