Pages 1 to 15 of MICA 2009 Publication Final2 - Toubamica

Page 10The Murid Dahiras, Evolutions & Perspectivesform their own communities. Each ofthese sheikhs had been following SheikhAhmadu Bamba for many years. SheikhIbra Faal, the last to join him among thisgroup, had been with him for four to fiveyears. For the Sheikh, these discipleshad the skills and capacity to propagatehis message.Each of these sheikhs had gone throughthe stages of ta’alim, tarbiyya andtarqiyya, which constitute the backboneof Murid education. Their proximity withSheikh Ahmadu Bamba had allowedthem to learn from his teachings andeveryday practices, and have equippedthem with the best qualities to become aleader of the Muslim and Muridcommunities of their time. Their soul andbody have been ‘remade’ (defar) as theMurids would say.Many among these newly consecratedsheikhs returned to their provinces of origin, founded theirown villages, and started to proselytize. The only thing theyrequested from the rulers was enough land to build ahouse, a mosque, a school, and to farm; and the necessarysecurity to carry out their activities. These Murid sheikhswere not rich and some of them originated from verymodest families. The only wealth they had at the time wasthe education, discipline, and determination that SheikhAhmadu Bamba instilled in them. Just like the Muridinternational Diaspora of today, most of them confrontedhostility and had to overcome many hurdles. We learn fromcolonial sources that the French administrators and theirAfrican appointees in Kajoor and Bawol reacted brutally tothe settlement of Murid Sheikhs in these areas in the late19 th century. The reports cite instances where Muridsheikhs were accused of invading French territory, incitingrevolts and exploiting the gullible rural folks. Murid sheikhssuch as Sheikh Ibra Saar, Sheikh Maruba Gueye, wereexpelled from Njambur and their belongings confiscated;Murid village chiefs were fired. Sheikh Modu Jaw Fakha,and Maam Cerno Birahim Mbakke and many others facedFrench opposition for the settlement of their disciples inKajor.The Diourbel EraThe second phase of Murid expansion in Kajor and Bawolcould be dated from 1913, when Sheikh Ahmadu Bambawas kept in house arrest in the town of Diourbel. Soon afterhe founded the neighborhood of Al-Mubaraka in theoutskirts of Diourbel, the Sheikh commissioned his discipleMbaye Jakhate, son of the famous qadi (Muslim judge) ofKajor, Majakhate Kala, to revive the village of KhuruMbakke, his birthplace. Jakhate moved to the village wherehe opened a Qur’anic school. Khuru Mbakke also becamethe burial ground of choice for Sheikh Amadu Bamba. Afterthe re-habilitation of Khuru Mbakke, Amsatu Jakhate,another renowned Murid sheikh, went to Tuba whereSheikh Ahmadu Bamba instructed him to open aschool. Sheikh Madumbe Mbakke, a cousin and disciple ofSheikh Ahmadu Bamba, founded the village of Saam,twenty kilometers from Diourbel. Maam Cerno Ibra Fatyfounded the village of Daaru Muhti on the border of Kajorand Bawol in 1912.These initiatives set off a wave of migration that sent Muridsheikhs and disciples to eastern Bawol. By 1926, colonialadministrators reported that ‘the Murids had conquered thewhole province of Bawol’. Later on, Murid migrationexpanded to east central and eastern Senegal and took anew form under the guidance of Sheikhs who engaged infarming. Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa, Sheikh AhmaduBamba’s elder son and successor, led the effort byfounding a number of new villages in the ancient provinceof Laa in the eastern region of the former pre-colonialkingdom of Bawol. The mission of these Sheikhs was toexpand the abode of Daar al-Islam or house of Islam inFrench dominated Senegal and to educate the people inthe ways of the Muridiyya. In other works I have shownhow Murid Sheikhs used Islamic geometry and sacredarchitecture to transform the space where they settled.We can say then that despite the hostility of the Africanchiefs and their French masters, Murid Sheikhs were highlysuccessful in implanting the Muridiyya in Senegal. MaamCerno, for example, founded many villages andconsecrated dozens of Sheikhs; Sheikh Anta and SheikhA Special Publication of Murid Islamic Community in America, Inc., The Cultural Commission– July 2009