“Kashf al-Hijab” tells us another story about the circumstances of his meeting with Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him:

Sidi Tayyeb Sufyani, may Allah be satisfied with him, went to Egypt to travel to Hijaz, when he met the majestic Muqaddam and Companion of Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdelwahid Bannani al-Misri, may Allah be satisfied with him. The latter showed him the book, “Jawahir al-Ma'ani wa Bulugh al-Amani fi Fayd Sayyidi Abil al-Abbas al-Tijani” (Gems of Indications and Attainment of Aspirations in the Spiritual Flows of our Lord Abil Abbas Tijani) of Sidi al-Haj Ali Harazem Berrada al-Fasi (d. 1218/1803) that Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, consulted. This event was the source of his irresistible desire to meet Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him. By the way, he bitterly regretted being at the same place as him without having however the favour to meet him.

When he came back from Hijaz, he went to see Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, but he expressed some hesitation to take the Tariqa. Our Master, may Allah sanctify his invaluable secret, wishing to show the special character of Sidi Tayyeb Sufyani, said to him:

"So what is this hesitation, O so-and-so, and what prevents you from taking the Tariqa straight off whereas I was your teacher and your tutor even before your mother gave birth to you? Indeed, during her pregnancy, your mother stumbled and was nearly pierced by an object that would have caused damage to your body. I thus gently prevented her from falling by the permission of Allah and the authorization of the Prophet (peace be upon him), thus preserving the image of your body against any harmful effect, except for the top of your head that was affected, and the proof of all that is the existence of a mark."

Indeed, Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, had a small hole in the head and he did not know its origin. This boosted his confidence, his love and commitment to Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him. When he questioned his mother on this event, she told the same story as Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, after which he took the Tariqa immediately.

“Kashf al-Hijab” depicts a very interesting event that happened between our Master, may Allah be pleased with him, and Sidi Tayyeb Sufyani relating one of the three conditions of the Tijani Path, that is paying visits of respect to the friends (ziyara).  

“One day while he was heading to the blessed Zawiya to perform one of the five prayers, he met one of his friends from the area of Wazzan. He discussed for a long time with him and the companion of our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, Sidi Moussa ibn Ma'zouz (d. after 1244/1829), may Allah be satisfied with him, passed next to them. He then strongly caught the hand of Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, saying: "You have missed the prayer with Our Master!" Then he took him to the Zaouiya and they found Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, performing prayers.

When Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, had finished his prayers, he said to him directly by unveiling: "Leave the people of Wazzan because they only do you evil". And he repeated it many times. In fact, this is a teaching from Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, by fear that Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, fall in error. Which in turn would lead to his loss, that is to say neglecting Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, in favour of someone else.

Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, meant by "only do you evil" that any meeting with another Sheikh cannot be done without permission in order to complete education as it is recognized by all the people who educate. The advantage of the unveiling of this situation to Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, is to make him aware of the omnipresent attention of Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, wherever he is.

He was previously in the path of the masters of Wazzan, entirely devoted to their service, not turning to anyone else throughout months and days. When our character was dedicated to the service of Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, and he gave up the meeting with people of his old way, he then had a visit from his former companions worried about him.

He received them cordially and sometimes, he went with them up to their place, keeping hidden his secret, not wanting to reveal his case. But, once precisely, Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, sent him in the region Wazzan to deal with some cases. When he came back, he stayed a few days away from Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him.

When they met, Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, asked him why had he not seen him since his return, seeking thereby to show the secret of his education. Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, told him: "Oh! Sidi I had something that prevented me." Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, said: "Did something happen to you because of your visit to Wazzan?" He said: "May Allah preserve us." Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, said: "Ask therefore your heart." From that moment, he returned to his certainty towards Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, and blamed himself because of what might occur in him as confusion and he repented to Allah for everything.”  

The books of the Tijani Path advocate an usul-based prioritization of the sayings of our Master Abil Abbas Tijani, may Allah be pleased with him, that form the basis for forbidding visits of respects to the Friends outside the Path.

