Mouride
100293
224120775
2008-07-07T12:07:35Z
90.130.1.72
/* French colonial rule */
{{Islam}}
The '''Mouride brotherhood''' ('''Muride brotherhood''' in Wolof, '''الطريقة المريدية, Aṭ-Ṭarīqat al-Murīdiyya''' or simply '''مريدية, Murīdiyya''' in Arabic) is a large [[Islam]]ic [[Sufi]] order most prominent in [[Senegal]] and [[The Gambia]], with headquarters in the holy city of [[Touba, Senegal]]. The followers are called '''Mourides''', from the Arabic word ''murīd'' (literally "one who desires"), a term used generally in Sufism to designate a disciple of a spiritual guide. The beliefs and practices of the Mourides constitute '''Mouridism'''.
==History==
[[Image:AhmaduBamba.jpg|left|thumb|225px|[[Amadou Bamba]].]]
===Amadou Bamba===
The Mouride brotherhood was founded in [[1883]] in [[Senegal]] by ''Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke'', commonly known as '''[[Amadou Bamba]]''' (1850-1927). In [[Arabic language|Arabic]] he is known as ''Aḥmad ibn Muhammad ibn Habīb Allāh'', or ''Khadīmu r-Rasūl'', "Servant of the Prophet". In the [[Wolof language]] he is called ''Sëriñ Tuubaa'', "Holy Man of Touba". He was born in the village of [[Mbacké]] in the [[Kingdom of Baol]], the son of a marabout from the [[Qadiriyya]] [[Tariqa|brotherhood]], the oldest of the [[Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal|muslim brotherhoods]] in Senegal.
Amadou Bamba was a [[Muslim]] [[mysticism|mystic]] and [[ascetic]] [[marabout]], a spiritual leader who wrote tracts on [[meditation]], [[rituals]], work, and [[Qur'an]]ic [[Tafsir|study]]. He is perhaps best known for his emphasis on work, and his disciples are known for their industriousness. Although he did not support the [[French West Africa|French conquest]] of [[West Africa]] he did not wage outright war on them, as several prominent [[Tijaan]] marabouts had done. He taught, instead, what he called the ''jihād al-'akbar'' or "greater struggle," which fought not through weapons but through learning and fear of [[God]].
Bamba's followers call him a "[[Mujaddid|renewer]]" (''mujaddid'' in Arabic) of [[Islam]]. Bamba's fame spread through his followers, and people joined him to receive the [[salvation]] that he promised. Salvation, he said, comes through submission to the marabout and hard work, a departure from conventional [[Islam]]ic teaching.
There is only one surviving photograph of Amadou Bamba, 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 modern-day [[Senegal]].
===French colonial rule===
[[Image:French West Africa 1913 map.png|thumb|left|225px|[[French West Africa]] around [[1913]] CE.]]
At the time of the foundation of the Mouride brotherhood in [[1883]] the [[France|French]] were in control of Senegal and most of [[West Africa|West]] and [[North Africa]], as their [[French colonial empires|empire]] continued to expand. Though it had shared in the horrors of the [[History of West Africa#Jihad and colonization|pre-colonial slave trade]], [[French West Africa]] was managed relatively better than other [[Scramble for Africa|African regions]] of the [[Colonialism|colonial era]], enjoying small measures of self-rule in many areas. However, French rule still discouraged the development of local industry, preferring to force the exchange of raw materials for [[Europe]]an finished goods, and a large number of taxation measures were instituted.
At the end of the [[19th Century]] the French colonial rule began to worry about the growing power of the Mouride brotherhood and their potential to wage war against them. Bamba had converted various kings and their followers and probably could have raised an army if he had wanted. The French sentenced him to exile in [[Gabon]] ([[1895]]-[[1902]]) and later in [[Mauritania]] ([[1903]]-[[1907]]). However, these exiles fired legends about Bamba's miraculous survival of torture, deprivation, and attempted executions, and thousands more flocked to his organization. For example, 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 miraculously appeared on the surface of the water. 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.
By [[1910]], the French realized that Bamba was not waging war against them, and was in fact quite cooperative. The Mouride doctrine of hard work served French economic interests. After [[World War I]] Amadou Bamba was awarded the prestigious French [[Légion d'honneur]] for his help in recruiting soldiers from West Africa for the war. The Mouride brotherhood was allowed to grow and in [[1926]] Bamba began work for the great mosque at [[Touba, Senegal|Touba]] where he would be buried one year later.
==Mouride brotherhood==
[[Image:Touba moschee.jpg|thumb|right|225px|The Great Mosque of [[Touba, Senegal]].]]
[[Image:Touba (senegal) 2006.JPG|thumb|right|225px|Interior of the [[Touba%2C_Senegal#Great_Mosque|Great Mosque]].]]
