Jawharat al-Kamāl and the Condition of Ritual Cleanliness

Another problematic issue to which al-Ifrīqī attracts the attention of his interlocutors is the requirement of achieving the condition of ritual cleanliness using water (tahāra māʾiyya) before the recitation of another famous Tijānī litany, the name of which can be translated as “the pearl of perfection” (jawharat al-kamāl).⁷⁰⁹ Jawāhir postulates that such ritual cleanliness is a prerequisite for its recitation, stating: “Jawharat al-kamāl cannot be read without ablution [being first]

undertaken with water”.⁷¹⁰ Almost all of the antagonists of the order have taken serious issue with

707 Alfā Hāshim made these statements in a letter addressed to Muḥammad al-Kabīr, a grand-son of al-Tijānī’s, informing him of a debate that had occurred between himself and al-Hilālī in Medina in the late 1920s CE. For Alfā Hāshim’s statement, see: Ibrāhīm Ṣāliḥ, al-Kāfī fī ʿilm al-tazkiya, p. 211. The whole of Alfā Hāshim’s letter is published as an appendix to Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ’s Radd akādhīb al-muftarīn ʿalā ahl al-yaqīn, as mentioned in chapter two.

708 Details available in online (Facebook) correspondence between Haytham b. ʿUmar al-Tijānī and his interlocutor from the Hijaz, Ghassān b. Sālim al-Tūnisī. (This part of the correspondence has been preserved and can be made available if necessary).

709 For the text of Jawharat al-kamāl, the conditions for its recitation during journeys and normal residence, and its merits, see: ʿUmar Fūtī, Rimāḥ ḥizb Raḥīm, vol. I, p. 229; vol. II, pp. 81-82; ʿAbd Raḥmān Ḥamza, Fiqh al-ṭarīqa al-Tijānīyya, n.p, 1420/2000, p. 49; al-Naẓīfī, al-Durra al-kharīda, vol. III, pp. 201-202.

710 Tijānīs believe that during the recitation of Jawharat al-kamāl, the Prophet attends the session; thus, its recitation without full ritual cleanliness achieved with water is not allowed at all. See: ʿAlī Ḥarāzim, Jawāhir al-maʿānī, vol. I, pp. 124-125; ʿUmar al-Fūtī, Rimāḥ ḥizb al-Raḥīm, vol. I, p. 229. According to the Tijānī doctrine, the condition of

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this condition, which is not deemed necessary for the recitation of the Qurʾān,⁷¹¹ implying the superiority of the pearl of perfection over the divine eternal speech. Thus, al-Ifrīqī: “I say this is the book of Allah, whose recitation is permissible with or without ritual cleanliness, since the Prophet and his companions were reciting it without ablution (wuḍūʾ)”.⁷¹² The impermissibility of the recitation of the pearl of perfection without full ritual cleanliness is regarded by antagonists of the brotherhood as a sort of attempt on the part of the Tijānīs to create new legislation (tashrīʿ jadīd), an accusation also directed at the followers of the brotherhood by al-Ifrīqī, who claimed that neither Allah nor His Prophet would approve of such a thing. The obvious unsoundness of this Tijānī tenet, according to him, frees one from the necessity of further elaboration on the issue. Al-Hilālī would reiterate the same argument decades later, stating that the religion of Islam equates ritual cleanliness obtained using soil with that obtained using water. Furthermore, he said, the Prophet had depicted earth as a source of ritual cleanliness in the absence of water, no matter low long this absence may extend. Therefore, differentiating between the two types of cleanliness is claimed to be a correction of Allah and His Prophet (istidrāk ʿalā Allāhi wa-rasūlih). The reason behind this absurd idea, al-Hilālī claimed, was the attempted self-establishment of Tijānī ascendancy over their fellow Muslims. “Tijānīs wanted to elevate the status of this formula in the praise of the Prophet in order to establish their own status whereas with their lack of knowledge they excommunicated themselves from sharīʿa and from the religion of Islam”.⁷¹³ According to Tijānī tenets, if the necessary condition of ritual cleanliness is missing the pearl of perfection should be replaced with salāt al-fātiḥ during daily waẓīfa⁷¹⁴ (a set of litanies recited by Tijānīs on a daily basis).⁷¹⁵ This, according to Al-Hilālī, constituted another deficiency of the Tijānī tenets, since ṣalāt al-fātiḥ, a formula which was reportedly considered by them to be superior to the

ritual cleanliness achieved with water is required for the recitation of the Fātiḥa (the first chapter of the Qurʾān) and yāqūta farīda if they are recited with the intention of the greatest divine name (ism aʿẓam). See: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ḥamza, Fiqh al-ṭarīqa al-Tijānīyya, p. 66.

711 See for example Hilālī’s objection to the merit and necessity of this precondition for reciting Jawharat al-kamāl. He condemns the claim that the condition of ritual cleanliness is prerequisite for its recitation as “a new religion” (tahri’ jadid). Al-Hilālī, al-Hadiyya al-hādiya, p. 112.

