Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustration
- Acknowledgement
- Note on Transliteration
- Introduction
- 1 Sociopolitical Change, Islamic Reform, and Sufism in West Africa
- 2 Conflict and Colonization: a New Generation of Sufi Reformers
- 3 The Construction of the Murid Synthesis: Perceptions of Amadu Bamba and Maam Cerno
- 4 Translating the Murid Mission: the Founding of Darou Mousty
- 5 Symbiosis: Colonization and Murid Modernity
- 6 Murid Taalibe: Historical Narratives and Identity
- Conclusion: Murid Historical Identity
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora
2 - Conflict and Colonization: a New Generation of Sufi Reformers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustration
- Acknowledgement
- Note on Transliteration
- Introduction
- 1 Sociopolitical Change, Islamic Reform, and Sufism in West Africa
- 2 Conflict and Colonization: a New Generation of Sufi Reformers
- 3 The Construction of the Murid Synthesis: Perceptions of Amadu Bamba and Maam Cerno
- 4 Translating the Murid Mission: the Founding of Darou Mousty
- 5 Symbiosis: Colonization and Murid Modernity
- 6 Murid Taalibe: Historical Narratives and Identity
- Conclusion: Murid Historical Identity
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora
Summary
Introduction
Previously, that is to say, before the coming of Sëriñ Touba [Amadu Bamba], there was only anarchy because each village had its little king, and they did what they wanted and only force counted, but it was at the appearance of the Shaykh [Amadu Bamba] that a lot of things changed. This is because the Shaykh put the people on the right path that leads to Allah by establishing the jihad, that is to say, to master this earthly world and to think of the other because the other world is eternal. Thus, one can say that the change came from the jihad that the marabout imposed on the people. The jihad that he had established was the jihad of the soul; to conform one self to the recommendations of Allah and to leave all that is forbidden.
This statement was made by a Murid historian and archivist, living in Darou Mousty, in reply to the question of how Amadu Bamba and the advent of the Muridiyya had affected the history of the region. It is actually a commonly held view among Murids and is not confined solely to Murid intellectuals. Two of the most important aspects of this historical interpretation are the allusions to a state of political anarchy prior to the emergence of the Muridiyya and the belief that jihad is truly a “holy war of the soul” or an internal struggle within oneself rather than an overt military action.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Sufism and Jihad in Modern SenegalThe Murid Order, pp. 54 - 81Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007