In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, may Allah send blessings upon the generous Prophet. Says the poor needy servant, chained with the shackles of sins and heedlessness, Shaykh Muhammad Shareef bin Farid, may Allah engulf him in His mercy, Ameen. This is the HIRZ of Shehu, famous as Yada Sanda; which I have transliterated and translated at the request of my dear Hajj brother, the muqaddam of the Tareeqa, Sidi al-Hajj Jumma Salaam.

I have placed the merits of each adkhaar from the Book and the Sunna, so that it can be clear that this wird is established upon the Book and the Sunna. The HIRZ is one of five awraad composed by the Shehu himself; and which he gave to his disciples specifically as litanies that distinguished him from the other awraad which he received and transmitted from the Qaadiriyya, the Khalwatiyya, the Mahmudiyya, the Shadhaliyya and others.

These five awraad constitute the litanies of the Fodiyawa as developed by the Shehu himself. The other four are: [1] the Wird Sayf al-Haqq, to be recited after every prescribed prayer; [2] the Munaajat, to be recited during tahajjud night vigils; [3] the ad-Dalaa’il, to be recited Thursday nights or Friday anytime up until asr prayer; and [5] the as-Salawaat al-Kubra, which are five thousand prayers upon the Prophet, daily. The Shehu named this wird, the HIRZ, because it comprises of mainly Qur’anic verses, prophetic supplications and prayers designed to protect the reciter from every kind of physical, mental, emotional, psychic and spiritual harm.

The expression HIRZ means “fortification” or “a place that is fortified and protected against attack”; and takes its root from the verb “haruza” (حَــرُزَ), which means ‘it was fortified, strengthened or protected from attack.’ Immediately, the HIRZ of the Shehu has a military context and reveals the context in which the wird emerged. The Shehu, may Allah be merciful to him was forty-one years old; and it was the same year that he attained the station of mujaddadiyya of the religion and imaamiyya of the awliyya.

Along with the HIRZ, the Shehu transmitted his basic wird, the Sayf al-Haqq. This happened during the last years of Yakubu Dan Babari’s reign over the Gobir kingdom. It was a time when the Gobir and other Hausa kingdoms began to view the Shehu and his scholarly network of sages as a threat. Thus, the need for a wird, which would work as a defensive fortress for the Muslims during a time of increased governmental pressure and sanction. The HIRZ, provided the disciples of the Shehu, with the spiritual fortification and moral reinforcement, they needed under enhanced repression.

I, Shaykh Muhammad Shareef bin Farid, received ijaza with the highest chain of transmission (bi sanad aaliyya) for the Hirzi from the three shaykhs: [1] Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin ibn Adam of Maiurno, Sudan from his father Shaykh Adam Kariangha from his teacher Shaykh Mallam Musa al-Muhajir from his teacher Shaykh Ali Dinba ibn Abu Bakr Mallami from Shehu Uthman ibn Fodio;

[2] I received it from Shaykh Muhammad Bello ibn Abdullahi of Maiurno, Sudan from his father Shaykh Abdullahi ibn Umar from his father Shaykh Umar ibn Yusef, from his father Shaykh Yusef ibn Bello, from his father Sultan Muhammad Bello from his father ; and

[3] I received it from Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin Boyi, the Imam of the Shehu’s masjid in Sokoto, Nigeria from his father Shaykh Ahmadu, from his father Shaykh Mustafa, from his father Muhammad, from his father Shaykh Ali Dinba ibn Abu Bakr.

This wird should be recited once after fajr prayer and once after maghrib prayer; and it is one of the four awraad unique to , may Allah be pleased with him