A Brief Biography of Sayyidi Muhammad Mawlud ibn Fal (q.s.)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is an article by Ustadz Fakhr ad-Din Uwaysi al-Madani. 

Sayyidi Muhammad Mawlud ibn Fal (r.a.) of Mauritania was one of the biggest khulafah of the Tijaniyyah in the 19^th century.  Thousands entered the thariqa’ by his hands.  He took the thariqa’ from Shaykh Muhammad al-Hafizh ibn Mukhtar ash-Shinqithi (q.s.) who took it directly from Shaykh Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad at-Tijani (q.s.).  He was a great scholar of shari’ah, giving lectures, but one day a well-known majdzubah of the area interrupted his lesson and said to him, “If you want real knowledge, go to Muhammad al-Hafizh.”  So he went and submitted. 

Sometime after taking the thariqa’, he walked all the way to Fas, to ziyarah the grand Sayyidi, reciting Swalawat al-Fatih at every step.  Upon his arrival there, he was told that Shaykh at-Tijani (q.s.) had just passed away but had left some things for him, his muswallah and tasbih.  Among those who came to benefit from Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) include the great Tijani warrior-saint, Shaykh ‘Umar ibn Sa’id al-Futi Thal (q.s.), who personally called him to honour his camp. 

Shaykh ‘Umar Thal (q.s.) gave Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) a bag full of gold coins as a hadiyyah in return for what he learned from him.  Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) returned the bag and said, “What I really want is a copy of your book on the thariqa’, ar-Rimah.”  As Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) was travelling the next morning, Shaykh ‘Umar Thal (q.s.) distributed the pages of the book to all his disciples, asking them to each copy a page, so as to prepare a complete a copy of the book before dawn. 

Sayyidi Mawlud’s (q.s.) descendants remain great shuyukh of the thariqa’ today and were amongst the first to enter the Faydhah Tijaniyyah of Shaykh Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah Niyas al-Kawlakhi (q.s.).  Shaykh ‘Abdullah al-Hadi al-Ya’qubi (r.a.) narrated in Tawali as-Su’ud fi Hayat wa Manaqib Abi as-Su’ud, his biography of his grandfather, Sayyidi Mawlud Fal (r.a.) that Sayyidi Muhannad Baba Walad ‘Ubayd (q.s.) had actually seen a dream in which he saw the caravan of Prophet (s.a.w.) stopping to rest by a certain spot near his desert encampment.  Thereafter the Prophet (s.a.w.) asked him to prepare a tent for him to make his prayers, which he did.  Then, after swalah maghrib, he saw the Prophet (s.a.w.) making a certain unique dzikr with his swahabah there.  Then the dream ended.  

Soon after this dream, the caravan of the great Mauritanian Tijani saint Sayyidi Mawlud Fal (q.s.) stopped near his desert encampment at the same spot the caravan of Prophet (s.a.w.) had stopped in the dream.  After a while, Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) asked Sayyidi Muhannad (q.s.) to prepare a tent for him to make his prayers, which he did.  Then, to his amazement, he saw Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) making the same dzikr with his disciples after swalah maghrib that he had seen the Prophet (s.a.w.) perform in the dream. 

When Sayyidi Muhannad (q.s.) asked Sayyidi Mawlud (q.s.) about the dzikr, the saint told him that it was the daily Tijani wazhifah which the Prophet (s.a.w.) had instructed Quthb al-Maktum, Shaykh Ahmad at-Tijani (q.s.) and his followers to make.  Sayyidi Muhannad Baba (q.s.) immediately took bay’ah in the Tijani way, and went on to become a renowned Mauritanian Sufi ‘alim. 

Sayyidi Mawlud Fal (q.s.) passed away in 1859, and is buried in the village of Tambu’ayl in Mauritania.  The great Tijani saint, Sayyidi Malick Sy (q.s.) meditated by his grave for one whole month.  Shaykh Ibrahim Niyas (q.s.) and Shaykh Hasan ibn ‘Ali Sisi (q.s.) also visited his grave.  The family of Sayyidi Mawlud Fal (q.s.) are descendants of Sayyidatina Zaynab bint ‘Ali (r.a.), the daughter of Sayyidatina Fathimah az-Zahrah (r.a.) and sister of Sayyidina Hasan ibn ‘Ali (r.a.) and Sayyidina Husayn ibn ‘Ali (r.a.).