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Amadou Bamba (1850-1927) (Ahmed Ben Mohammed Ben Abib Allah, also called Khadimou Rassoul), muslim religious leader in Senegal, founder of the large Mouride Brotherhood. See Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal.
He was born in the village of Mbacké in the Kingdom of Baol, the son of a marabout from the Xaadir (Qadriyya) brotherhood (the oldest in Senegal). Amadou Bamba was a mystic and ascetic marabout who wrote tracts on meditation, rituals and Koranic study, and made good-luck amulets for his followers. Although he did not support the French conquest, he did not wage outright war on them as several prominent Tijaan marabouts had done.
Bamba's followers call him a "messenger" of Allah, citing a passage in the Koran that implies that He will send messengers every 100 years. Bamba's fame spread through his followers, and people joined him to receive the salvation that he promised. Salvation, he said, comes through submission to the marabout and hard work, a departure from conventional Islamic teaching.
The French colonial rulers worried about Bamba's growing power and potential to wage war against them. He had converted various kings and their followers and probably could have raised an army if he had wanted. The French sentenced him to exile in Gabon (1895-1902) and later in Mauritania (1903-1907). However, these exiles fired wild legends about Bamba's miraculous survival of torture, deprivation, and attempted executions, and thousands more flocked to his organization. On the ship to Gabon, forbidden from praying, Bamba supposedly broke his leg-irons, leapt overboard into the ocean and prayed on a prayer rug that appeared on the surface of the water, so devout was he. Or, when the French put him in a furnace, he simply sat down in it and drank tea with Muhammad. In a den of hungry lions, the lions slept beside him, etc.
By 1910, the French realized that Bamba was not waging war against them, and was in fact quite cooperative. His doctrine of hard work served French interests. He won the Legion of Honor for help with World War I recruitment. His movement grew, and in 1926 he began work for the great mosque at Touba where he is buried. After his death, he has been succeeded by his descendants as hereditary leaders of the Mouride brotherhood with absolute authority over the followers.
Some Mourides venerate Amadou Bamba as being a more important prophet than Muhammad, and numerous songs are sung in his memory.
Only one authentic photograph of Bamba is known. He is shown wearing a marabout's headcloth, robes, and a scarf covering much of his face. Versions of this enigmatic picture are displayed all over Senegal and in Mouride religious communities in Paris and New York City.
See Mouridism.
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