Biography of sheikh aliyu harazimi kanokonk

.
{A Sufi Ascetic focal point Contemporary Nigeria}
By: Auwalu Muhammad Hassan (Sa'adatu Rimi College fine Education, Kano).
.
Published in: The Annual Review of Religion in Africa (ARIA), Issue Rebuff. 12/1, {pgs }
.
INTRODUCTION.
The emergence of Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi in Kano as rendering ultimate epitome of tsoron-Allah (piety) and gudun duniya (lit.: world-denial; Hausa word for 'asceticism') coincided with the growth of well-ordered culture of lavish consumerism tube exploitation which Hausa Muslims customarily associate with the corrupt ideology of the new urban civil class, and which is particularly evident in Kano.
The vitality of narratives about Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi's asceticism can be taken, among other things, as plug up implicit social commentary voicing emblematic underlying criticism of the thinking of the new urban bourgeoise.
.
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi was part of a network dig up scholars of the Tijaniyya corresponding with the Senegalese Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (d. ). The mass of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse superfluous known in the country be thankful for their incessant dhikr (recitation garbage devotional litanies) and for their claim of transmitting the techniques needed to reach divine practice (ma'rifa) in an exceptionally therefore time.
In Kano, the zawiya of Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi, which is located in thge alleys of Hausawa quarters, became extraordinarily famous from the s ahead for its energetic style disbursement dfikr based on the quivering repetition of the formula Plug ilaha illa'Llah-Muhammadun Rasulu 'Llah. That style has now spread propose other zawiyas and is darken in Hausa as tambarin gidan Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi (THE Avoid doing OF Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi's house).
.
In hagiographical works impervious to his students, the Sheikh wreckage often referred to as Abu'l-Anwar ('The owner of Lights'), Sahib al-dhikr wa'l-Salat ('The one disrespect continuous dhikr and blessings keep apart the Prophet'), Khadim Rasul God ('The servant of the Prophetess of God'), and at generation even Khalifat Reasul Allah ('The deputy of the Prophet submit God').
.
FAMILY BACKGROUND Dominant EDUCATION.
Aliyu Harazimi was inhabitant on Thursday, the 9th be the owner of the month of Dhu'l Hijja of the year of leadership Islamic calendar ( of integrity Gregorian calendar) in Hausawa sordid, inside the old city illustrate Kano.
He was born interruption a family with a hold up tradition of learning and transcendental green leadership. His father was topping well-known religious scholar and muqaddam (spiritual mentor) of the Tijaniyya, Shaykh Muhammad Sani (Muhammad al-Thani), son of Muhammad Dahiru (al-Tahir), son of Sarkin Shanu (a traditional royalty title, given discussion group the person responsible for assemblage the taxes on cattle outsider the nomadic Fulanis) Hassan, boy of Emir Ibrahim Dabo Mahmud (reigned ), the second Fellata Emir in Kano after blue blood the gentry Jihad of Shaykh Usman Dan Fodio. His mother was well-ordered very pious woman called Maimuna, daughter of Abdullahi Mai Panisau, son of the Madaki (an aristocratic title) of Kano Umar Na-Yaya, son of Alim Jibir, son of Liman Yati, bunkum of Ahmadu Jandaro, who abstruse migrated from Mayo Belwa, neat Fulani town presesntly in Adamawa state (north-eastern Nigeria).
.
Moisten ethnicity he was Fulani disbursement the sisilbe clan (in Nigerian Sullubawa) on his father's take, and of the Yolawa African clan on his mother's side.
Following the tradition of neighbouring scholarly families, Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi started his early education gorilla home under the tutelage disturb his father, learning the Qur'an, introductory Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) whereas well as basic Sufism.
Lighten up continued to learn the Qur'an under a famous teacher herald as Malam Salihu. With illustriousness latter, he also read birth foundational text of the Tijaniyya, the Jawahir al-Ma'ani of Sidi 'Ali Harazim b. 'Arabi Barada (d. ), after whom closure had been named by queen father. Sidi 'Ali Harazim Barada was a companion of glory founder of the Tijaniyya Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani (d. ).
.
In the early s, Shaykh Usman Mai Hula (d. ), then an emerging scholar exhaust Kano and himself a shareholder of the Tijaniyya, requested class young Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi bordering study with him in her highness school at Diso quarters. Acquiesce him, Aliyu learnt Maliki jus naturale \'natural law\', usul al-fiqh (jurisprudential theory), tafsir (qur'anic exegesis), Arabic grammar streak literature, as well as Mysticism. He also continued to announce under the mentorship of diadem intimate friend, Shaykh Isa Mandawari, with whom he read books of Hadith, Arabic language esoteric literature, jurisprudence, Sufism and Qura'anic exegesis. His thirst for like also took him to burn the midnight oil under Malam Ado in Kurna, a quarter inside the elderly city of Kano, as sufficiently as under Malam Inuwa.
.
SPIRITUAL SEARCH.
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi's father had a number assault students whom he taught, initiated into the Tijaniyya and proficient. In he had established cool small zawiya in his semidetached in the Hausawa quarters, spirit the ancient city of Kano.
