About our Shaykh
Shaykh Ahmad Bamba from Senegal is well known for his devotion to Allah ta’ala and Prophet Muhammad’s sunna, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He is a wali of Allah who had karamaat, His accomplishments are well documented and it makes sense that he would be one of our Notable Scholars. Founder of the Muridiyya, Shaykh Ahmad Bamba lived from 1853 to 1927 while Senegal was under French colonial rule.
The life of Shaykh Ahmad Bamba is a testimony of his commitment to the revival of authentic Islam, the religion of Peace and his only ideal was to serve humanity by giving teachings in accordance with the prophetic model. The teachings of Shaykh Ahmad Bamba were geared towards the transmission of the very essence of the prophetic message to his generation and to future ones. He devoted his entire life to awakening human consciousness, both among the oppressed and the oppressors.
Since his early childhood, he renounced all worldly things. At the death of his father he was offered the post of counsellor to the king but he declined the offer. Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba was perceived by the French colonisers as a threat and was therefore subjected to a multitude of ordeals by the colonisers who wanted to eliminate him. Shaykh Ahmad Bamba never surrendered to the colonisers. Rather he persevered in his mission as a conscience awakener for both oppressors and the oppressed. This approach appalled the colonial authorities who soon decided to arrest and banish him. He was exiled in Gabon from 1895 to 1902 and in Mauritania from 1903 to 1907. Despite the harshness of the conditions in which he was exiled, he bore no ill feelings for the colonisers. Rather, his non violent approach led him to seek to liberate the oppressors from their violence and the oppressed from the misery of their condition as victims.
Since Shaykh Ahmad Bamba considered Allah as the sole authority and the only power that reigned, he never blamed the colonisers for his condition. On the contrary he saw Allah’s hand in all these trials and accepted them as a path of spiritual elevation specially traced for him. Thus he was devoid of all hatred, resentment and any form of rancour towards the colonisers.
The SANKORE’ Institute of Islamic-African Studies International is pleased and honored to present some of the works of our ilustrious Shaykh Ahmad Bamba to you to for your reading pleasure, may Allah preserve his secret. [Edited] Source: ISS
