What occurred between Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb and Emir Abd al-Qādir al-Jizā’iri?
Some notes the conflict between the son of Shaykh Ahmad Tijāni and the great Algerian Sufi master and mujāhid
In 1837, following his peace treaty with the French, the Emir Abd al-Qādir laid siege to and destroyed the small Algerian town of Aïn Madhi, the birthplace of Shaykh Ahmad Tijāni and home of the tariqa's oldest zawiya. He cut down the trees of the oasis, expelled the shaykh’s son, Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb, and took his son Ahmad Ammār as a hostage. How did such a confrontation come about, and what was the aftermath?
Shaykh Abd al-Bāqi Miftāh, a noted Algerian scholar of Sufism, wrote about the background of this incident:
"Muhammad al-Habīb was born in 1217 AH (1802 CE) in Fez after his father [Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijāni] had settled there. He studied Qur'an and jurisprudence in the house and zawiya of his father, and grew up with a strong inclination towards worship and chivalrous character. When he settled in Aïn Madhi after the death of the Shaykh, he remained in continuous contact with al-Hajj Ali al-Tamāsīni, who took over responsibility for his spiritual training... The Shaykh's companions and followers from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and elsewhere later joined [Muhammad al-Habīb], and he became the greatest national and religious leader in southwestern Algeria.
When the French armies entered the country and the Emir Abd al-Qādir took it upon himself to lead the resistance in western Algeria, [Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb] supported him with funds and livestock until the well-known Treaty of Tafna was agreed upon on May 30th 1837. After this, the Emir sought to unite under his leadership all parts of the region that French control had not yet reached. This is where the dispute began between him and Muhammad al-Habīb, who believed that he was not obliged to submit to [the Emir's] rule, particularly since his jihād had ended (and there was no active war with the French). The Emir resolved at that time to fight him until he submitted..."
This incident has been twisted by critics and enemies of the Tijaniyya (both Salafis and some members of other Sufi orders) to slanderously claim that Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb opposed the Emir's jihād or even that the family of Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (ra) supported the French colonial occupation. Concerning such false assertions, the esteemed Egyptian muhaddith and Tijani scholar Shaykh Muhammad al-Hāfiz wrote:
"The claim that there was a relationship or alliance between the family of the Shaykh and the French at any period is a blatant lie with no historical support. Here is the truth, which is confirmed by the sound accounts recorded by those who themselves fought the family of the Shaykh. They were honorable opponents, who neither misrepresented or lied about history.
Sidi Ahmad Tijani moved from Algeria to Fez, Morocco in the year 1203 AH (1788 CE), some 40 years before the issue that led to the coming of the French to Algeria. As for Sidi Muhammad al-Kabīr [the Shaykh's elder son], he returned to Algeria some time after the death of his father. There, he opposed the Ottoman Turkish governors who ruled with great tyranny and oppression. A single look at their history suffices to convey the crimes that they committed, including the wanton shedding of blood, misappropriation of wealth, and frequent assassinations of one another. Their various governments were in a constant state of chaos, just like those of the Mamluks in Egypt. The Sayyid [Muhammad al-Kabīr] revolted against some of the Turkish governors of Algeria after they prevented him from making the Hajj to the sanctified House of Allah, and he was slain—may Allah have mercy on him—as a martyr of zealous love for the religion and the rites of God most-High. His credo was that of the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and justice, and he fought [the corrupt rulers] in the cause of Allah. All of this was before the coming of the French to Algeria.
As for Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb, he is the one with whom conflict occurred with the Emir Abdul Qādir, may Allah have mercy on them both. After his brother was slain while opposing the Turks for their oppression and for undermining the Sacred Law with their own laws, Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb remained in Aïn Madhi. There, he maintained the peace with the government, and they in return kept the peace with him. They (the Turks) left Aïn Madhi alone, neither levying taxes nor interfering in the lives of its people. When the French invaded Algeria, the people gave their allegiance to the Emir Abd al-Qādir and vowed to participate in jihād for the sake of Allah. The followers of the Tijaniyya were among them, fighting under the banner of the Emir Abd al-Qādir, and the war with France progressed with victories on both sides.