1.        “The Chieftain of Existence—peace and blessing be upon him—said to me: 'A matter has been neglected by the shaykhs: And that is that anyone who has come to know about one shaykh, and then pays a visit to another one other than him, he will benefit from neither the former nor the latter in any way.'”

2.       “The Chieftain of Existence—peace and blessing be upon him—said to me: ‘Let your companions visit My Companions when they pass through them. But to somebody else: nay.”

3.       “The Chieftain of Existence—peace and blessing be upon him—has commanded me to lift the permission from two men that had visited Mawlay Abdessalam ibn Mashish, may Allah be pleased with him.”

4.       “Whoever has taken our Wird and entered into our Path, then let him not visit any one of the Friend, living or dead.”   

5.        “Whoever pays a visit of respect to a Friend from among the Friends, the cord that ties me to him will be cut. So he is neither with us nor with him.” 

6.       “The Prophet—peace and blessing be upon him—gave me a prayer called Jawharat al-Kamal. If someone recites it 12 times and says: 'This is a gift from me to you, O Apostle of God,' it is as if he has visited him in his noble garden, and as if he has visited the Friends of God Most High and the righteous, from the beginning of existence until his own time."

Sidi al-Haj Ali Harazem—may Allah be pleased with him— says in his commentary on the latter passage: “This is the reason for the practice of cutting off visitation from all his companions. So none of them is able to pay a visit of respect to our masters the Friends—may Allah be pleased with him—save the Chieftain of the Universe—peace and blessing be upon him—and his companions.”

The Holy Wasita, the Noble Allama, Abi Abdellah Sidi Mohammed ibn Sulayman al-Manaʼi Tunusi, may Allah be pleased with him, explains in a letter he dispatched for a congregation of brothers and confidants:

“(…) Now the third condition: He must never join the Wird of this Shaykh with another. And if the wird of another shaykh was in his possession, he must leave it; be it the wird of Shaykh al-Jilani, Shaykh Shadhili, Shaykh al-‘Hifnawi, Sidi Ahmed ibn Nasir, Sidi Ibn Isa, or other shaykhs—Allah be pleased with them. Yea! It is incumbent upon him to leave any wird that is attached to our Masters, the Friends, such as al-Jilani, al-‘Hatimi, al-Shadhili, and other than them, be they big or small. The conclusion of the matter is that this Wird must never be joined with any wird, never, ever! In this event, whoever commits himself to these conditions, he has my comprehensive, complete permission on behalf of the Shaykh, may Allah be pleased with him. And whoever does not commit himself to them, he has no permission from me.

I should add that only he who has no acquaintance with the Sufi books may detract this theme and seek to prove himself with their maxim: ‘The student is like the bee. Let him graze upon every tree to collect honey,’ to mention very few of these kinds of proofs mentioned in the books of fiqh and Sufism. And I say: this word is truth, and cannot be detracted. But if the Shaykh commands the student to depart from visitation, then there is no option other than compliance, lest he was stubborn, and in that case, there is no shaykhhood, and they will be separated.

And the Shaykh, in such a case, follows the example of some of our Masters the Friends.

From that, is what is related from the author of the Ibriz that his Shaykh Sidi Abdellaziz (Dabbagh), may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The student is like the bouquet of rose. Surely if it is offered to everybody to turn over and touch with his hands, it would become spoiled. It would wither and dry out. What is correct and most suitable regarding it is to keep it from everybody.”

And refer to the words of al-Hatimi when he said: “The student is like the sick person. Whenever two physicians got together to treat him, he would be destroyed,” for the methods of remedies are different from one another.

And refer to the words of al-Bikri, may Allah be pleased with him, when he said: “The student is like the digger of wells. If he keeps digging in one place he will bring out water. Otherwise, he would spend his lifetime in this occupation without results. Verily, if he doesn’t keep digging in one place, he would never be able to bring out water.”

As well as other things that are related in their books.

