Part 2: Case Studies: 19 and 20 Centuries 2012/lectures/nov 26-28.pdf · Part 2: Case Studies: 19 thand 20 Centuries Nov. 26 - 30: ... Nov. 30 Document Discussion. Ahmadu Bamba Bamba

Part 2:

Case Studies: 19th and 20th Centuries

Nov. 26 - 30: “Ahmadu Bamba, the Muridiyya

and French Colonialism

Nov. 26 ‘Ahmadu Bamba and the Birth of Muridism’Nov. 28 ‘The Murides and French Colonialism’Nov. 30 Document Discussion

Ahmadu Bamba

Bamba di geejGu tàbbi geej

Fekk fa geejGu ne ko ngiij

Bamba is an Ocean Who melted into an Ocean

And found therein an Ocean Who blended with Him

“ Xarnubi” (Sheikh Moussa Ka, a Wolof poet) [cited in Abdoul Aziz Mbacke, “Jihad for Peace”, ‘Resources’]

Senegal in time of Ahmadu Bamba

Story of Murid Brotherhood (late 19th -20th centuries) familiar in many ways – yet ultimately different:

- Ahmadu Bamba emerged in situation similar to Uthmandan Fodio, Mohamed Ahmed (al-Mahdi)

- ‘Murids’ (learners, disciples) faced issues similar to Sudanese Mahdists:

- first conquest by European power (in this case French)- then incorporation in colonial state

But unlike Fulani, Mahdist jihads – no physical resistance


- like Mahdi’s son (Abd al-Rahman, worked on policy of ‘accommodation’ – but without millenarianism

- opposite: created order to live, grow, thrive in westernized modern world

- unlike Mahdists: was successful

-has been argued that Murid sufi order offers ‘answer’ to contemporary contradictions of ‘Islam vs democracy, secularism’


[Robinson] Situates Senegal physically/historically:

- bounded to north by Senegal river: ‘gateway’ to region once controlled by Almoravids, bordering Sahara desert

- Islam present since 9th c.: fabled conversion King of Takrur, attracted to ‘power’ of religion to bring rain after prolonged drought

- Islam dominant in region since 16th c

- Main ethnic groups: Fulani (‘relatives’ of those in Nigeria, Muslim); Wolof (largely non-Muslim)


In spite of widespread acceptance Islam:

- no state comparable to Sokoto ever succeeded in region

– many small scale movements, 17th - 19th centuries

- (Robinson) likens small states to Gobir, target of danFodio’s initial jihad:

- Muslim leader, scholarly ulama but enduring presence many ‘questionable’ Islamic practices


Touba: Murid Capital


Immediate context: French area commercial interest Saint Louis and hinterland

- kingdom Kajoor (Kayor/Cayor): Muslim ruler (Dammel) studied seriously with local Shaykh

- attempted to impose stricter laws, surrounded himself with learned clerics

- one was Ahmadu Bamba’s Father


Dammel challenged by royal soldiers: exercising power to exploit peasants, benefit from slave trade- kingdom dependent on slavery, Atlantic slave trade

- late 19th c.: French pressure to end slave trade, shift economy of kingdom to cash crops – peanuts

- requested permission to build railway to interior

- where Mahdists had resisted British doing same in Egypt-Sudan, Dammel agreed to French encroachment in Senegal


Railroad passed through kingdom 1885:- cut across peanut growing region, opened kingdom to

French merchants, soldiers

- Dammel lost ability to effectively ‘control’ interior of kingdom, as well as its economy

- belatedly resisted; cost him his life (1886)

Robinson dates beginning of colonial rule to his death and that date.


Foundational myth establishing ‘birth’ of Murid tariqa:- popular story has Ahmed Bamba meeting Dammel of Kayor on ‘eve of [the latter’s] death’

- important symbolism: - understood locally as Dammel formally transferring ‘power’ to Amadu Bamba- the former being ‘secular, military’, the latter ‘religious, pacifist

Historical evidence proves meeting never took place –what is important is people’s belief in the message

Senegal in time of Ahadu Bamba

Ahmadu Bamba:

- from clerical ‘marabout’** family:

- ancestors belonged to Qadiriyya tariqa (southern Mauritania; same tariqa as Uthman dan Fodio)