On the first of Muharram 1254 AH (March 26, 1837 CE), Emir Abd al-Qādir agreed with the French to come to a truce; an agreement was signed, prisoners were freed, and sieges were lifted. Then, the Emir directed his representatives towards the interior regions [of the desert], seeking to expand his rule there and organize their affairs. When his messengers arrived at Aïn Madhi, Sidi Muhammad requested that the city be allowed to remain free, as the previous governments had allowed, saying, 'Surely, we did not tarry in joining the jihād in the way of Allah, neither with our lives nor with our wealth.' Aïn Madhi was in the remote heart of the Sahara and there was no relationship between the house of Shaykh al-Tijani and the French; on the contrary, they were famous—more than any other group—for their enmity towards them.
Following the truce, the Treaty of Tafna was written up between Emir Abd al-Qādir and France on the 6th of Rabī al-Awwal 1254. On the 28th of Rabī al-Awwal, the Emir arrived at Aïn Madhi and demanded that its inhabitants submit to his administrative authority. The people refused and entered their fort, closing off access to the town. The Emir then attacked, and they defended themselves against him, until some people came between the two sides seeking reconciliation. They came to an agreement that the Emir would retreat some eight miles outside the city, while Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb would leave Aïn Madhi, and that he and his followers would be free to settle anywhere else they wished.
Throughout all of this, there was no involvement of the French, nor any connection between them and this dispute. Furthermore, no historian has ever mentioned any relationship ever existing between the family of the Shaykh and the French. Rather, it was a difference of opinion [between the Emir and the Shaykh], at a time when there was no open war between the Emir and the French. There was a truce, and the Treaty of Tafna had already been signed between them specifying the lands that the Emir acknowledged France's right to possess, and the lands which the French recognized as belonging to Emir Abd al-Qādir (which did not include Aïn Madhi).
Can any self-respecting person fabricate against history and claim that Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb was aiming to stab a dagger into Emir Abd al-Qādir's back while he opposed the French? Where is this [alleged] dagger, while [the shaykh's] own people were fighting under [the Emir's] banner (may Allah have mercy on him)? No historian has ever mentioned that the Tijanis delayed in hastening to fight in the jihād with the Emir with their wealth and lives—even after he fought them. The Emir Abd al-Qādir was the one who attacked them, though they never raised a weapon against him and only defended themselves..."
Aïn Madhi at this time was a small town of just 300 houses but boasted formidable walls and towers that had repelled several assaults in the past, including the Turks, who attempted to subdue the town after slaying Muhammad al-Kabir at Muʿaskar (Mascara). Having assumed authority in the community after his brother's martyrdom, Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb was widely recognized as an independent leader of the desert oasis.
According to British diplomat Charles Henry Churchill, who was a friend of the Emir Abd al-Qādir, the confrontation was precipitated by the activities of a tribal leader from al-Aghwāt named al-Hajj Issa, who presented the Emir with lavish gifts and assured him that the people of the region wanted to recognize his authority, and would welcome him with open arms if he rode out to them. "Abd al-Qādir could not help but be proud of this recognition," Churchill writes, "which he considered a testimony to the influence his name had in the region of al-Aghwāt." The Emir thus placed Hajj Issa as his representative in the province and charged him with preparing the local tribes for the army's arrival. Churchill also mentions that several Europeans were in positions of authority in the Emir's forces, principally the French "engineer" Léon Roches—later revealed to be a colonial spy—who likely influenced how events unfolded.
The Emir then turned his attention to Aïn Madhi, located some 70 kilometers from al-Aghwāt, his approach catching Sidi Muhammad and his followers by surprise. The details of the misunderstanding between the two sides are not known, but it is likely that Roches or his Algerian agents convinced the Emir that Aïn Madhi represented an internal threat, perhaps based on the earlier militancy of Sidi Muhammad al-Kabīr against the Turks and thus misrepresented Sidi Muhammad's intentions in the negotiations. Muhammad al-Habīb, like his noble father, also considered himself a loyal subject of the ‘Alawi dynasty of Morocco (then ruled by Sultan Abd al-Rahman bin Hisham), which may have contributed to his hesitance to recognize the Emir’s absolute independence.
