AFRICAN SCHOLARS AND SAINTS: THEIR LIVES AND TIMES: July 2017

SHAIKH HAMAHULLAH: THE GREAT QUTB (SPIRITUAL POLE)

Culled from:

“Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar”, by Ahmadou Hampate Ba.

The Origin of the Practice of “Eleven Beads” and “Twelve Beads”

To understand the roots of Hamallism, we must first take a step into the past, to the life of the founder of this order, and sort out once and for all this question of the “eleven beads” and the “twelve beads,” because this issue is at the origin of all the events that we shall relate in this book.

As we have already had the opportunity to point out, the prayer of The Pearl of Perfectionwas received by Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani in a vision he had of the Prophet, with the injunction to recite it eleven times, which is still the practice in the mother zāwiya in Algeria.

At a certain period in his life, Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani had a dispute with the local authorities in Algeria who made his life impossible there. He had to leave Algeria and take refuge in Morocco. Above all, he wished to avoid any bloodshed amongst his many disciples that might be caused by such clashes. Protected by the sultan of Morocco, he was able to settle in Fes with all of his followers.

Every morning in the Fes zāwiya, after the dawn prayer, the brothers gathered with the Shaykh to recite the wazīfa, an ensemble of prayers that ended with eleven recitations of The Pearl of Perfection.

It was the Shaykh’s habit to give his benediction to everyone once the eleventh recitation had been completed. One day he was delayed, and the students started the wazīfa without him. They had already finished the eleventh recitation of The Pearl of Perfection when the Shaykh was at last able to join them. Spontaneously, and so that the Shaykh could give them his benediction as was the custom, they repeated the prayer a twelfth time, after which the Shaykh blessed them.

Because the Shaykh had not made any observation, either positive or negative, as regards this innovation, the students of Fes preserved it and it is thus that the custom came about. It does not figure in any written teachings coming from the Shaykh himself, but it had been transmitted across Africa, in particular within the Umarian branch of the order.

When informed of this new practice, the mother zāwiya of Témacin did not oppose it, although for their part they remained faithful to the recitation of the eleven. The elderly initiated numerologists of the tarīqa(1), explained: If the Shaykh said nothing, it is because, from an esoteric point of view, the number eleven equals the number twelve.(2)

Moreover, twelve being the number of sacrifice, of temporal action, even of war, it was appropriate to the state of exile in which the Shaykh found himself at that time. As for the number eleven, it is the number of pure spirituality, the number of esoterism and of mystical communion with God. It symbolizes the unity of the created being that is joined to the Unity of the Creator. It is also, amongst many other things, the [numerological] value of the divine Name Huwa(He), the name of pure transcendence which Sufis recite at the end of their mystical gatherings(3). This state of affairs continued for nearly a century without resulting in any problem.

Prediction of the Advent, the Search & the Manifestation of the Qutb(Pole): Shaikh Hamau’llah

In 1893, the mother zāwiyas of the Tijaniyya in Algeria heard the news of the capture of Bandiagara by the French. It seemed that the end of the Tukolor empire of Masina was nigh. The vitality of the Tijaniyya in black Africa seemed to be cut short. It was soon learnt that Amadou Sekou, Leader of the Faithful (Lamido Julbe) who had succeeded his father al-Hajj Umar in his spiritual function, had left the country, having been chased out by the French advance, and that there was no trace of him. Therefore, the Tijaniyya no longer had a khalīfa.

The shaykhs of the mother zāwiyas were concerned. A council of the Ain Mahdi and Témacin zāwiyas was convened. The shaykhs knew, through esoteric knowledge unique to their order, that a great master, a Qutb(Pole) was to manifest himself (this is what Alfa Hashimi Taal had foretold to Tierno Bokar), but they did not know where. At the end of their meeting, they decided to send Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar(4) to the various territories of sub-Saharan Africa, with a double mission: first, to find the person in whom all the signs predicting the Qutb would become clear, and then to bring all the Tijani communities that he would visit back to the formula of the “eleven beads.” The Tijaniyya were no longer to take part in any form of temporal governance, nor in any outward actions. They should return to the number which symbolized pure contemplation and uniquely spiritual values. This change would be accomplished, of course, through outward forms as well as inwardly.

Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar set off to accomplish his double mission without knowing that his wanderings would last for years and that he would end up being taken to Nioro, where, after despairing at not finding the one for whom he was searching, he would finally find him.

He began by going to Egypt. From there, he reached the AngloEgyptian Soudan, then black Africa, visiting all the regions where the Tijaniyya had zāwiyas. But he did not detect the predicted signs of the Qutb anywhere. He crossed Chad, Nigeria, and Niger, and finally arrived in French Soudan (Mali). He passed through Bandiagara, then following the Niger continued to Mopti and Segou before arriving in Bamako.

