The Idrisiyya order () is a Sufi tariqa of Sunni Islam founded by Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi. It is also called the Tariqa Muhammadiyya, and it rejects following any of the four Madhhab of Islamic jurisprudence ( taqlid),[Scott Alan Kugle, Sufis & Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, & Sacred Power, 2007, ISBN 080783081X, p. 269-270][Dajani, Samer, Reassurance for the Seeker, p. 12.] adopting the same Usul ad-Din as Ismail Dehlavi, who remarked that the agenda of the new order known as Tariqa Muhammadiyya was to purify Islam and reject what they deemed to be bid'ah or shirk.[ Past present: When history fails Dawn (newspaper), Published 3 March 2012, Retrieved 16 August 2018][Dajani, Samer, Reassurance for the Seeker, p. 14.]
It is not a tariqa in the sense of an organized Sufi order, but rather a methodology, consisting of a set of beliefs and practices, which according to the order's members, aimed at nurturing the spiritual link between the disciple and Muhammad directly.[Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, pp. 12, 17.][Dajani, Reassurance for the Seeker, pp. 13-15.]
Spread and influence
Originally based in
Mecca, this tariqa was spread widely in
Libya,
Egypt,
Sudan,
Somalia,
Eritrea,
Kenya,
Yemen, the
Levant (
Syria and
Lebanon) and South East Asia (
Malaysia,
Singapore,
Brunei). It also has followers elsewhere, such as in
Pakistan as well as
Italy and the
United Kingdom.
[Sedgwick, Saints and Sons, pp. 18-19.]
Among the paths adhering to the Idrisiyya methodology include the Khatmiyya, Dandarawiyya, the Ja'fariyya, and the Salihiyya.[ Ref 64] The order has a great deal of overlap with the Deobandis and Atharism of India,
The Wazifa and Salawat of Ibn Idris in particular gained universal acceptance among Sufi orders and has been incorporated into the litanies and collections of many paths unrelated to the Idrisiyya that reject the order's methodology.[Sedgwick, Mark, Saints and Sons, pp. 18-19.]
Members
-
Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi, the founder of the Idrisiyya order.
-
Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani al-Khatim, founder of the Khatmiyya path in Sudan and Eritrea.
-
Mowlana Abd al-Rahman Nurow. A Somali disciple of ibn Idris who spread the Tariqa Muhammadiyya in Somalia.
[On this shaykh see, Hidigh, Uthman, Anis al-jalis fi tarjamat sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris, Mogadishu, pp. 112-124.]
-
Abu'l 'Abbas Al Dandarawi, Egyptian Sufi and founder of the Dandarawiyya path in Saudi Arabia.
-
Salih al-Ja'fari. He edited and published the works of Ibn Idris and revived his order. He founded the Ja'fariyya path.
[See Dajani, Samer, Reassurance for the Seeker.]
-
Muhammad Abdullah Hasan, follower of the Salihiyya path which rejects Tawassul from Wali in one's Dua of God, which it labels as Shirk.
-
Shaikh Muhammad Said al-Linggi, who introduced a path of this order into Singapore by the followers of al-Linggi.
-
Shaikh Hafiz Muhammad Amin bin Abdul Rehman from Multan.
Opposition
The order's methodology has been opposed by
al-Ahbash, who have declared that the Dandarawiyya path have fallen into blasphemy and no longer follow the
Quran despite reading it.
Unsurprisingly, the Idrisiyya has also been opposed by
Barelvi movement, who see their methodology as being
Zandaqa, and similar to Deobandis and Ahl al-Hadith.
Bibliography
-
O'Fahey, Rex S. (1994) Enigmatic Saint, Ahmad Ibn Idris and the Idrisi Tradition, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois by arrangement with C. Hurst and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London.
-
Thomassen, Einar & Radtke, Bernd, (eds.) (1993) The Letters of Ahmad ibn Idris. London: Christopher Hurst. A collective volume containing the texts and translations of 35 letters to and from Ibn Idris. The contributors are Albrecht Hofheinz, Ali Salih Karrar, R.S. O’Fahey, B. Radtke & Einar Thomassen. Published by Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois by arrangement with C. Hurst and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London.
-
Sedgwick, Mark, Saints and Sons: The Making and Remaking of the Rashidi Ahmadi Sufi Order, 1799-2000, Leiden: Brill, 2005.
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Hidigh, Uthman, Anīs al-jalīs fī tarjamat sayyidī Ahmad ibn Idrīs, Mogadishu, n.d., pp. 112–124.
-
Dajani, Samer, Reassurance for the Seeker: A Biography and Translation of Salih al-Ja'fari's al-Fawa'id al-Ja'fariyya, a Commentary on Forty Prophetic Traditions, Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2013.
