Fighting the Greater Jihad

Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853–1913

Cheikh Anta Babou

• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Year: 2007
• eBook ISBN: 9780821442579
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

In Senegal, the Muridiyya, a large Islamic Sufi order, is the single most influential religious organization, including among its numbers the nation's president. Yet little is known of this sect in the West. Drawn from a wide variety of archival, oral, and iconographic sources in Arabic, French, and Wolof, Fighting the Greater Jihad offers an astute analysis of the founding and development of the order and a biographical study of its founder, Cheikh Ahmadu Bamba Mbakke.
Cheikh Anta Babou explores the forging of Murid identity and pedagogy around the person and initiative of Amadu Bamba as well as the continuing reconstruction of this identity by more recent followers. He makes a compelling case for reexamining the history of Muslim institutions in Africa and elsewhere in order to appreciate believers' motivation and initiatives, especially religious culture and education, beyond the narrow confines of political collaboration and resistance. Fighting the Greater Jihad also reveals how religious power is built at the intersection of genealogy, knowledge, and spiritual force, and how this power in turn affected colonial policy.
Fighting the Greater Jihad will dramatically alter the perspective from which anthropologists, historians, and political scientists study Muslim mystical orders.

Table of contents

• Illustrations
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Note on Orthography
• Introduction
• 1 Islam, Society, and Power in the Wolof States
• 2 The Mbakke
• 3 The Emergence of Amadu Bamba, 1853–95
• 4 The Founding of the Muridiyya
• 5 Murid Conflict with the French Colonial Administration, 1889–1902
• 6 Slow Path toward Accommodation I
• 7 Slow Path toward Accommodation II
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Ijaaza Delivered to Momar A. Sali by Samba Tukuloor Ka
• Appendix 2: Sharifian Genealogy of Amadu Bamba from His Mother’s Side
• Appendix 3: Amadu Bamba’s Sons and Daughters and Their Mothers
• Appendix 4: List of the Transmitters of the Qadiriyya wird Whom Amadu Praises in His Poem “Silsilat ul Qadiriyya”
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index