Amadou Bamba
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[[Image:AhmaduBamba.jpg|thumb|200px|Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke]]
[[Image:Amadou Bamba wallpainting.jpg|thumb|200px|Wallpainting of Amadou Bamba in Saint Louis, Senegal]]
'''Ahmadou Bamba''', '''Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacké''' ([[1853]]-[[1927]]) ('''Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke''' in [[Wolof language|Wolof]], '''Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥabīb Allāh''' in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], also known as '''Khadīmu 'l-Rasūl''' or "The Servant of the Prophet" in Arabic, and as '''Sëriñ Tuubaa''' or "Cheikh of [[Touba, Senegal|Tuubaa]]" in Wolof), was a [[Muslim]] [[Sufi]] religious leader in [[Senegal]] and the founder of the large [[Mouride]] Brotherhood (the ''Muridiyya'').
See [[Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal]].
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]]ic study. Politically, Ahmadou Bamba led a pacifist struggle against French colonialism while not waging outright war on the French as several prominent [[Tijaniyyah|Tijaan]] marabouts had done.
== Biography ==
Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke was born in the village of [[Mbacké]] (''Mbàkke Bawol'' in Wolof) in the Kingdom of [[Baol]], the son of a [[marabout]] from the [[Qadiriyya|Xaadir]] (Qadriyya) brotherhood, the oldest in Senegal.
A religious prayer leader, poet and monk, Ahmadou Bamba founded the Mouride brotherhood in 1883. Reuters translated a notable phrase attributed to him, "Pray as if you will die tomorrow and work as if you will live forever."
== Facing Colonial Rule ==
As his fame spread, the [[French West Africa|French colonial government]] 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]] and [[Samori|Samory Touré]] had before him.
The French sentenced him to exile in [[Gabon]] (1895–1902) and later in [[Mauritania]] (1903–1907). However, these exiles fired stories 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{{weasel-inline}} 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]]. 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]], 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, Senegal|Touba]] 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. 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]] who wrote tracts on [[meditation]], rituals, work, and [[Qur'an]]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]].
==Venerated by Mourides==
Bamba's followers call him a "renewer" (''mujaddid'' in Arabic) of [[Islam]], citing a [[hadith]] that implies that God will send renewers of the faith every 100 years (the members of all the [[Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal|Senegalese brotherhoods]] claim that their founders were such renewers).
===Meeting with the Islamic Prophet===
Cheikh Abdoul Ahad Mbacke, the third [[Caliph]] and son of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba declared that Amadou Bamba had met the prohpet Muhammed, 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 Bamba in Touba to confer upon him the rank of ''mujaddid'' of his age, <ref name="Khadim">Hizbut (2006). Contrat de l’exil. Retrieved March 24,2006, from http://www.htcom.sn/spip/article.php3?id_article=55</ref> and to test his faith.<ref name="discours">Touba (2006). Sermon de Cheikh Abdoul Ahad Mbacke. Retrieved March 24, 2006, from http://www.touba-internet.com/mgl_discours_1979.htm</ref> From this, Bamba is said to also have been conferred the rank of "Servant of the Prophet."<ref name="reward">Hizbut (2006). Serviteur Privilegie. Retrieved March 24,2006, from http://www.htcom.sn/spip/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=29</ref>
===Salvation through work===
As Bamba gathered followers, he taught that salvation comes through submission to the marabout and hard work, a departure from conventional Islamic teaching. The Mouride order has built, following this teaching, a large economic organisation, involved in many aspects of the Senegalese economy. [[Groundnut]] 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 contribte 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 [[Senegal]].
===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. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1330324.stm BBC :pilgrimage to Touba], [http://www.toubamica.org MURID ISLAMIC COMMUNITY IN AMERICA]: Schedule of events.</ref> On one occasion during the pilgrimage, Mouride believers pray facing the Atlantic ocean, to commemorate Bamba's legendary prayer on the water.
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===Means and strategy of the colonial administration===
From the beginning of the 19th century, the policy imperialist of France ended with the defeat of all the resistances armed to [[Senegal]] and the installation with a policy of Christianization and assimilation of new colony to the cultural values of the metropolis. This will lead to a policy of distance or systematic elimination of the Moslem spiritual guides who dared to mark their distrust. Thus, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, whose only wrong was to have dared to persist openly in the sermon for his religion ([[Islam]]) was, 32 years during the object of all kinds of deprivations and tests. In exile during 7 years in Gabon, 5 years in Mauritania, placed during 15 years under house arrest with Diourbel in [[Senegal]], he did not cease, until his recall to ALLAH in 1927, to defend, by his teaching and his behavior, the message of Muhammed.<ref name="MARTYR">Touba (2004). La mission du Cheikh. Retrieved March 15, 2006 , from http://www.touba-internet.com/bmb_martyr.htm#allevents </ref>
===Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba facing colonial administration===
The phobia of the colonial administration at the place of any Islamic movement made the judgements given to the Private Council often constitute lawsuits of intention to the religious chiefs. Stopped to Diéwol, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba is transferred to the office of the Governor of the colonial administration in Saint-Louis (Senegal). Thursday September 5, 1895, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba is translated in front of the Private Council of Saint-Louis which must rule on his case.
Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba made a prayer of two [[rakkas]] in the office of the Governor before addressing the word to the Council to mean his firm intention to be subjected only to God. By this symbolic pray and this bold standpoint in the sanctuary of the deniers of Islam, Cheik Ahmadou Bamba came to impel a new form of nonviolent resistance to the aimings evangelists of the colonizer.<ref name="Bamba">Touba (2004). La mission du Cheikh. Retrieved March 15, 2006 , from http://www.touba-internet.com/bmb_martyr.htm#allevents </ref>
As a result, the Private Council decided deportation of the Holy Man "in a place where its fanatic preachings would not have any effect".<ref name="Bamba">Touba (2004). La mission du Cheikh. Retrieved March 15, 2006 , from http://www.touba-internet.com/bmb_martyr.htm#allevents </ref> They decided to exile the Holy Man in the equatorial forest of Gabon, where the he remained for seven years and nine months.
==Recognition by the Muslim community==
In all the stages which he crossed and everywhere where rebuilding of Islam led him, the work accomplished by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba took down positive appreciations unanimously. The universal dimension of this Servant of the Prophet, authenticates "Qutb"1 (pole of its time) was not long in appearing and one visited him from all the horizons, as it was the case of this Cherif of [[Médine]], [[Mawlay Ahmad Tibri]] which made print specimens of "Masaalik-ul Jinaan" (a treaty of [[Sufism]] of the Sheik) or of this descendant of [[Abu Bakr Siddiq]] (khalif of Islam) which came from Mecca visit to the Holy Man.<ref name="MARTYR"/>
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== References ==
<references />
* [http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL06394218.html Reuters report of Touba and the Mourides].
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/africa/4268342.stm Senegal's powerful brotherhoods] By Elizabeth Blunt BBC News, 22 September 2005.
*[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E2DB1231F931A35756C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Industrious Senegal Muslims Run a 'Vatican'], the [[New York Times]], NORIMITSU ONISHI, 2 May 2002.
*[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E0D71E3FF93BA15754C0A9659C8B63 In Harlem's Fabric, Bright Threads of Senegal], the [[New York Times]], SUSAN SACHS, 28 July 2003.
* [http://www.religionnewsblog.com/18329/mouride-brotherhood Sect follows different brand of Islamic law]. Reuters, [[May 22]], [[2007]].
* [http://www.touba-internet.com/bmb_martyr.htm Timeline of the events of Amadou Bamba's life] from touba-internet.com.
*Cheikh Anta Babou . Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913. Ohio University Press (2007) ISBN 9780821417669
*CHRISTIAN COULON. THE GRAND MAGAL IN TOUBA: A RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL OF THE MOURIDE BROTHERHOOD OF SENEGAL. African Affairs 98:195-210 (1999).
*John Glover. Sufism and Jihad in Modern Senegal: The Murid Order (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora). University of Rochester Press (2007) ISBN 9781580462686
*Mayke Kaag. Mouride Transnational Livelihoods at the Margins of a European Society: The Case of Residence Prealpino, Brescia, Italy. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 34, Issue 2 March 2008 , pages 271 - 285.
* [http://www.afrology.com/soc/mourid.html ''Le Mouridisme'' by Pape N'Diaye, on afrology.com]
* David Robinson: French 'Islamic' Policy and Practice in Late Nineteenth-Century Senegal in The Journal of African History, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1988), pp. 415-435.
=== External links ===
*[http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/paradise/tour.htm 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.
* [http://www.mouride.com/ Mouride.com]
* [http://www.daaramouride.asso.ulaval.ca/ daaramouride.asso.ulaval.ca]
* [http://www.majalis.org/ Majalis.org]
* [http://www.cheikhahmadoubamba-nonviolence.com/ La Non Violence de Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba]
* [http://www.murid.net/ International Sufi School Khidmatul Khadim]
* [http://www.intlpeace.org/lit-bamba.htm Article on Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba as Peacemaker]
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/ismael.essop/ Official Home Page of the Muridiyya Khidmatul Khadim School]
* [http://www.au-senegal.com/art_en/religion.htm A modest tribute from Tidjani Négadi (Oran University, Algeria)]
== See also ==
* [[Mouride]]
* [[Touba, Senegal]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bamba, Amadou}}
[[Category:Senegalese religious leaders]]
[[Category:Religion in The Gambia]]
[[Category:French West Africa]]
[[Category:1850 births]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:Islam in Senegal]]
[[Category:Senegalese Sufis]]
[[Category:Sufi orders]]
[[Category:Islamic mysticism]]
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