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Mashrabaمشربة

Atlas

Chains of transmission from the Prophet, read as the sources give them.
About this atlas

The atlas holds the chains of transmission from the Prophet as the standard references and the classical sources record them: the Sufi orders, the chains of Qurʾān recitation, the teachers of the schools of law and ḥadīth, and the lines of the Prophet's family, with the places they spread and the living houses and teachers who carry them today. Every link shows its sources; where they differ, both readings are shown, and we do not rule on any community's claims. Ibn ʿArabī's own life, teachers and readers are on their own page.

أحمد التجاني

Aḥmad al-Tijānī

Died 1230/1815 · born 1150/1737 · ʿAyn Māḍī, Abū Samghūn (Bou Semghoun), Fez

Founder of the Tijāniyya

Sources for this person

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The chain up to the Prophet

Dates are given where the sources give them. Years are CE; the Hijri year is in each name's detail.

Route 1 of 1, the best-sourced: Tijāniyya. Tap a rule to read its basis, sources and checks.

  1. The Prophet Muhammadمحمد632
  2. two sourcesin Tijāniyyaspiritual link, without meetingsources differ

    spiritual link, without a meeting (uwaysī) · The Prophet Muhammad to Aḥmad al-Tijānī · Two independent sources

    The order's own account, as TDV relays it: in 1196/1782 at Abū Samghūn al-Tijānī received a spiritual unveiling (keşf) in which the Prophet taught him the order's litanies and gave him authority to guide; he then declared no tie to any other ṭarīqa.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed

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    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6066-6082 · agreesAccount "said to be derived directly from Aḥmad": the call at Tlemcen in 1196/1782, permission to initiate "in a waking and not sleeping state", and the wird assigned to him.
    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6106-6120 · agreesTijānīs have only one silsila going back to the founder; he was told to abandon all that he had taken from other shaykhs.

    Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.

    • TDV: al-Tijānī says the litanies were taught to him by the Prophet in a dream (rüya); TDV elsewhere calls the event a spiritual unveiling. Members date the order's founding to 1782.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed
    • The order's own literature (e.g. ʿAlī Ḥarāzim's Jawāhir al-maʿānī) describes the meeting as in a waking state (yaqẓatan), not in sleep. This wording is not in the TDV entry and was not read in an open source for this atlas.the community's own account: ʿAlī Ḥarāzim Barrāda, Jawāhir al-maʿānī (order's own literature; not read here, identified via Wikipedia)
    • TDV: he first taught as a Khalwatī shaykh after receiving khilāfa from Maḥmūd al-Kurdī; Ottoman Sufi sources list the Tijāniyya as a Khalwatī branch, while ʿAlī Ḥarāzim records that Khalwatī chain as taken only for blessing (tabarrukan) and the order's sources begin the silsila with the Prophet and al-Tijānī.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed
    • TDV: in Fez the scholar Ibn Kīrān rejected his claim to be a shaykh. TDV also reports, from his disciples' books, that he saw himself as heir to the stations of quṭb, quṭb al-aqṭāb and khatm al-wilāya (ideas TDV traces to Ibn ʿArabī), that ulema criticised him for this, and that he answered them forcefully.TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed
    • Trimingham (1971, p. 107, citing Jawāhir al-maʿānī i. 43) quotes the order's account as permission given "in a waking and not sleeping state", which supports the reading attributed to ʿAlī Ḥarāzim above; he places the call at Tlemcen in 1196/1782 and the final fatḥ at Abū Samghūn in 1200/1786, where TDV puts the unveiling at Abū Samghūn in 1196/1782.Trimingham, Sufi Orders in Islam (1971)
    Aḥmad al-Tijānīأحمد التجاني1815
How to read the marks
  • Two sources: a solid rule. Two independent references give the same link.
  • One source: a lighter rule, so labelled.
  • The community's own account: a dotted rule. The order tells it; we have not yet read it against a reference source.
  • A gap in the rule: the sources omit names between the two. The label says which.
  • The sources differ: tap the ≠ to read each reading with its source.
  • A ring: a spiritual link, without a meeting (uwaysī).

Who received from Aḥmad al-Tijānī

5 recorded, each with the chain set it belongs to.

  • Muḥammad al-Kabīr al-Tijānīمحمد الكبير التجاني1827
    two sourcesin Tijāniyya

    family descent · Aḥmad al-Tijānī to Muḥammad al-Kabīr al-Tijānī · Two independent sources

    TDV: eldest son, led the ʿAyn Māḍī branch.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed

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    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6165-6170 · agreesChart lists Muḥammad al-Kabīr as a son of Aḥmad al-Tijānī; Aḥmad's sons made ʿAin Māḍī their home.
  • ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-Tamāsīnīعلي بن عيسى التماسيني
    two sourcesin Tijāniyya

    gave the khirqa · Aḥmad al-Tijānī to ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-Tamāsīnī · Two independent sources

    TDV: named successor in Fez; led the Tamalhat zawiya at Tamasin.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed

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    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6190-6197 · agreesAḥmad nominated ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā (d. 1844), muqaddam of the zāwiya at Tamalhat near Tamasin, as his successor.
  • ʿAlī Ḥarāzimعلي حرازم
    two sourcesin Tijāniyya

    companionship (ṣuḥba) · Aḥmad al-Tijānī to ʿAlī Ḥarāzim · Two independent sources

    TDV: Ḥarāzim's Jawāhir al-maʿānī (1802) is the main source on al-Tijānī's life; he is counted among his disciples.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed

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    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6079-6085 · agreesThe Jawāhir was compiled by Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī Ḥarāzim, Aḥmad's disciple in Fez, in 1798-1800 with Aḥmad's authorization.
  • Muḥammad al-Ṣaghīr al-Tijānīمحمد الصغير التجاني
    one sourcein Tijāniyyasources differ

    family descent · Aḥmad al-Tijānī to Muḥammad al-Ṣaghīr al-Tijānī · One source

    TDV: younger son, led ʿAyn Māḍī after his brother.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed

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    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6190-6203 · differsTrimingham: after ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā the succession went to Aḥmad's son Muḥammad al-Ṣaghīr, then back to the other line; al-Kabīr is not shown as leader.

    Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.

    • Trimingham (1971, pp. 109-10): on ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā's death the leadership went to Aḥmad's son Muḥammad al-Ṣaghīr, then back to ʿAlī's line; his chart numbers al-Ṣaghīr among the heads and lists al-Kabīr only as a son. The atlas (TDV) has al-Kabīr leading ʿAin Māḍī first.Trimingham, Sufi Orders in Islam (1971)
  • Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mukhtārمحمد الحافظ1830
    the community's own accountin Tijāniyya

    companionship (ṣuḥba) · Aḥmad al-Tijānī to Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mukhtār · The community's own account

    TDV: became a Tijānī in Fez and carried the order to the ʿIdaw ʿAlī of Mauritania.

    TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ticânî, Ahmed b. Muhammed

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    • Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), owner text, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L6224 · silentTrimingham says the Idaw ʿAlī adopted the order but does not name Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ.

How to cite

Mashraba Reader, Atlas of transmission, “Aḥmad al-Tijānī”, https://www.mashraba.org/atlas/figure/ahmad-tijani (data of 31 October 2026).