712 Al-Ifrīqī, al-Anwār al-raḥmāniyya, p. 25.

713 Al-Hilālī, al-Hadiyya al-hādiya, p. 112. Another Salafī opponent of the Tijāniyya accuses followers of the order of the elevation of their invented litany over the Qurʾān and obligatory ritual prayer, both of which may be

performed with the ritual cleanliness of tayammum, while the brotherhood requires that the pearl of perfection must be recited with full ritual cleanliness, performed with water. See: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq, al-Fikr al-ṣūfī fī ḍawʾ al-kitāb wa-l-sunna, Kuwait: Maktabat Ibn Taymiyya, 1984, p. p. 364.

714 For details on waẓīfa and its conditions, see: Al-Naẓīfī, Durra kharīda, vol. III, pp. 204-206; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ḥamza, Fiqh al-ṭarīqa al-Tijānīyya, pp. 49-55.

715 See for instance: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ḥamza, Fiqh al-ṭarīqa al-Tijānīyya, p. 50.

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Qurʾān, and which is certainly more eloquent, in terms of its words and meaning than the pearl of perfection, is here depicted to be of lesser status and value then the jawharat al-kamāl: for, if twelve recitations of the pearl of perfection are the required number in daily waẓīfa, which, in case of the absence of the required ritual cleanliness should be replaced with twenty recitations of ṣalāt al-fātiḥ, then given the proportion of twelve to twenty, one recitation of the latter is equated to less than one recitation of the former.⁷¹⁶

The protagonists of the brotherhood have failed to develop a convincing line of argumentation regarding the issue of why, without ritual cleanliness, the recitation of the inferior (jawharat al-kamāl) is prohibited, while the recitation of the superior (Qurʾān) is allowed. Muḥammad Al-Ḥāfiẓ attempts to explain the issue via the argument of “the vow” (nadhr), asking: “What is wrong if one vows to remember Allah with full ritual cleanliness?”⁷¹⁷ He goes on to reason that if one vows to recite any dhikr formula with full ritual cleanliness and does so, one’s commitment to doing so should be regarded as a fulfilment of that vow, instead of its being accused of being an unlawful act.⁷¹⁸ It is neither, he argues, a new piece of legislation (tashriʿ jadīd), nor does it entail the supremacy of the litany of the pearl of perfection (al-dhikr al-mandhūr, as he calls it) over the Qurʾān. Nor, he says, had any single Tijānī reportedly presumed the pearl of perfection to be superior to many other formulas of dhikr, let alone to the divine eternal speech. What’s more, the scholars of the legal schools have unanimously agreed on the meritorious (mandūb) status of ablution for the recitation of any formula of divine remembrance. Moreover, Muhājir b. Qanfadh is said to have greeted the Prophet with salām while the latter was answering the call of nature (yabūl). The Prophet delayed the response until he had performed ablution afterwards, and apologized for the obligatory delay since he did not want to recite a divine name without being in a state of full ritual cleanliness.⁷¹⁹

716 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ḥamza, Fiqh al-ṭarīqa al-Tijānīyya, p. 112.

717 Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ, Radd akādhīb al-muftarīn, p. 42.

718 In a subsequent text,‘Ulamāʾ tazkiyat al-nafs, he extends this argument to all Tijānī litanies. Contrary to the conventional explanation often provided by Tijānī, he labels all of the litanies of the brotherhood to be vows by the disciple himself. Muḥammmad al-Ḥafiz, ‘Ulamāʾ tazkiyat al-nafs, p. 14. The vow argument is also used by a great grandson of Aḥmad al-Tijānī’s, Maḥmūd b. Bensālim, with regard to jawharat al-kamāl. The pearl of perfection, he says, is recited with full ritual cleanliness because it is thus vowed. Maḥmūd b. Bensālim, al-Ṭariqa al-Tijānīyya bayn al-intiqād wa al-iʿtiqād, p. 156.

719 Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ, Radd akādhīb al-muftarīn, p. 27.

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This argument is further expanded by ʿUmar Masʿūd, according to whom, this delay was not due to the call of the nature, as some scholars like Imām al-Tirmidhī have understood it; rather, it was the absence of ritual cleanliness which caused the delay. Otherwise, the Prophet would have returned the greeting of Muhājir b. Qanfadh as soon as he was done with answering the call of the nature. This is reportedly consolidated by another incident in which the Prophet was greeted in the same way, but no response was to be heard on his part until he had performed tayammum (ritual cleansing with soil). ʿUmar Masʿūd evokes the authority of Salafī shaykhs such as Nāṣir Dīn al-Albānī and Aḥmad Shākir. According to the former, known for his expertise in the field of Prophetic traditions, since the Prophet hated to recite the divine name of al-salām without ablution, it is not permitted to issue unconditional fatāwā concerning the permissibility of the Qurʾān’s recitation without full ritual cleanliness, as many Salafīs would do.⁷²⁰ The latter emphasizes the superiority of ritual cleanliness for performing dhikr, particularly for invocation (duʿāʾ). Engaging a number of sources, ʿUmar Masʿūd highlights the fact that some highly renowned authorities of the sciences of ḥadīth, such as Imām Mālik and Imām al-Bukhārī, had been praised by fellow scholars for their rigorous attention to performing ritual cleanliness before the collection and teaching of Prophetic traditions. If their attitude was appreciated by Muslims, he asks, “Why would it harm Tijānīs to praise the Prophet after performing ablution?”⁷²¹

