Freedom-Fighter and Saint of Senegal: Cheikh Aḥmadou Bamba Mbacke

Cheikh Aḥmadou Bamba Mbacke, or ‘Amadou Bamba’ was born in 1270 AH (1853) into a family of Qa’dirī scholars from the line of Shaykh ‘Abdu’l-Qādir al-Jīlānī. He was the child of a Sayyid father and a Sayyid mother. Senegal, at the time, was under French colonial rule governing smaller kingdoms throughout the country. His father was the most well respected Qā’dī in his kingdom, erecting several Islamic schools and his mother was known for her effortless service to the community as well. As a child, he preferred imitating his father in his devotional acts while having no desire to play with other children. He spent the entirety of his youth in worship, studying the various Islamic sciences and teaching others. With his father’s passing in 1882 and the end of the armed resistance against the French, Amadou Bamba founded the Mourīdiyya brotherhood/order focusing on the Qurʾān, Sunnah, and tenets of Ṣūfīsm; a calling of society back to traditional Islam. This movement would slowly become the most effective weapon in battling the devastating social effects of imperialism. <a href="https://medium.com/ummah-wide/freedom-fighter-and-saint-of-senegal-cheikh-a%E1%B8%A5madou-bamba-mbacke-3bfdacc7986f">Visit Now</a>