- initiated into brotherhood through family

** French word for ‘cleric’, derived from ‘Al-moravid’ (became accepted terminology throughout French West Africa)


- studied with different Qadiri Shaykhs

- also with others,includingTijani scholars (unusual)

- ultimately received initiation from Shaikh Sidiyya (Qadiriyya)

Ahmadu Bamba c. 1912 – only known photo


Not satisfied that ‘established’ brotherhoods adequately addressed challenges 1880s -1890s:

- ‘troubled times’: French incursions (military, economic)

- also religious concerns: - educators seen as putting quest for prestige, wealth over duty ‘to dispense knowledge for the sake of God’

[“Educating the Murid…”, Resources]


Most significant: rejected Tijani position of ‘resistance’ to Colonial (‘Infidel’) Rule*

- believed pursuit of both ‘power’ and ‘piety’ not possible:

-made choice for latter- convinced Father to leave Dammel’s court

* reference lecture Nov. 19, ‘Sudan under Colonial Rule’


Ahmadu Bamba: successor to father- moved outside realm of ‘court’

- took following back to village of origin in Bawol

- comparable to hijra - but no ‘military’ jihad to follow

- taught followers, developed his own spirituality, studied hadiths

- wrote poetry, books: ‘scholar’ in traditional sense


Cheikh Ahmadu Bamba (on horseback; n.d.)French title: ‘West Africa – arrival of a Great Marabout’


Amadu Bamba interested in issue of ‘relations between rulers and ruled’ :

- observed what he saw as corrupt in the court of Dammel (and his father)

- studied earlier Muslim scholars; famous 12th c. al-Ghazali spoke to issue:


“although obedience is owed to the unjust prince, one must not condone his injustice …

the devout Muslim should avoid the court and company of the unjust ruler, and should rebuke him, by words if he can safely do so, by silence if words might encourage rebellion”

Influence on Ahmadu Bamba evident: for example (he wrote)

“Those who frequent them [the unjust rulers] because of their wealth, share in the corruption which is the source of their power.”


Concept of Sufism shaped by desire to reconcile mysticism, sharia and involvement in society:

- distanced himself from extreme asceticism

- advocated involvement sufi Shaykh in life of community

- system of education: to instill teachings of Islam and create Muslims who served their community

[echoed of Sokoto Caliphate, especially role of Nana Asma’u, although content of teachings differed]


Bamba’s Mother Mame Diarra Bousso: also seen as ‘inspirational figure’ in brotherhood

- role not as well known as Nana Asma’u but continued reverence even today suggests it was considerable

Overall: ‘Muridism’ seen as a necessary response to a ‘situation of crisis’


The Teachings: “Acquisition of knowledge without practice was a waste of time”

- ‘science’ (in sufi sense) and ‘action’ (life involvement) were twin foundations of virtuous life

- elements underpinned long-term pedagogy

- Ahmadu Bamba designed system of ‘lifelong education’geared towards transformation of character and behaviour [of murids]


‘Duties of students’ to be respected in accordance with goals:

- to combat ignorance- to be useful to humanity- to enrich religious sciences- to act and live in accordance with the teachings of the sciences

Warning: ‘those seeking sciences for the sake of engaging in polemics or for prestige and honour will earn nothing but punishment from God.’


Challenge: followers of many backgrounds- some had ‘learning’: Islamic understanding, potential marabouts

- few initial followers were from learned families

- most (like Hausa peasantry in Sokoto), had little knowledge of Islam, were illiterate/semi-illiterate:

- former slaves- state/royal soldiers- peasants- women and children


Literature also talks of ‘displaced’ people:

- migrant labourers, attracted by work in peanut basin (region)

- ready to learn, ‘obedient’

Ahmadu Bamba needed to engage all of the above!


Pedagogy developed from 1884:

- emphasized work, religious practices rather than ideology

- organized system around “knowledge schools,”“Qur’anic schools” and “working schools”

- personalized instruction for disciples with special needs


Bamba provided specialized, ‘customized training’ to disciples with different intellectual, physical abilities:

- working schools ‘tarbiyya’ more populated than other schools in early days of Murīdiyya:

- majority of people who first came to Bamba had already passed schooling age

- movement became known for emphasis on ‘work’


Role of ‘ajami’, development of ‘Wolofal’:

- books, letters, poems written in Arabic

- but Bamba used Wolof proverbs, popular sayings in discussion to simplify foreign Islamic concepts, make them understandable

- then transcribed in ‘Wolofal’ for wider dissemination


‘Wolofal’: arabic script, Wolof language

- particularly important in Tarbiyya Schools

- senior disciples consciously developed Wolofal over time

Genuine conversion of Wolof ‘masses’ could be achieved only through writing that could be sung or read out loud to illiterate village audiences.

