Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853–1913 (review)

Cheikh Anta Babou sets himself a formidable task, as he states on page ix: 'This book concerns the genesis and development of the Muridiyya of Senegal, and especially the role of education in its founding.' The author achieves his goal and has provided both students and scholars with a remarkable evaluation of the origins and early development of the ideas of Amadu Bamba and the institutions of the Muridiyya tariqa. What sets his project apart from the many previous studies of the tariqa is, first, the extensive use of sources generated from within the order, which include documents written in Arabic, French and Wolofal, oral testimonies, biographical materials and his own extensive interviews with Murid members. He has combined these with the more conventional archival documents, memoirs and the large body of secondary sources to produce a fresh analysis of the early history of the Muridiyya. His treatment of all of these sources is careful, and he discusses clearly the ambiguities and inconsistencies among them. Second, his study offers a new approach by analysing in rather intimate detail the domestic contexts of the formation of the doctrines, rituals and structures of the order. The reader begins to feel a part of the story as Cheikh Babou presents a lively and personalized picture of how the Muridiyya evolved during a time of great tension and conflict.

A particularly important aspect of the study is Cheikh Babou's analysis of Amadu Bamba's evolving relations with the French administration and the impact these had on the successful consolidation of the Muridiyya as a vibrant tariqa. In chapters 5, 6 and 7 he carefully traces the inconsistent and inadequately informed French policy towards Islam in general and the Muridiyya in particular. Part of the problem, as Cheikh Babou clearly relates, is that French policy makers often relied heavily on reports by Wolof chiefs who were convinced Amadu Bamba or other charismatic Muslims would gain the support of local populations, and by French administrators who, fearing any type of Islamic uprising, falsified or exaggerated Murid doctrines. Even after Amadu Bamba's periods of exile, when French policy became less hostile to Islam he was still under suspicion as a potential revolutionary. Amadu Bamba, on the other hand, held a remarkably consistent point of view towards the French, which may be summarized by his statement to the governor in 1903: 'Take a positive view of my actions and understand that I want nothing in this world but peace and tranquillity to better follow The Prophet's teachings . . . ' (p. 146) and by his opinion in 1910 that there was no justification for military jihad against the French. Cheikh Babou demonstrates that Amadu Bamba's purpose was to achieve the goal of a coherent community which was based on orthodox knowledge, spiritual instruction and economic self-sufficiency. Amadu Bamba considered the tensions and tribulations under French and chiefly administration as part of the process towards the greater jihad: personal enlightenment and attainment of the position of waliyu Allah.

Possibly the most interesting section of the book is Cheikh Babou's discussion of sacred space (pp. 162–72) as Amadu Bamba and his principal disciples try to create a lasting foundation for the Muridiyya through the formation of daar al-Murid within daar al-kufr. This brings to mind the effort of some Muslim scholars to redefine the concept of Dar al-Islam in the twenty-first century. Cheikh Babou provides many examples of the formation and renaming of villages and their adjoining land as sacred territory, and the movement's insistence that within that space pure Islam is capable of being practised. In these spaces the disciples lived, learned, worshipped and worked together in an environment protected from the profane world of French colonial rule and non-Islamic African culture...