Maba Diakhou Bâ

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Mamadu Diakhou Bâ (1809 – July 1867) was a Muslim leader in Senegambia (West Africa) during the 19th century. He was a disciple of the Tijaniyya Sufi brotherhood and became the Almami of Saloum.

Maba Diakhou Bâ combined political and religious goals in an attempt to reform or overthrow previous animist monarchies, and resist French encroachment. He is a part of a tradition of Fulani jihad leaders who revolutionized many West African states during the 19th century.

In the 19th century, he became a prominent Muslim cleric and

slave trader and pillager of non-Muslim states.[1]

Spelling variations

  • In Serer: Ma Ba Jaxu[2] and Ama Ba Jaxu (or Amat Jaxu Ba)[3]
  • Maba Jaxu
  • Maba Jahou Bah
  • Ma Ba Diakhu
  • Ma Ba Diakho Ba
  • Mabba Jaxu Ba

Early life

A descendant of the

El Hadj Umar Tall, who named him the Tijani leader for the region.[5] He returned to Rip around 1850, and spent ten years teaching and preaching in the village of Keur Maba Diakhou near Kaolack.[4]

During this time, French forces under governor Faidherbe had carried out a scorched-earth policy against resistance to their expansion in Senegambia, with villages razed and populations removed after each victory.

Beginnings of Jihad

The king of Badibou (Rip) in the 1850s was entitled

Saloum and part of Niumi.[7] He founded the city of Nioro as his capital, named after El Hadj Umar's capital.[8]

Expansion and War

In 1862, the former Damel of Cayor Macodou Coumba Fall took refuge with Maba. Twice their combined forces defeated Fall's son Samba Laobe, the Maad Saloum, but on October 2nd they failed to take the French fortifications at Kaolack, where Laobe had taken refuge. Still, Maba now controlled most of Saloum, and enforced his interpretation of Islam throughout the country, burning and enslaving villages that resisted. In 1863 a group of animist Mandinka chiefs of Rip, assisted by Kiang and Wuli, counter-attacked and defeated the marabout forces at Kwinella.[5]

In May 1864,

Lat Dior, Damel of Cayor, was overthrown by a French-supported rival. Maba Diakhou Bâ offered him asylum, and converted Dior and his soldiers from the traditional Tièddo syncretic beliefs to rigorous Islam. While his conversion may have been for reasons more political than spiritual, Lat Dior became a powerful ally. With his support, Maba's movement became more than a civil war in Saloum and grew to impact the entire region.[7] Maba would also convert Alboury Ndiaye, the Buur of the Kingdom of Jolof, to Islam. This marked a decisive turning point in the history of Islam among the Wolof.[9]

Maba's forces now numbered up to 11,000 fighting men. In October 1864 the French recognized him as

Almamy of Baddibu and Saloum.[9] In the spring of 1865 Lat Dior led an army to conquer the Kingdom of Jolof, alarming the French.[10] The marabout forces repeatedly defeated the Jolof-Jolof, and entered the capital of Warkhokh in July. Maba attempted to build alliances with the neighboring Emirate of Trarza and the Imamate of Futa Toro, threatening to unify Senegambia against the French, but a rebellion in Rip forced him to leave Jolof in October after burning several animist villages and enslaving the inhabitants.[5]

An alarmed French governor Émile Pinet-Laprade marched on Saloum at the head of 1,600 regulars, 2,000 cavalry, and 4,000 volunteers and footsoldiers. At the Battle of Pathé Badiane outside of Nioro on November 30th, however, the marabout forces led by Lat Dior drove the French back towards Kaolack.[11]

Islamization and reform

As well as converting traditional states and their populations to

El Hadj Umar Tall in Mali rose at about the same time had much the same goals, and Umar Tall himself was in contact with and recruited among Maba Diakhou Bâ's forces.[12]

Slave trading activities

Maba was a prominent Muslim cleric and slave trader that ravaged non-Muslim states.[1] Historian, Professor Klein notes that, "When a British Emissary told him famine would result from his ravaging, he replied "God is our father, and has brought this war. We are in his hands."[1]

Death and legacy

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See also
Main article: Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune

In 1866, Maba Diakhou Bâ invaded the

Kumba Ndoffene Diouf. With a surprise attack he captured and burned the capital of Diakhao. On April 20th 1867 he defeated and killed the French captain Le Creurer at Thiofack.[5] On July 18th, The Rip forces faced the Serer armies at the Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune. A rainstorm rendered the Muslim guns useless, Maba's troops were routed and he himself was killed.[11]

With the continued resistance of

Sine resistance was likely as much nationalist as religious, with Muslims and animists fighting on both sides of these struggles.[13]

Maba Diakhou Bâ is an important link in the tradition of Senegalese marabouts who trace their lineage to

Umar Tall. This tradition has continued to the present, with such notables as El Hadj Saidou Nourou Tall (the former grand marabout of French West Africa) the Tivaouane-based Sy family of El Hadj Malik Sy (1855–1922), and the Niass family of Abdoulaye Niasse [fr] (1840–1922) and his son Ibrahim in Kaolack. Tivaouane in the north among the Wolof and Kaolack among the Serer have become the two centers of Tijaniyyah Sufi teaching in Senegal, and both were founded as a direct result of Maba Diakhou Bâ's short-lived state.[13]
: 67–68 

He was interred in the village of

Fatick in Sine-Saloum
, Sénégal.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-85224-029-5
  2. ISBN 2-7236-1414-X
    )
  3. ^ Diouf, Babacar Sedikh, "O maad a sinig : Kumba Ndoofeen fa Maak JUUF (Buka-Cilaas), 1853-1871." PAPF (1987), p. 26, 33
  4. ^ a b Charles 1977, pp. 53.
  5. ^ a b c d Institut Fondamental de l'Afrique Noire. Musée Historique de Gorée Exhibit (August 2024).
  6. ^ Galloway, Winifred (1975). A History of Wuli from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century (History PhD). University of Indiana. p. 297-8.
  7. ^ a b Charles 1977, pp. 54.
  8. ^ Monteil 1963, p. 98.
  9. ^ a b c Isichei, Elizabeth (1977). History of West Africa since 1800. New York: Africana Publishing Company. p. 51. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  10. ^ Charles 1977, pp. 58.
  11. ^ a b Barry 1998, pp. 199.
  12. ISBN 0-521-53451-8
    p.78
  13. ^
    ISBN 0-521-46007-7
    . pp. 61–63.

Bibliography

Further reading
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