[reference discussion of ‘popularizing’ Islam in local languages, Sokoto Caliphate]


Wolofal continued to evolve, becoming medium of written communication in all Murīd communities:

-dissemination Amadu Bamba’s teachings

- writing of praise, satirical, and polemical poetry, eulogies

- record keeping, communication of other ‘secular’information


In creating Tarbiyya Schools, encouraging use of Wolofal as educational tool, Amadu Bambaunderstood pedagogical and cultural benefits of using Wolof to reach common people.

His (own) classical Arabic poems and the Wolofalliterature constituted bedrock of educational materials used by Murīd to educate, transmit Murīdethos to future generations.

[see example of an Arabic poem, read by contemporary muridiyyaand ‘transcribed’ in Latin, Ahmad Bamba’s Poetry, ‘Resources’]

Example ofWolofal Text

[see next slide For translation –only one page shown]


(English translation of larger document in ‘wolofal’):

“The Leader [Amadu Bamba] used to look for quiet places, far from big towns, and build schools there. If you came to submit to him, if you were a learned person, he would send you to the knowledge schools, where you would teach. If you possessed quranicknowledge, he would send you to quranic schools where you would learn and teach.

If you were at a schooling age, he would send you to knowledge schools or Quranic schools where you would study at your level. …


Amadu Bamba said: “I instruct all disciples”:

(1) to cultivate knowledge, courtesy, and discipline. I order every disciple who relies on me …

(2) to keep studying al-Qur’ān, the best of the books


[from Ngom, “Amadu Bamba’s Pedagogy…”]

“If your brain could not hold these two things, he would send you to the working school where you would be educated and taught all types of work.

If you were beyond the working age or could not do it, he would find something useful that brought divine reward and ask you to do it. …


[no one ever stayed with Boroom Tuubaa without doing something]:

“He said in Masāliku’l Jinān that ‘what those who passed away want the most is to have the opportunity to come back to this world for any short duration so that they may perform some additional work that would benefit them when they return’.”


[from ‘Educating the Murid’, Cheikh Anta Babou, Resources]

“Education occupies a central place in Amadu Bamba'sthought and practices. The importance that AmaduBamba ascribed to education reflected his belief in the crucial role of Islamic knowledge for the achievement of social change and the preservation of positive social values.


The system of education that he developed was a response to both the contemporary socio-political situation in the increasingly dysfunctional Wolof states that he judged detestable, and the deterioration of the classical system of education that was no longer fulfilling its societal function. …


…[Murid ethos] allowed the cohesion and continuity of the brotherhood. This ethos that is shaped by values such as solidarity, self reliance, rootedness in the local Islamic culture, submission to the shaikh and distrust of temporal power-holders contributed to the development of a counterculture. That is a set of values, practices, a cultural code and a worldview that provide structure and meaning to the disciples' lives.

This counter-culture appeared as a viable alternative to traditional court culture and Frenchcultural imperialism and provided a basis of passive resistance to colonial rule.”

Part 2:




Nov. 28 ‘The Murides and French Colonialism’

Ahmadu BambaAndthe French Colonial State

Colonial Senegal

Touba: Murid Capital

Colonial Senegal

The French in Senegal:- previous experience with Islam in Algeria

- like British experience with Mahdists, gave cause for worry/concern

- shaped the way they ‘approached’ Islam

- 1830s: moved into Algiers, challenging Ottoman power

- outside coastal city, faced resistance Muslim Berbers of Mountains, desert (descendants of Almoravids, early ‘Islamized’ Berbers)

Colonial Senegal

- launched jihad under Abd al-Qadir (captured 1847)

- resistance continued in desert: French mission 1880-81 destroyed

-shaped how French ‘understood’ Islamic movements, alerted them to ‘dangers’ of jihad or potential ‘revolutionary’ path