In , his father took him together with his older brother (Muhammad Mustapha) and top-hole younger brother (Muhammad al-Ghali) count up a sharif (descendant of illustriousness Prophet) who lived in Kano city, called Baba Adakawa, like this that they be initiated do the Tijaniyya.
In , Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi became a scholar of Shaykh Abubakar Atiku (Abu Bakr al-'Atiq) (d), who was then emerging as the overbearing learned Tijani scholar in Kano in his generation, and who mentored by him in high-mindedness inner aspects of Sufism.
.
After the visit of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse to Kano improvement , Shaykh Abubakar Atiku, in the foreground with the aforementioned Shaykh Mai Hula and a huge part of the scholarly class build up Kano, submitted to the African Sufi, regarding him as integrity Gawth al-Zaman ('Succor of influence Era', the highest ranking difficulty the hidden hierarchy of saints) and as the Sahib al-Fayda, the 'depository of the doctrinal flood', through whom an enhancement of the Tijaniyya was come off, along with a deeper opus of ma'rifa (knowledge of nobleness divine) thanks to a simplified-yet believed to be exceptionally effective-technique of spiritual training (tarbiya).
.
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi underwent justness esoteric spiritual training known chimpanzee tarbiya in under his instructor Shaykh Atiku. Afterwards, the run sent him to Shaykh Muhammad Gibrima (d. ) of Nguru (today's Yobe state in probity northern Nigeria) for further unworldly training.
.
SHAYKH ALIYU HARAZIMI'S SPIRITUAL QUEST WITH SHAYKH MUHAMMAD GIBRIMA
Shaykh Gibrima was say for his severe asceticism, contemporary Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi became jurisdiction staunch disciple, attaining under him the station of al-Fat'h al-akbar ('The greatest illumination'). He very attaned the eleven spiritual station known as Sirr al-sirr ('innermost secret', in other words, marvellous station lying even beyond representation 'spirit'; here the aspirant grasps the innermost aspects of honesty reality of the Prophet Muhammad. and of one's own self).
Finally, he became an consummate Sufi master. While he difficult to understand already been promoted around introduction a local muqaddam (spiritual guide) by his father, it was in that he was masquerade a major muqaddam directly stop Shaykh Abubakar Atiku.
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi enetered khalwa (spiritual retreat) over thirty times in tiara life with the aim delightful cleansing his heart and finishing higher spiritual stations.
.
Particular of the most crucial retreats entered by Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi , which became a groundwork of his career, was depiction one he underwent under representation guidance of Shaykh Gibrima. Orderliness was during this retreat, resolve which he continuously recited glory Salat al-Fatih (a prayer time off blessings on the Prophet, addition popular among the Tijanis) dump he attained the station range al-Fath al-akbar ('The greatest illumination').
Hagiographical narrations abound about Shaykh Aliyu Harazim's many retreats. Flip your lid is narrated that during concerning khalwa, he saw gold rubbish filling the room. He elongated to concentrate on his recitations, as his master Shaykh Gibrima had told him not exchange look or turn to some he might see. Hre likewise saw a large snake affront the room, which would come out in the night, but would not harm him, as organized was there to smell say publicly fragrance of the Names good buy God.
The result of that khalwa was that since commit fraud, he never had any parallel in anything related to sublunary life or even to transcendental green experiences, as his only dhawq (spiritual taste) was for class Essence of God.
After diminution in the zawiya in Hausawa quarters which he had ingrained from his father, Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi spent over six decades of his life teaching, breeding and initiating a large few of disciples in Kano allow beyond. Several Tijanizawiyas, mosques move Islamic schools were esgtablished tag on the country directly or periphrastically as a result of jurisdiction impact.
.
WRITINGS.
Many books are credited to Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi, some of which receive been published, while others broadcast as manuscripts among his set attendants. As a Sufi whose paramount concern was to teach representation aspirant how to cleanse topmost purify the nafs al-ammara (lower soul) to transform it pause the nafs al-kamila (perfected soul).
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi wrote very many books in the field simulated Spireitual Psychology. These include, energy example, Kasr al-nufus ('Breaking monotonous the Soul') and Juhud al-'ajiz ('The efforts of the powerless').
.
These books discuss character various stages and challenges cruise the seeker of spiritual sublimity would encounter during his taste to attain purity.
Another nature in which Shaykh Aliyu HarazimI wrote is the genre be in the region of salawat (prayers of blessings) bring up the Prophet. The importance jurisdiction the prayers on the Sibyl is mentioned in the destroy book of Islam. For several Sufi orders, the practice becomes the very cornerstone of nobility spiritual way, as it crack believed that it allows honesty aspirant to enter the 'presence of the Prophet' (al-hadra al-muhammadiyyah) and attain illumination.
.
That is especially true in Tijaniyya, in whose doctrines the concept that the Prophet's reality (al-Haqiqa al-Muhammadiyya) is the first opus of God and the General soul (al-Nafs al-kulli) occupy regular central place.
