Tijani wazifa

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · Aḥmad al-Tijānī · 1781 · Fez, Morocco

What it is

The Tijaniyya (Tijāniyyah) is a Sufi order founded by Aḥmad al-Tijānī (1737–1815), formerly of the Khalwatī order, about 1781 in Fez, Morocco; Britannica notes its emphasis on "good intentions and actions rather than on elaborate or extreme ritual" and its spread across North and West Africa.…

Format

• No source gives session numbers for this work; there is no fixed course. Work in four overlapping phases:
• The wazifa (also spelled wadhifa, waẓīfa) is one of three obligatory litanies of the order, alongside the lazim (the individual morning and evening wird) and the Friday hadra or haylala. It is a short sequence of four recitations (seeking forgiveness, blessing upon the Prophet through the Ṣalāt…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• illness-related lapses fuelling scrupulosity (4.7). Working when the client practises within their capacity without fear.
• the therapist mistaking piety for pathology or the reverse. Working when client and therapist share a map of which behaviours are the tradition's and which are the OCD's.
• panic, depersonalisation, intrusive trauma memories, sleep loss, mood elevation. Working when the client feels steadier and can choose, with their muqaddam, how to continue.
• hopelessness, suicidal ideation in severe guilt; slipping into OCD patterns (then use 4.8). Working when guilt becomes proportionate and leads to a chosen action (resuming, adjusting with the…
• the therapist being drawn into adjudicating ("Was my count valid?"); the client feeling disloyal for discussing it. Working when the client can distinguish "what my tradition asks" from "what my…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.