Colonial Senegal

1895: local administrators portrayed Amadu Bamba as ‘danger’ to state:

- with Tijani: brotherhood al-hajj Umar, Caliphate in interior resisting French military penetration

- claimed Amadu Bamba preparing his people for jihad: contrary to professed beliefs

- superficial trial, exiled seven years to the Congo

Colonial Senegal

From one of his poems ‘on jihad’ [additional readings]

”The true warrior in God’s path is not he who kills his enemies, but he who combats his ego (nafs) to achieve spiritual perfection“

”Indeed, the toughest Jihad consists in hindering one's mind from ever involving in aught that is not proper.“

”Always cherish good feelings for all the creatures of God.“

Colonial Senegal

Amadu Bamba used years of ‘exile’ in totally non-muslim region to deepen personal faith:

- wrote more poetry, books

- kept in touch with family and friends

- ‘exile’ worked directly against French intents

Colonial Senegal

Period of first exile gave rise to most famous (of many) miracles/visions: - denied right to pray aboard ship taking him to Congo

- spread his prayer rug on the ocean, stepped onto it, prayed (Robinson, p188 shows one painting of this – there are many variants; see also p.60‘Saints and Sufis’, Additional Readings)

- tales of miracles used in subsequent years to support legitimacy

[eg. ‘salaat’ – section on ‘stories’; video ‘Ahmadu Bamba in Mauritania’, ‘Additional Readings’]

Colonial Senegal

Later wrote about those years in these terms:

“Whenever I recall my sojourn in such a [awful prison] they put me in, and the [misbehavior] of that unfair governor, I feel like taking arms [to combat them]. But the Prophet himself dissuades me therefrom.” ….

[cited in “Jihad for Peace”, p.23, ‘Resources’]

French Colonial Senegal & Muridism

Contrary to literature emphasizing differences British (indirect) – French (direct) rule, in Senegal, French initially tried policy of ‘indirect rule’:

- religious leaders had more influence over people than ‘chiefs’

- French could control ‘chiefs’ -- but not their people

- increasingly, they began to seek out religious leaders rather than succumb to chiefs in ‘pocket’ of Christians.

French Colonial Senegal & Muridism

Also like British:

- French interested in making colonial enterprise ‘work’ –literally and figuratively: must make enough ‘profit’ to cover costs of administration

- meant getting Africans to work as labourers on profitable crops

- in Sudan, gum Arabic; in northern Nigeria, cotton, grain, peanuts)

In Senegal, overwhelmingly and almost uniquely –peanuts

Colonial Senegal

Peanut Growing Basin

Colonial Senegal

Senegal climate, soils suited to growing peanuts in large area of hinterland

- French realized: needed religious leaders to influence people (and chiefs, depending on region) to develop crop and labour force

Colonial Senegal

Amadu Bamba most important religious leader in major peanut-growing region

- Amadu Bamba brought back from exile to take charge of followers who were seen by French as especially industrious workers.

- French saw it as ‘generosity’ – Murids portrayed it as ‘victory’ of their leader over French authority

Colonial Senegal

Soon complaints made to French authorities from Dammel’s son, now ruling Kayor:

- Murids ‘uncontrollable’- recognized them as competing power, used French to weaken movement

Local administrators, always wary of Amadu Bamba, acted to support Dammel:

- exiled him to southern Mauritania - in care of French ally, Shaykh Sidiyya: to be ‘tutored’.

Colonial Senegal

Amadu Bamba respected Qadiriyya leader who initiated him:

- did not accept being ‘student’

- while there, had ‘revelation’ leading him to declare his own brotherhood

[video ‘Ahmadu Bamba in Mauritania’]

Colonial Senegal

“ [O ye my persecutors!]

ye banned me on the pretence that I am waging a war (Jihad) against you. Indeed ye are right because I am really combating for the Countenance of the Lord.

But I am waging my Jihad through Knowledge (ulũm) and Fearing the Lord (taqwã), as [an humble] subject of God and the servant of His Prophet; and the Lord who oversees everything may assuredly bearwitness thereof…

While others hold material weapons to be feared, my two weapons are [knowledge] and [worship]; and this is surely my way of fighting.”