===Leadership===
[[Amadou Bamba]] was buried in [[1927]] at the great mosque in '''[[Touba, Senegal|Touba]]''', the holy city of Mouridism and the heart of the Mouride movement. After his death Bamba has been succeeded by his descendants as [[Caliphate|hereditary leaders]] of the brotherhood with absolute authority over the followers. The leader ([[caliph]]) of the Mouride brotherhood is known as the ''Grand Marabout'' and has his seat in Touba. The caliphs up to [[Serigne Saliou Mbacke|Saliou]] have all been sons of Bamba, starting with his oldest son:
*Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké ([[1927]])
*Serigne Mouhamadou Fallilou Mbacké ([[1945]])
*Serigne Abdoul Ahad Mbacké, ([[1968]])
*Serigne Abdou Khadre Mbacké, ([[1989]])
*[[Serigne Saliou Mbacke]] (born in [[1918]]), caliph from 1990 until his death on 28 December 2007
*[[Serigne Mouhamadou Lamine Bara Mbacke]], current caliph and first grandson of the Ahmadou Bamba to become caliph
The ''Grand Marabout'' is a direct descendant of Amadou Bamba himself and is considered the spiritual leader of all Mourides. There is a descending hierarchy of lower-rank [[marabouts]], each with a regional following.
===Mouride beliefs===
{{Sectstub|date=May 2008}}
Amadou Bamba is considered a "[[Mujaddid|renewer]]" (''mujaddid'' in Arabic) of [[Islam]] by his followers, 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. The Mouride beliefs are based on [[Qur'anic]] and [[Sufi]] traditions and influenced by the [[Qadiriyya]] and [[Tijaan]] brotherhoods, as well as the [[Islamic]] scholar [[Al-Ghazali]].
Mourides sometimes call their order the "Way of Imitation of the Prophet". Parents sometimes send their sons to live with the marabout as ''[[Talibes]]'' rather than giving them a conventional education. These boys receive [[Islamic]] training and are instilled with the doctrine of hard work.<ref>[http://www.worldtrek.org/odyssey/africa/092999/092999kavibamba.html www.worldtrek.org]</ref>
Some [[Muslims]] consider the Mourides' extreme adulation of Amadou Bamba, and his lineage of successors, to be blasphemous, claiming the latter gets more attention than the Prophet [[Muhammad]], and that [[Touba, Senegal|Touba]] is ranked over [[Mecca]].<ref>[http://www.africanmag.com/viewer/magazines/article.asd/id/504/vts/design001 Mourides Celebrate 19 Years in North America By Ayesha Attah]. The African Magazine. (n.d.) Retrieved 2007-11-13. </ref>
==Modern following==
[[Image:Mouride Mural DSCN1065.jpg|thumb|left|225px|Mural on a wall in [[Dakar]], [[Senegal]], showing [[Amadou Bamba]], [[Ibra Fall]] and [[Malick Sy]].]]
[[Image:Ibrahimafall.jpg|left|thumb|225px|[[Ibra Fall]].]]
===Senegal===
Because of their emphasis on work the Mouride brotherhood is economically well-established in parts of Africa, especially in '''[[Senegal]]''' and [[The Gambia]]. In Senegal the brotherhood controls significant sections of the nation's [[economy]], for example the [[Transportation|transportation sector]] and the [[Peanut|peanut plantations]]. Ordinary followers donate part of their income to the Mouridiya.
The Mouride brotherhood has been courted by Senegalese politicians over the years. Recent prominent Mourides include [[Abdoulaye Wade]] who is the current president of Senegal and a devout Mouride. The day after his election in [[2000]] Wade travelled to Touba to seek the blessing of the ''Grand Marabout'', [[Serigne Saliou Mbacke]].
{{further|[[Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal]] and [[Islam in Senegal]]}}
===Influence outside Senegal===
The brotherhood has a sizeable representation in certain large cities in [[Europe]] and the [[United States]]. Most of these cities with a large [[Senegalese]] [[Immigration|immigrant]] population have a ''Keur Serigne Touba'' (Residence of the Master of Touba), a seat for the community which accommodates meetings and prayers while also being used as a provisional residence for newcomers. In [[Paris]] and [[New York City]], a large number of the Mouride followers are small street merchants. They send large sums of money back to the brotherhood leaders in Touba.
In [[2004]] Senegalese musician [[Youssou N'Dour]] released his [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album|Grammy Award]] winning album ''[[Egypt (album)|Egypt]]'', which documents his Mouride beliefs and retells the story of Amadou Bamba and the Mouridiya.
===Baye Fall===
One famous disciple of Bamba, '''[[Ibra Fall]]''', was known for his dedication to [[Allah|God]], and considered work as a form of adoration. Amadou Bamba finally decided that Ibra Fall should show his dedication to God purely through manual labor. Ibra Fall founded a sub-group of the Mouride brotherhood called the [[Baye Fall]] (''Baay Faal'' in [[Wolof]]), many of whom substitute hard labor and dedication to their [[marabout]] for the usual [[Muslim]] pieties like [[Salat|prayer]] and [[Sawm|fasting]].
