Across West African Islamic scholarship, poetry has long served as more than literary ornament — it has been a vehicle of devotion in its own right. The qasida (plural: qasa'id), a classical Arabic poetic form, was adopted widely by Tijani scholars and shaykhs as a means of expressing love of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, gratitude for spiritual grace, and praise of Allah, often composed to be recited or sung communally at gatherings of remembrance.

Within the Tariqa Tijaniyya, qasa'id occupy a place alongside the order's formal litanies rather than apart from them. Where the Wazifa, Lazim, and Hailala follow fixed, transmitted wording, qasida composition has remained a living art — scholars across generations, including Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse and members of his household, composed original poetry in Arabic addressing themes of praise (madih), spiritual longing, and instruction. These works were then, and continue to be, preserved, memorized, and set to melody at gatherings across the Tijani world.

One example available through Fayda Digital is Gardens of the Six & Their Ornaments: The Collected Diwans of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse — a compiled collection (diwan) of poetic works attributed to him, gathered for readers and students who wish to study this dimension of his output directly rather than only through secondhand description.

For the Tijani community, preserving this poetry is not a matter of literary heritage alone. Qasa'id carry theological and spiritual content — praise correctly directed, gratitude properly expressed, longing rightly channeled — and their transmission, memorization, and recitation is itself a form of tarbiya, spiritual formation, passed from teacher to student across generations.

Unverified: this article describes the qasida tradition and the named collection in general terms based on their published titles and category. Specific claims about the authorship, dating, or content of individual poems within any diwan should be verified against the primary text and, where possible, a qualified teacher before being cited elsewhere.