[from his poem “O ye People of the Trinity!”, cited in “Jihad for Peace”, p.18, ‘Resources’]

Colonial Senegal

1907: - French brought him back to Senegal

- easier to keep an eye on him

1914-18: WWI- French (like British in Zanzibar, Egypt, Sudan) needed support from African colonies

- food, transport and soldiers (to fight in Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Colonial Senegal

Bamba preached ‘accommodation’ with French:

- encouraged supporters to join French army as ‘tirailleurs’

- fought in campaign Dardanelles (Ottoman territory)

- fought fellow Muslims on behalf of French

Robinson reports soldiers heard reciting Amadu Bamba’spoetry to keep up moral!

(reinforces earlier point about importance of ‘Wolofal’)

Senegal in WWI

Colonial Senegal

Close interaction between French administration and Amadu Bamba's successors not unlike other relationships established with important leaders of Tijani movements:

-1920s saw specific patterns typical of Senegalese political life established

- shared belief in compatibility of interests of colonial state and ‘marabouts’

Colonial Senegal

But Murids were believed:

- to be in touch with pan-Islamic movements in Arab world (as we saw in Sudan)

- to be sending money to ongoing resistance in Morocco

Large financial contributions to ‘movement’ were seen as competing with colonial taxation!

Colonial Senegal

Amadu Bamba (d. 1927):

- son took title ‘Caliphe generale’

- French ruled interior‘through’ Murids

- centre remained Touba

- massive mosque built

Colonial Senegal

Colonial Senegal

Role of French colonial ethnographer, Arabist Paul Marty:

- published books on Muslim movements in West Africa (major source for historians of region)

- Marty dismissed idea of Murids as ‘threat’

- suggested that complaints about Amadu Bamba were motivated by local jealousies and political rivalries

Colonial Senegal

Marty aware Murid practice grounded in Sufi traditions:

- nevertheless portrayed it as ‘unusual phenomenon’, ‘new religion born of Islam’

- downplayed foreign connections even knowing about those existing between spiritual leaders Arab world

- assured French ‘employers’ that Murids were not threat

Colonial Senegal

Marty's work:- example of role ‘ethnography’ played in colonial policy

- Senegal: important because of Murid order

- in doing so, discriminated against 'rival' religious orders: Tijani and Qadiri

- to extent Historians influenced by this source, also shaped historiography of ‘modern’ Senegal

Colonial Senegal

Murid movement became wealthy from growing, exporting peanuts:- remained influential (as Touba Grand Mosque suggests)

- but where Amadu Bamba remained ‘apart’, spiritually and physically (having little to do with French administrators)…

- successors more actively involved in political life –locally, increasingly nationally, able to act in many cases as ‘king makers’

Colonial Senegal

Murids expanded east along railway:

- over course of early 20th C, increasingly specialized in peanuts

- abandoned traditional foodstuffs (e.g. millet)

- becoming critical factor in evolving Colonial economy

Colonial Senegal

“By promoting the work ethic of the Mouride, the colonial ideologues thought they had found a notion that could bridge the gap between Islamic thinking on the one hand and development ethics of the official state programme on the other. “

[“The Nation Turbanned”, Resources]

Colonial Senegal

On the eve of independence:

- Senegalese marabouts (as group) declared loyalty to De Gaulle, support for French community

- not able to maintain cohesion despite creation of Conseil Superieur des Chefs Religieux du Senegal in 1958 'to defend the interests of Islam‘

- Tijani marabout Ibrahim Niasse protested against constitution proposed for joining Mali federation (larger political unit reflecting former AOF)

Colonial Senegal

Other marabouts continued to challenge what they saw as political elite:

- created political party with other secular leaders who opposed Leopold Senghor's Union ProgressisteSenegalaise (UPS)

At moment of independence:

- marabouts were divided- but knew they could influence national policies

Post Independence Senegal

Changing face of Muridism:

- following WWII, peanuts no longer as profitable (competing sources of both peanuts and other oils in world market)

- Murids began moving into coastal towns, cities

- even abroad: France, elsewhere in Europe, even North America (1980s)


Operates as brotherhood, not just cultural/commercial ‘diaspora’:- spiritual leader based in Touba

- annual festival re-enacting return of Amadu Bambafrom exile attracts up to million followers

- shaykh and ‘brotherhood’ still supported by Muridcommunities around the world

-in return, communities request practical aid, prayers on their behalf

This is traditional functioning brotherhood articulated in modern economic and social terms.