The bottom line is that we do not deny the benefit of the Litanies or the benefit in our Masters the Friends. We seek refuge in Allah from that and from rejecting the Friends of Allah. But, we say: “Every one of them, may Allah be well pleased with them, are upon that which is proper. And for all of them, He is their Lord. And all of them drink from one sea- meaning the sea of Prophethood. And it's only that every drink is different according to the measure in which Allah has appointed his provision.

The gist is, o my brethren, that abandoning the Friends of Allah is an incurable disease. And it has come down in al-Hadith, “Whoever becomes an enemy to my Friend, then I have declared war on him.” And who could withstand war from Allah? Can the blind lead the one who can see? Can the ignorant object to the scholar? Or can the person without knowledge of the path direct someone upon it? Not at all. By Allah, that is not possible. And what we have mentioned is sufficient. And if it had been appropriate, more than this could have been said. And Allah knows best.”

Back to the subject of the biography. Know that Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, greatly loved our character with a special love. He praised him among his companions and certified his rank as a Sharif. On many occasions, he rose to welcome him by honour and respect. It is recognized that Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, increased the marks of respect when he met a descendant of the Prophet (peace be upon him) up to receive him on the doorstep of his house. His companions knew thereby whether the person was really a Sharif.

Among the habits Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, was the fact that nobody could embrace his hand and especially if he was a Sharif. But one day our character happened to kiss the hand of Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, when he was inattentive. Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, immediately ordered him to extend out his hand so he can kiss it in turn, he told Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him,: "By Allah! Oh Sidi I find it easier to me decide to have my hand cut than let you kiss it. "Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, said: "By Allah! You must extend your hand to me. "And he finally kissed it.

Thus behaved Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, towards the noble descendants of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Moreover, he strongly recommended their respect as well as the Friends, whether dead or alive, with the best behaviour towards them.

It was reported that Sidi Tayyeb Sufyani, may Allah be satisfied with him, lived in a room which was facing the grave of Moulay Idriss, may Allah be satisfied with him. Once Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, caring for his welfare, asked about the place where he lived. Our character praised his apartment by the fact that it was precisely the opposite noble grave of Moulay Idriss, Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, told him: "Do not stretch out your legs in his direction out of respect to him".

Among the amazing things that are happened with Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, there is the fact that Sidi Tayyeb Sufyani (caring for his welfare) had asked him to invoke Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, so that he die with the love of the Shaykh, Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, fulfilled his request and told him: "Get ready for poverty."

But Sidi Tayyeb, may Allah be satisfied with him, had an impressive wealth. It gradually declined, his heart was however soothed by the certainty of the love of Our Master, may Allah be satisfied with him, a love which was stronger than poverty, until his death. He died in Fez in the year 1259/1843 and was buried in the moutain of Za'faran, outside Bab al-Ghisa. 

Sidi Tayyeb II

The Sharif, the Baraka, the Muqaddam, the Imam of the Grand Zawiya, Sidi Tayyeb ibn Ahmed ibn Tayyeb. He was born in the year 1262/1845, and hung on the Ahmedi Tijani Path in the year 1280/1863 at 18 years of age at the hands of his father, the Baraka, the poet, Sidi Ahmed al-Sufyani, the majestic Muqaddam, Mawlay al-Ghali ibn Moussa ibn Ma’zouz, and the Allama, the Muqaddam, Sidi Ahmed Bannani Kala. He was appointed muqaddam and designated to grant permissions in the Path’s litanies by Sidi Mohammed al-Bashir, the grandchild of Our Master—may Allah be pleased with him; the Baraka, Sidi Ahmed al-Abdellawi; the Allama, the Khatib, Sidi Allal ibn Abdellah al-Fasi; the Righteous Friend, Sidi Mohammed al-Arabi ibn Sayeh; the graceful Allama, Sidi al-Haj al-Husayn al-Ifrani, and others. He passed away—God be pleased with—in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 26th of Dhu al-Qi’adha in the year 1357/ the 17th of January, 1939. They prayed the funeral prayer for his soul in the Ahmedi Tijani Zawiya after the ‘Asr prayer and he was buried outside Bab al-Ghisa next to his noble ancestors.