Ruhul Adab
Commentary of Imam Hassan
5. Conditions of Taking Tarîqa Tijâniyya
The First and most important of the conditions is that one must commit himself to it until death. Allah says in the Qur’an 15:99 “And worship your Lord until there comes to you the hour of certainty.”
The Prophet SAW says in a hadith: “And indeed, a little that is continuous is better than a lot that is intermittent.” In another hadith the Prophet SAW said: “The best of worship is the constant one even if it is little.”
The Second of the conditions is that one must not combine this Tarîqa with another. There are about three hundred and thirteen (313) tariqas in Islam, each of which is traced through the Companions of the Battle of Badr to the Prophet SAW. While any of these tariqas will guide one to the Prophet’s SAW path, the principles of them all, are combined in the Tarîqa of Tijânî, in the same way that all principles of the past religions (of the Book) are combined in Islam. Allah is One, the final and overall Prophethood is one, and the guiding Shaykh of the last Tarîqa must certainly be one.
The Third of the conditions is that a person who has taken the Tarîqa (i.e Tijâniyya) should not pay homage (seek spiritual guidance) from any other Walî (Saint) that is not a Tijâni, for the purpose of spiritual gain. He must however, respect all the Awliyâ (Saints) of Allah. The reason for this is that the Tijâniyya, is the fountainhead of all the Turuq, it is their summation, and nothing is in any other Tarîqa that is not found within the Tijâniyya. Why then would one go out to beg for what he has in excess in his own home?
The Fourth of the conditions is that, one must at all times establish the five daily prayers in congregation, except for excusable reasons. It has been related from the Prophet SAW that prayers offered in congregation are twenty-seven times better than those said singularly. In another narration, twenty-five times better. Ibn Abbas RA also narrated from the Prophet SAW that: “There are no prayers for the neighbors of the mosque, except they offer the prayers in the mosque.” When the Prophet SAW was asked who is considered neighbors of the mosque, he replied “forty neighbors away from the mosque.”
The Fifth and the final condition is that a disciple must respect his parents to the utmost possible. Allah always brings together the command to worship with dutifulness to parents. Allah says in the Qur’an 2:83 “… Don’t worship other than Allah, and with parents be nice” Qur’an 4:36 “And worship Allah without joining Him with anything. And with parents be nice…” Qur’an 31:14 “And We enjoined man concerning his parents, he was carried by his mother (during pregnancy) in toil upon toil and weaned him in two years. That he should be thankful to Me and your parents, to Me is the final return.” Anyone who accepts these conditions is accepted and initiated into the Tarîqa Tijâniyya.