Political Role:

- efforts made to stress compatibility Murid economic ethics, goals of postcolonial state

- 1963: during Murid ceremony, President Senghor asked –

- 'What is socialism if not, essentially, the socio-economic system which gives priority to work? And who has done this better than Amadu Bamba and his successors?’


1972: Abdulaye Wade (future president) published article

- argued that tendency to regard Islam as essentially incompatible with goals of development is mistaken

- rather than suppress religious values in the name of progress, development theorists should take into account potential of Islamic movements like the Muridsbecause of religious devotion to work, willingness to develop the nation


Wade (somewhat like Marty, earlier) emphasized that Amadu Bamba was a ‘Senegalese’ thinker:

- writings, philosophy, had origins in ancestral traditions: it is 'national', not 'pan-Islamic‘ [recalls tensions in Sudan]

- because of the centrality of work ethic, Wade labeled Murid doctrine as 'scientific‘, having nothing to do with mysticism characteristic of other [threatening] Islamic movements


Wade's efforts promoting ‘Bamba-ism’ is profoundly nationalistic:

- selective, discriminated against other manifestations of religious experience

- argued that Amadu Bamba's doctrine was peaceful, condemned violence

- Amadu Bamba's methods, dealings were based on 'persuasion‘, 'moral (not physical) resistance'.


Murid attitude differed significantly from that of the other major 'sects‘

- Tijani: too 'Arabic', too 'violent‘

- 'Qadiri: too 'Mauritanian‘

1981: Abdou Diouf - efforts to ‘Islamize’ image of Senegal internationally


1989: inauguration important Islamic Foundation, funded by Senegalese businessman, Mbaye and international Arab investors

- President’s speech made pious national hero out of man, frequent references to Islamic hadiths, linkage of work to piousness

- effort to authority of religious orders, acquire more ‘universal’ Islamic image


- Diouf did not mention Mbaye actually from prominent Murid family

- glossed over the fact that he had not studied with any shaykh: his ‘work ethic’ not supported by ‘spiritual ethic’

- Tijani cleric give closing prayer!


Abdouaye Wade (President 2000 - ) Abdou Diouf (President 1981-2000)


Example legacy of Amadu Bamba:

- article shows how major state-owned cotton company creating schools, appropriating language, rhetoric of ‘only through work that one can secure the blessing of God’ to educate workers to see themselves in ‘shaykh/murid’ relationship with company


[author argues]… this is attempt to 'muridise' political culture: application religious modes of behaviour to non-religious arenas

- molding political affiliation in religious frame of reference: relationship becomes ‘allegiance’, personal commitment not to an 'imagined community' like nation, but to person (Abdou Diouf in this case)

- trend testifies not only to infiltration Sufism but also to strategies of modern politics


Corner-stone Sufism: master/disciple relationship:

. - calling into question view that Sufism is ‘out-dated’ or that ‘anti-suffism’ is better adapted to modern world's economic, social requirements.'

- of particular relevance here is master/disciple relationship, rooted in Sufi mysticism of Amadu Bamba

- re-elaborated in colonial, postcolonial circumstances

- now transferred to nationalist discourse


Article concludes by noting:

- on the eve of all elections, Senegalese leaders go east to ‘holy cities’ of Touba ,Tivaouane in hopes gaining support of spiritual masters (Murid and Tijani, respectively)


Robinson speaks of ‘Murid space’:

- defined by artwork – wall murals/pictures, famous ‘reverse glass paintings’ often portraying imagined moments of Amadu Bamba’s exiled experiences (most famous being the praying-on-water miracle)

- also his poetry, writings continue to be reproduced in popular format – cassette recitations, illustrated pamphlets, books.

[Best exemplified in ‘Saints and Sufis in the City’ (Add’l Rdgs)]

Ahmadu Bambain Everyday Life

[Boat Flag, Senegal]

Part 2:




Nov. 30 ‘Document Discussion: ‘Ahmadu Bamba in Mauritania’; ‘Saint in the City’

Documents

Part 2: Case Studies: 19 and 20 Centuries 2012/lectures/nov 26-28.pdf · Part 2: Case Studies: 19 thand 20 Centuries Nov. 26 - 30: ... Nov. 30 Document Discussion. Ahmadu Bamba Bamba