A careful examination of both the critique raised by their antagonists and the responses provided by protagonists of the Tijāniyya reveal that Tijānī scholars are at pains to shift the attention of the reader to a whole new aspect of the issue. While the explanation offered by al-Ḥāfiẓ is based on the permissibility of a vow (nadhr) to attach certain conditions to the recitation of a specific prayer formula, ʿUmar Masʿūd provides a rather vague explanation, however that it may be a masterly, organized one. Through focusing on certain Prophetic traditions, which do not enforce the necessity of ritual cleanliness as a requirement for either dhikr or the recitation of the Qurʾān, he manages to avoid the core of the criticism. The point with which their opponents had taken issue was the Tijānī tenet of the impermissibility of the recitation of the pearl of perfection without ablution, while the superior Qurʾān was allowed to be recited without it; whereas ʿUmar Masʿūd

720 ʿUmar Masʿūd, al-Radd ʿalā l-Ifrīqī, p. 20-21.

721 ʿUmar Masʿūd, al-Radd ʿalā l-Ifrīqī, p. 23.

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elaborates on the virtues of ritual ablution and on how, in certain circumstances, the Prophet and scholars of ḥadīth had paid special attention to ritual cleanliness.

Furthermore, the precondition of ritual cleanliness is not the only Tijānī requirement for the recitation of the pearl of perfection, nor is the above-mentioned criticism the only problematic point their opponents have raised in relation to the litany. According to the Tijānīs, there are a number of other preconditions attached to its recitation as well. First, they spread out a clean piece of white cloth of a size adequate to serve six persons during their daily waẓīfa sessions, originally due to the belief that the Prophet and his four caliphs were expected to attend the session.⁷²² Here it should be noted that this conviction is, not maintained by later generations of Tijānīs: Maḥmūd b. Bensālim,a grandson of the founding figure, for instance, rejects it, although he does preserve and continue the custom of cloth-spreading, which, according to him, is done rather to protect the form of the circle (ḥalaqa) by creating a space between the attendees to correctly separate them from each other.⁷²³According to al-Ḥāfiẓ, the reason for the cloth is to create distance between the breath (anfās) of each of the performers in the circle, which should not mix.⁷²⁴

Another precondition for its recitation, as well as for any other Tijānī litany, is that of proper permission being issued by an authorized Tijānī muqaddam, without which the recitation is not entitled to the promised reward.⁷²⁵ This, in other words, means that affiliation to the brotherhood is a precondition for accessing the reward. The traditional justification for this conviction is based on the daylight encounters of the founding figure with the Prophet, during which, it is claimed, it was the Prophet himself who attached such preconditions to certain Tijānī litanies. Thus, when Aḥmad al-Tijānī was asked by one of his followers for the justification for the requirement of ritual cleanliness for the recitation of jawharat al-kamāl, his response was a clear one: Tijānīs should

722 Al-Naẓīfī, al-Durra al-kharīda, vol. III, pp. 199-200.

723 Maḥmūd b. Bensālim, al-Ṭariqa al-Tijānīyya bayn al-intiqād wa-l-‘itiqād, p. 153.

724 Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ, Iʿlān al-ḥujja ʿalā aʿdāʾ al-ṭarīqa al-Tijāniyya, p. 86.

725 The author of Rimāḥ enumerates some of the merits associated with recitation of the pearl of perfection. The Prophet and the rightly guided caliphs reportedly attend the session of waẓifa with the seventh recitation of jawharat al-kamāl and stay as long as the recitations continue. Its daily recitation on a regular basis paves the way to the rank of sainthood and Prophetic love of a special kind (muḥabba khāṣṣa). Seven recitations of it before going to bed guarantee a dream vision of the Prophet, provided it has been recited with proper ritual cleanliness, in addition to the cleanness of the bed. Twelve recitations made while ascribing its reward as a gift to the Prophet are held to be equal not only to the reward of visiting the Prophet at his shrine, but also to the reward of visiting all of the divine saints, from the beginning of the world until the time of its recitation. ʿUmar al-Fūtī, Rimāḥ ḥizb al-Raḥīm, vol. II, pp. 81-82.