Finally he learned that the town of Nioro had become the center of the activities of al-Hajj Umar after they had abandoned Dinguiraye. Another striking fact was that it was in Nioro that al-Hajj Umar had begun to lose control of his army and that the hitherto purely religious nature of his conquests had then slipped away from him. The Shaykh also learned about the history of Nioro, the true name of which, Nūr, means “Light” in Koranic Arabic. It seemed that a path of light had once stopped there(5). Perhaps another might be born there. Moved by this presentiment, he decided to proceed there, hoping to find what he was looking for. When he arrived in Nioro, Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar discovered a large Tijani community, including “elder students”(6) who were extremely pious and learned, cultivated in Arabic and versed in mystical and religious sciences. The tariqa had at its head Sharīf Muhammad al-Mukhtar who, having been initiated by the zāwiya of Fes, recited The Pearl of Perfection twelve times. When Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar arrived, Sharīf al-Mukhtar was away traveling. The Tijani adepts of the town received Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar warmly, and hurried to his talks. The latter began to explain why it was necessary to return to the original recitation of The Pearl of Perfection eleven times. The Shaykh explained that the Tijani order was, by the grace of God, being discharged of temporal responsibilities, which were passing into the hands of the French, and so it was now incumbent upon the adepts to return to the numerical formula which corresponded to a vocation of pure spirituality and which conveys these virtues. Moreover, had not this way of reciting been revealed to Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani by the Prophet of God himself? Had not the Shaykh explained this in his major work Jawāhir al-Ma‘ānī(Pearl of Meanings), and had not the illustrious al-Hajj Umar himself commented on this passage in his own work Al-Rimāh?

Troubled by this, the Tijani of Nioro asked him for more explanation. “It is by reading the book of the Shaykh, the Jawāhir al-Ma‘ānī, that you will understand,” he told them.

Now an in-depth study of this book, though fundamental for the brotherhood, had been somewhat neglected until then. Apart from a few elder students, it was almost never read. The Sufi brothers asked Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar to give them some lessons in which this book would be read and commented upon. The Shaykh agreed. At the end of their activities every day, the Tijani of Nioro, leading marabouts and simple adepts alike, came to listen to him. After a certain time, they were so convinced by the Shaykh’s teachings that they asked him to “renew their wird.” The wirdis the name for the litanies (lāzim and wazīfa) which are recited at the time of initiation into the order just as the initiator (the muqaddam) received them from his own initiator, and likewise back to the founding Master(7). Now it is the custom in Muslim brotherhoods that upon meeting an initiate of high standing or one who is better placed in the “chain” of transmission, to ask him to renew one’s wird, as a sort of confirmation(8).

Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar agreed. Most of the marabouts of Nioro thus renewed their wird at his hand, but this time with a wazīfa comprising eleven recitations of The Pearl of Perfection. From then on, their rosaries were restrung such that a separator bead marked eleven rather than twelve beads. When the ceremony was finished, the most senior of the students, who until then had remained on the sidelines, approached. He was called Tierno Sidi. Through deference towards his master Sharīf alMukhtar, who was still absent, Tierno Sidi did not want to receive the renewal of his wirdbefore him. He asked Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar to first renew the wird of Sharīf al-Mukhtar. “Would it not be preferable,” suggested the Shaykh, “to wait until he returns?” “Before he left,” responded Tierno Sidi, “he authorized me to act for him as I would for myself in everything. Whatever you do, he said, I shall approve of it.” Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar reflected on this. Then he addressed the entire assembly of the brothers: “If you all ask to have the wirdof the Sharīf renewed,” he told them, “I will do it. Reasonably, your master shouldn’t be against something deriving directly from the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani and through him from the Prophet of God. I greatly fear, however, that Sharīf al-Mukhtar might begin by accepting (the renewal of his wird), and then might reject it, which might stir up a lot of discontent.” (A prediction that was to prove itself correct, as we shall see.) The brothers insisted so strongly that the Shaykh ended up accepting. He began by drawing up fatwās (a sort of official document establishing the affiliation of someone to the tarīqa) and the first one he completed was that for Sharīf al-Mukhtar. From that day onwards his house was always full. It became a sort of zāwiya where people came to study and to pray.

It was at this point that Sharīf al-Mukhtar returned to Nioro. Once informed of the events, he accepted the renewal of his wird using the “eleven” formula. Gatherings always took place at Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar’s house to receive his teaching, but from there the brothers went back to the home of the Sharīf to say their prayers and recite with him their wird.

Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar found this completely normal, because Sharīf al-Mukhtar was both the shaykh of the order and the leader of the community of Nioro. Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar had been entrusted with a mission: to reinstate the formula of the eleven recitations of The Pearl of Perfection. This mission had been accomplished. He had no other ambitions.

The Search and Discovery of the Predestined “Pole”

Yet, there was another mission which remained unaccomplished: the search and discovery of the predestined “Pole.” Discouraged, Shaykh Muhammad al Akhdar prepared to leave Nioro in order to continue his journey towards Saint-Louis-du-Senegal. But he did not want to leave Nioro without leaving a gift, a spiritual gift insofar as possible, to those who had so warmly received him and followed him. