Amadou Bamba
Encyclopedia
Wolof language
Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, and is the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo language family...
, Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥabīb Allāh also known as Khadīmu 'l-Rasūl or "The Servant of the messenger", and as Sëriñ Tuubaa or "Cheikh of Tuubaa
Touba, Senegal
Touba is a city in central Senegal. It is the holy city of Mouridism and the burial place of its founder, Shaikh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke...
" in Wolof), was a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Sufi religious leader in Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
and the founder of the large Mouride
Mouride
The Mouride brotherhood is a large Islamic Sufi order most prominent in Senegal and The Gambia, with headquarters in the holy city of Touba, Senegal...
Brotherhood (the Muridiyya).
Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba was a mystic and religious leader who produced a prodigious quantity of poems and tracts on meditation, rituals, work, and Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
ic study. Politically, Ahmadou Bamba led a pacifist struggle against French colonialism while not waging outright war on the French as several prominent Tijani
Tijaniyyah
The Tijāniyyah is a sufi tariqa originating in North Africa but now more widespread in West Africa, particularly in Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, and Northern Nigeria and Sudan...
marabouts had done.
Biography
Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke was born in the village of MbackéMbacké
Mbacké is a city in central Senegal, located east of Dakar. It is the capital of an administrative department in the Diourbel region. Along with the near-by city of Touba, Mbacké forms an urban conurbation whose population currently stands at about 500,000, making it Senegal's second largest...
(Mbàkke Bawol in Wolof) in the Kingdom of Baol
Baol
The Kingdom of Baol or Bawol in central Senegal was one of the ancient kingdoms of the Serer people pre-the Jolof Empire, an Empire it would later join voluntarily just like the other States. However it gained prominence after the split-up of the Empire in 1555...
, the son of a marabout
Marabout
A marabout is a Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa, and in the Maghreb. The marabout is often a scholar of the Qur'an, or religious teacher. Others may be wandering holy men who survive on alms, Sufi Murshids , or leaders of religious communities...
from the Xaadir
Qadiriyya
The Qadiriyya , are members of the Qadiri Sufi order...
(Qadriyya) brotherhood, the oldest in Senegal.
A religious prayer leader, poet and monk, Ahmadou Bamba founded the Mouride brotherhood in 1883 and the city of Touba
Touba
Touba may refer to:*Touba, Côte d'Ivoire*Touba, Boké -Guinea*Touba, Labé -Guinea*Touba, Mali*Touba, Senegal...
. In one of his numerous writings, Matlabul Fawzeyni (the quest for happiness in both worlds), Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba describes the purpose of the city which he founded in 1887. In his concept, Touba should reconcile the spiritual and the temporal. Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba intended to have the spiritual capital of his brotherhood showing all the characteristics of a Muslim city.
Facing colonial rule
As his fame spread, the French colonial governmentFrench West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
worried about Bamba's growing power and potential to wage war against them. He had converted a number of traditional kings and their followers and no doubt could have raised a huge military force, as Muslim leaders like Umar Tall
Umar Tall
El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , , born in what is now actual Senegal was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur military commander who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.-Name:Umar Tall's name is spelled variously: in...
and Samory Touré
Samori
Samory Toure was the founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic state that resisted French rule in West Africa from 1882 until his capture in 1898.-Early life and career:...
had before him.
The French sentenced him to exile in Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
(1895–1902) and later in Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
(1903–1907). However, these exiles fired stories and folk tales of Bamba's miraculous survival of torture, deprivation, and attempted executions, and thousands more flocked to his organization. On the ship to Gabon, forbidden from praying, Bamba is said to have broken his leg-irons, leapt overboard into the ocean and prayed on a prayer rug that appeared on the surface of the water, so devout was he. Or, when the French put him in a furnace, he simply sat down in it and drank tea with Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. In a den of hungry lions, the lions slept beside him, etc.
By 1910, the French realized that Bamba was not interested in waging war against them, and was in fact quite cooperative, eventually releasing him to return to his expanded community. In 1918, he won the French Legion of Honor for enlisting his followers in the First World War and the French allowed him to establish his community in Touba
Touba
Touba may refer to:*Touba, Côte d'Ivoire*Touba, Boké -Guinea*Touba, Labé -Guinea*Touba, Mali*Touba, Senegal...
, believing in part that his doctrine of hard work could be made to serve French economic interests. His movement was allowed to grow, and in 1926 he began work for the great mosque at Touba
Touba, Senegal
Touba is a city in central Senegal. It is the holy city of Mouridism and the burial place of its founder, Shaikh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke...
where he is buried. After his death in 1927, he has been succeeded by his descendants as hereditary leaders of the brotherhood with absolute authority over the followers.
Importance to Islam and anticolonialism
As the founder of Mouridism, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba is considered one of the greatest spiritual leaders in Senegalese history. Mouridism is today one of Senegal’s four Sufi movements, with four million devotees in Senegal alone and thousands more abroad majority of who are emigrants from Senegal. Followers of the Mouridism movement, an offshoot of traditional Sufi philosophy, aspire to live closer to God, in emulation of the Prophet Muhammad's example.Amadou Bamba's teachings emphasized the virtues of pacifism and the importance of hard work, became in the 20th century one of the biggest influences on contemporary Senegalese life and culture.
As an ascetic marabout
Marabout
A marabout is a Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa, and in the Maghreb. The marabout is often a scholar of the Qur'an, or religious teacher. Others may be wandering holy men who survive on alms, Sufi Murshids , or leaders of religious communities...
who wrote tracts on meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
, rituals, work, and Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
ic study, he is perhaps best known for his emphasis on work, and his disciples are known for their industriousness.
In the political sphere, Ahmadou Bamba led a pacifist struggle against French colonialism while trying to restore a purer practice of Islam insulated from French colonial influence. In a period when successful armed resistance was impossible, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba led a spiritual struggle against colonial culture and politics. Although he did not wage outright war on them as several prominent Tijaan marabouts had done, he taught what he called the jihād al-'akbar or "greater struggle," which fought not through weapons but through learning and fear of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
Respected by Mourides
Bamba's followers call him a "renewer" (mujaddid in Arabic) of IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, citing a hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
that implies that God will send renewers of the faith every 100 years (the members of all the Senegalese brotherhoods
Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal
This is a list of Muslim groups in Senegal . They are active Muslim organizations that can also be found in many other parts of Africa and the Islamic world.The three largest are:...
claim that their founders were such renewers).
Meeting with the Islamic Prophet
Cheikh Abdoul Ahad Mbacke, the third CaliphCaliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
and son of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba declared that Amadou Bamba had met the prophet Muhammed in his dream, a tale that has become an article of faith for Mouride believers.
During the month of Ramadan 1895 Muhammed and his companions appeared to him in a dream in Bamba in Touba to confer upon him the rank of mujaddid of his age, and to test his faith. From this, Bamba is said to also have been conferred the rank of "Servant of the Prophet."
Salvation through work
As Bamba gathered followers, he taught that salvation comes through submission to the marabout and hard work. The Mouride order has built, following this teaching, a large economic organisation, involved in many aspects of the Senegalese economy. GroundnutPeanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
cultivation, the primary cash crop of the colonial period, was an early example of this. Young followers were recruited to settle marginal lands in eastern Senegal, found communities and create groundnut plantations. With the organisation and supplies provided by the Brotherhood, a portion of the proceeds were returned to Touba, while the workers, after a period of years, earned ownership over the plantations and towns. The modern Mourides contribute earnings to the brotherhood, which provides social services, loans, and business opportunities in return.
Image
Amadou Bamba has only one surviving photograph, in which he wears a flowing white robe and his face is mostly covered by a scarf. This picture is venerated and reproduced in paintings on walls, buses, taxis, etc. all over SenegalSenegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
.
The Magal pilgrimage
Every year, millions of Muslims from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Touba (Magal), worshipping at the mosque and honouring the memory of Sheikh Amadou Bamba. On one occasion during the pilgrimage, Mouride believers honour Amadou Bamba by facing the Atlantic ocean, to commemorate Bamba's legendary prayer on the water.- MourideMourideThe Mouride brotherhood is a large Islamic Sufi order most prominent in Senegal and The Gambia, with headquarters in the holy city of Touba, Senegal...
- Muslim brotherhoods of SenegalMuslim brotherhoods of SenegalThis is a list of Muslim groups in Senegal . They are active Muslim organizations that can also be found in many other parts of Africa and the Islamic world.The three largest are:...
. - Touba, SenegalTouba, SenegalTouba is a city in central Senegal. It is the holy city of Mouridism and the burial place of its founder, Shaikh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke...
External links
- Toubatoulouse.org to download khassaides, audio sounds and pictures
- The Online Murid Library (DaarayKamil.com)
- wikimouridia.org
- Passport to Paradise: Sufi Arts of Senegal and Beyond: exhibition and educational program from the Fowler Museum of Cultural History of the University of California at Los Angeles.
- Mouride.com
- daaramouride.asso.ulaval.ca
- Majalis.org
- La Non Violence de Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba
- International Sufi School Khidmatul Khadim
- Article on Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba as Peacemaker
- Official Home Page of the Muridiyya Khidmatul Khadim School
- A modest tribute from Tidjani Négadi (Oran University, Algeria)
- A rare book bridging NY and Touba, Senegal by Peter Bogardus.