Sheikh Ibrahima Fall was one of the first of Amadou Bamba’s disciples and one of the most illustrious<ref name="Savishinsky">Savishinsky, J. N. (1994) The Baye Fall of Senegambia: Muslim Rastas in the Promised Land? Africa: Journal International African Institute, 64, 211-219</ref>. He catalysed the Mouride movement and led all the labour work in the Mouride brotherhood. Fall reshaped the relation between Mouride ''[[Talibes]]'' (Mouride disciples) and their guide, Amadou Bamba. Fall instituted the culture of work among Mourides with his concept of ''Dieuf Dieul'', (“you reap what you sow”).<ref name="Origines">Les origines de Cheikh Ibra Fall (2000, December). Touba’, Bimestriel Islamique d’Informations Générales. Retrieved May 25, 2007 from
http://www.metissacana.sn/sites/touba/fall.html</ref> Ibra Fall helped Sheikh Amadou Bamba to expand Mouridism, in particular with Fall’s establishment of the Baye Fall movement. For this contribution, Serigne Fallou, the 2nd [[Caliph]] after Amadou Bamba, named him “Lamp Fall" (the light of Mouridism)<ref name="Fallou">Ngom, F.(2002) Linguistic Resistance in the Murid speech community. Retrieved June 14, 2007 from http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/023/0214/jmmd0230214.pdf</ref>. In addition, Ibrahima Fall earned the title of ''Babul Mouridina'', "the entrance in Mouridism."
The members of the Baye Fall dress in colorful ragged clothes, wear their hair in [[dreadlocks]] which are called ''ndiange'' or 'strong hair' , carry clubs, and act as security guards in the annual ''[[Grand Magal]]'' pilgrimages to Touba. Baye Fall are unusual in that some of them freely drink [[alcohol]] and smoke [[cannabis]], things forbidden by orthodox [[Islam]] and in the city of Touba as well. In modern times the hard labor is often replaced by members roaming the streets asking for financial donations for their [[marabout]]. Several Baye Fall are talented musicians. A prominent member of the Baye Fall is the Senegalese Musician [[Cheikh Lo]].
==References==
===Notes===
<references />
===Sources===
*Coulon, Christian (1981) ''Le Marabout et le Prince: Islam et Pouvoir au Senegal'' A. Pedone, Paris, ISBN 2-233-00100-1
*Coulon, Christian. ''The Grand Magal in Touba: A Religious Festival of the Mouride Brotherhood of Senegal'', in African Affairs, Vol. 98, No. 391 (Apr., 1999), pp. 195-210.
*Villalón, Leonardo Alfonso (1995) ''Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal: Disciples and Citizens in Fatick'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, ISBN 0-521-46007-7
*[http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/Diourbel/Touba/blog-218738.html Ukrainian Immigrants in Touba]. travelblog.org, November 10th 2007, retrieved 2007-11-13.
*[http://www.africaresource.com/war/issue8/thiam.html Thiam, Cheikh (2005) ''MOURIDISM: A LOCAL RE-INVENTION OF THE MODERN SENEGALESE SOCIO-ECONOMIC ORDER''] in West Africa Review, Issue 8 (2005), ISSN: 1525-4488.
*[http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSL1233998720070312?pageNumber=2&sp=true Mecca too far? Senegalese Muslims head for Touba By Daniel Flynn, Reuters.] Mon Mar 12, 2007.
*[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E2DB1231F931A35756C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 Industrious Senegal Muslims Run a 'Vatican' By NORIMITSU ONISHI,] [[New York Times]] Published: May 2, 2002, retrieved 2007-11-13.
*[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,1219491,00.html A song and a prayer. by Mark Hudson] Interview and portrait of [[Youssou N'Dour]], [[The Observer]]. Sunday May 23, 2004. <br />On Touba: ''"And to the orthodox fundamentalist it's utter heresy. Bringing [[bin Laden]] here would be like taking [[Ian Paisley]] to the Mexican [[Day of the Dead]]."''
*[http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1702/Millman/Millman.html Profiting from One's Prayers, by Joel Millman], [[Forbes Magazine]], 1996.
*[http://www.islamfortoday.com/senegal1.htm Inside the Holy City of Touba, by Kabiru A. Yusuf.] The Weekly Trust (Kaduna, Nigeria), May 8, 2000.
*''This article incorporates information from the [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confr%C3%A9rie_des_Mourides French] and [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muridiyya German] wikipedia articles on this subject.''
===External links===
*[http://www.intlpeace.org/lit-bamba.htm Article on Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba as Peacemaker]
*[http://www.au-senegal.com/art_en/religion.htm A modest tribute from Tidjani Négadi (Oran University, Algeria)]
==See also==
{{portal|Africa}}
{{portal|Sufism}}
* [[Touba, Senegal]]
* [[Amadou Bamba]]
* [[Ibra Fall]]
* [[Murid]]
* [[Marabout]]
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{{Africa in topic|Islam in}}
{{Sufism}}
[[Category:Islam in Senegal]]
[[Category:Religion in The Gambia]]
[[Category:French West Africa]]
[[Category:Sufi orders]]
[[Category:Islamic mysticism]]
[[de:Muridiyya]]
[[fr:Confrérie des Mourides]]
[[ru:Мюридизм]]