While most of the inhabitants of Aïn Madhi were able to reach safety within the walls, the oasis' orchards were left exposed. The Emir, finding that the people of the town still resisted his rule, ordered that all the trees be cut down and began firing cannons at the walls of the fort. The siege of Aïn Madhi lasted nearly eight months, its inhabitants fighting valiantly and repelling several assaults. According to Churchill, this siege took a heavy toll on Emir Abd al-Qādir, and it became clear to him that al-Hajj Issa was a useless fraud only concerned with gaining influence and power. He realized, however, that he could not give up the siege or risked losing the loyalty of the local tribes who had already sworn fealty to him. In the end, Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb accepted a treaty of surrender offered by the Emir. In addition to the exile of Sidi Muhammad to al-Aghwāt, his son Sayyid Ahmad Ammār was taken as a hostage by the Emir as a condition of the surrender.
According to Shaykh Abd al-Bāqi Miftāh, "Over the course of the treaty's duration, the reality of Muhammad al-Habīb became clear to the Emir, and he came to know his virtue, regretting the conflict that had come between them. So he returned to him his son Ahmad [Ammār], who had been taken as a hostage, and sent him [to Muhammad al-Habīb] with gifts and a letter, the original copy of which remains preserved in the Zawiya of Aïn Madi."
The letter, written in the Emir's own hand and bearing his seal, reads as follows:
"Praise be to God alone; peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad ﷺ and his family and companions. [This letter is] to Sayyid Muhammad al-Habīb, son of the consummate scholar Sayyid Ahmad al-Tijāni.
I have received your response, which left nothing to doubt. I was unable to access your fortress, and later I realized your truth, and knew that what had transpired between us was but the slander and intervention of those seeking to stoke discord between us. In light of this, I hope that you will pardon us. As for this humble gift which has been sent with your son Ahmad [Ammār], I hope that it may renew the bonds of brotherhood between us.
From the one in need of his Lord, the mortal, sinful and hopeful, Abd al-Qādir bin Muhiy al-Dīn al-Mustafa bin al-Mukhtār, may Allah be gentle with him in this world and at the Final Judgement. [Written on the] 23rd of Dhu al-Qi'dah, 1254 AH. Salām."
The letter was delivered with many gifts, including two ornate banners and a gilded sword. Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb accepted the gesture of goodwill, and the Emir Abd al-Qādir remains beloved and respected among Tijanis today. As for "those seeking to stoke discord" whom the Emir mentioned as having poisoned his relationship with Sidi Muhammad, these are said to have included the aforementioned Hajj Issa and the traitorous French spy Léon Roches, whom the Emir had sent to negotiate with Muhammad al-Habīb (not knowing that he was a double agent). This episode is sometimes cited as an example of French efforts to create division and conflict between the Algerian tribes and Sufi orders during their occupation of the country. Notably, the same Sidi Ahmad Ammār who had been a hostage of the Emir in his youth would himself be involved in anti-French agitation with Algerian tribes later in his life, ultimately leading to his capture and exile to France for a number of years.
The above suffices to show that there was no personal animosity between Emir Abd al-Qādir and Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb (or the Tijaniyya more broadly) and that the conflict that occurred was borne from normal human misunderstanding, difference of opinion, and the meddling of outside enemies. Even the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, the greatest generation of men and women to walk the earth, disagreed and even fought each other at times. It makes sense that two great saints and men of Allah, Emir Abd al-Qādir and Sidi Muhammad al-Habīb, could face similar struggles.
(All translations — including any possible errors — are my own. Any good or benefit found in this piece is from God alone)
Sources:
إعلان الحجة على أعداء الطريقة التجانية؛ للعارف بالله الشيخ محمد الحافظ المصري التجاني
أضواء على الشيخ أحمد التجاني وأتباعه؛ للشيخ عبد الباقي مفتاح الجزائري
Note: Sh. Abd al-Bāqī is not Tijani. He belongs to the Shadhili tariqa, so his statements in praise of the Shaykh and his tariqa are based on his objective assessment of the historical sources.
