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The 'Mouride brotherhood' ('Muride brotherhood' in Wolof, 'الطريقة المريدية, Aṭ-Ṭarīqat al-Murīdiyya' or simply 'مريدية, Murīdiyya' in Arabic) is a large Islamic Sufi order (''ṭarīqa'') most prominent in Senegal and The Gambia, with headquarters in the holy city of Touba, Senegal (''Tuubaa'' in Wolof, ''طوبى, Ṭūbā'' in Arabic). Mourides sometimes call their order the 'Way of Imitation of the Prophet'. The followers are called 'mourides' ('murid' in Wolof), from the Arabic word ''murīd'' (literally "one who desires"), a term used generally in Sufism to designate a disciple of a spiritual guide (''murshid''). The beliefs and practices of the Mourides constitute 'Mouridism'.

Contents

Amadou Bamba

Colonial Rule

Succession

Baye Fall

Beliefs and practices

Modern Following

References

See also

External links

Amadou Bamba

Main articles: Amadou Bamba

The Mouride brotherhood was founded in 1883 by Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke (1850-1927) (Aḥmad ibn Muhammad ibn Habīb Allāh, also called ''Khadīmu r-Rasūl'' or "Servant of the Prophet" in Arabic and ''Sëriñ Tuubaa'' or "Holy Man of Touba" in Wolof). He was born in the village of Mbacké (''Mbàkke Bawol'' in Wolof) in the Kingdom of Baol, the son of a marabout from the Xaadir (Qadiriyya) brotherhood (the oldest in Senegal).
Amadou Bamba was a Muslim mystic and ascetic marabout who wrote tracts on meditation, rituals, work, and Qur'anic 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 conquest, 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 "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 Islamic teaching.
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.

Colonial Rule

The French colonial rule worried about Bamba's growing power and potential to wage war against them. He 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 wild legends about 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 broke 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.
By 1910, the French realized that Bamba was not waging war against them, and was in fact quite cooperative. His doctrine of hard work served French economic interests. After World war I he was admitted in the French Légion d'honneur for his help in recruiting soldiers for the war. His movement was allowed to grow, and in 1926 he began work for the great mosque at Touba where he is buried.

Succession

After his death in 1927 Amadou Bamba has been succeeded by his descendants as 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 now 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), current caliph since 1990.

Baye Fall

One famous disciple of Bamba, Ibra Fall, was known for his dedication to God, but Qu'ranic studies proved difficult for him. Amadou Bamba finally decided he 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 prayer and fasting.
Sheikh Ibrahima Fall was one of the first of Amadou Bamba’s disciples and one of the most illustrious^[1]. 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”).^[2] 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)^[3]. In addition, Ibrahima Fall earned the title of ''Babul Mouridina'', "the entrance in Mouridism".
The members of the Baye Fall dress in colorful ragged cloths, 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. In modern times the hard labor is often replaced by members roaming the streets asking for financial donations for their marabout. They are very noticeable, and somewhat pushy, features of Senegalese society. A prominent member of the Baye Fall is the Senegalese Musician Cheikh Lo.

Beliefs and practices

Amadou Bamba is considered a "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 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.
Although the Grand Marabout is a direct descendant of Amadou Bamba himself, there is also a descending hierarchy of marabouts, each with a regional following. Parents sometimes send their sons to live with the marabout rather than giving them a conventional education. These boys receive Islamic training and are instilled with the doctrine of hard work.^[4]
Some Muslims consider the Mourides' extreme adulation of Amadou Bamba, and his lineage of successors, to be blasphemous, since the latter gets more attention than the Prophet Muhammad, and Touba is ranked over Mecca.

Modern Following

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 entire sections of the nation's economy, for example the transportation sector and the peanut plantations. Ordinary followers donate part of their income to the Mouridiya.
The brotherhood can also profit from a sizeable representation in certain large cities in Europe and the United States. Most of these cities with a large Senegalese 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, the Mouride followers are mostly small street merchants. They send large sums of money back to the brotherhood leaders in Touba.
The Mouride brotherhood has attempted, with considerable success over the years, to dominate politics in Senegal. Recent prominent Mourides include Abdoulaye Wade who is the current president of Senegal. Wade is a devout Mouride (while his defeated opponent Abdou Diouf belongs to the Tijaniyya movement). The day after his election, Wade travelled to Touba to seek the blessing of the Grand Marabout, Serigne Saliou Mbacke.
In 2004 Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour released his album ''Egypt'', which documents his Mouride beliefs and retells the story of Amadou Bamba and the Mouridiya.

References

1. Savishinsky, J. N. (1994) The Bayed Fall of Senegambia: Muslim Rastas in the Promised Land? Africa: Journal International African Institute, 64, 211-219
2. 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
3. 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
4. www.worldtrek.org


★ Coulon, Christian (1981) ''Le Marabout et le Prince: Islam et Pouvoir au Senegal'' A. Pedone, Paris, ISBN 2-233-00100-1

★ 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

See also

★ Touba, Senegal

★ Amadou Bamba

★ Ibra Fall

★ Murid

★ Marabout

External links

★ 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)