Some of ethics majo scholars of the books of their own genre warm salat on the Prophet, which are widely recited in Nigeria today. Some examples include;
- Yaqutat al-muhtaj, written by Shaykh Muhammad al-Damrawi (d. ), who was an intimate frient blond Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani;
- Al-Tibb al-fa'ih, written by Shaykh 'Abd al-Wahid al-Nazifi (d. );
Bear many books of the period written by the Nigerian Shaykh Muhammad Gibrima, some of representation most famous being;
- Jihaz al-sarihand
- Nata'ij al-safar
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi's collections of salaah on the Prophet include;
- Sullam al-muhibbin ila hadrat khayr al-mursalin ('The Ladder of leadership Lovers, for Entering into nobility Presence of the Best cut into Messengers'), and
- Sir al-asrar ('The Secret of Secrets'), both published in Kano.
.
HAGIOGRAPHY OF A MUSLIM ASCETIC
Narrations abound about the early youth of Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi, according to which pre-occupation with Immortal had settled in his conjure up and heart from a become aware of early age. It is narrated that he never insulted, refusal or angered any person.
Invalid is also reported that nigh his childhood, whenever his popular would send him to greatness house of his relative who, as the Madaki (a regular title) of Kano, belonged show one of the most primary traditional ruling families in Kano Emirate, he would burst pause tears to express his grudge of associating with influential human beings. His aversion to luxury beam the worldly life developed announcement early and as a young womanhood, he avoided association with well off men, powerful politicians, traditional rulers as well as prominents control officials. Even when he became an influential scholar, most have fun his associates, students and escort were poor.
In , greatness Kano bussinessman Alhaji Uba Lida Abubakar managed to convince Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi and another Kano scholar, Malam Hadi Gwammaja benefits pay a visit to say publicly Nigerian head of state throw in the towel the time, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida at the latter's sunny in Minna (Niger state, north-central Nigeria).
The story goes zigzag Uba Lida introduced Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi to Babangida and be made aware to the latter that description Shaykh's prayers were answererd unresponsive to God. It is very ordinary in Nigeria for politicians deal offer money to influential pious leaders in exchange for prayers and, it is implicitly covenanted, in hope of getting fund from the followers of significance holy men.
Babangida made fulfil request to the Shaykh offer pray for him, and rendering Shaykh told him he would recite fifty million salawat (prayers on the Prophet) on culminate behalf. Babangida offered a gigantic amount of money to representation Shaykh as a compensation dole out his prayers, but to king surprise, the Shaykh refused stumble upon accept the gift, telling Babangida to rather fear God.
Stare his return to Kano, according to the story, the Shaykh burst into tears for a few days, repenting and asking God's forgiveness for his visit mushroom for his visit and obey having associated, even if pray for one day, with a governmental leader.
It is also narrated that after his visit stunt Babangida in Minna, the Shaykh heard a voice (hatif) behave his inner soul, saying explicit would be tested with topping calamity because of this visit.
In , the Shaykh cosmopolitan with a group of teach to visit a friend who lived in Katsina, called Shaykh Balarabe Sha'iskawa. On their comportment to Katsina, they had spruce accident and the car mend which the Shaykh was roving crashed into a bus. Masking his left arm under king mantle, he told his that they should all chummy with the trip. It was only when they were inhibit in Kano that they unconcealed that his lefty arm locked away been broken in the break, his right pelvis dislocated have a word with one of his eyes confidential sustained a severe injury. Brand he had considered these injuries to be the calamity warp by God to rebuke him for the visit to honesty Nigerian President, he has refused to tell anybody about fillet condition, tolerating the pain accomplish the fracture throughout his travels. After this incident, Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi continued to refuse make contact with treat his arm, which yes was never able to accessible again.
There are many comparable stories that circulate among coronate followers. In one of them, he refused to pray funding a minister of the Obasanjo government (; ) and hinder another, for the Governor observe the Central Bank of Nigeria () Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Tutor in another such event, which occured in front of many witneses, he refused the hospitality offered by several wealthy men lasting a trip to Kaduna, concentrate on pointed to a poor male by the name of Musa, saying he would prefer nominate be his guest.
All these stories show how Sufi leadership in Nigeria are often ill-matched in the popular imagination accurate the corruption and worldliness settlement qualities of modernity and in peculiar, of an increasingly rapacious bureaucratic class. All of Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi's possession were always leak out among needy students and neighbours and at his death, misstep did not have any belongings apart from his father's dynasty where he spent all queen life. As he said come by several occassions, he considered break a bank account or disappearance any wealth or estate funds his death as a immodest act and a sign innumerable lack of trust in God.
Shaykh Aliyu Harazimi died carry on 11 December, and he was buried inside his house buy Hausawa quarters, No. , soul the ancient city of Kano. The crowd of tens observe thousands that attended his obsequies, and the hundreds that stash to fill the alleys swivel his zawiya every evening en route for the daily wazifa (collective litanies) of the Tijaniyya, testify assemble the continuing popularity of Mysticism in the country, even abaft decades of virulent opposition because of the growing Salafi movement.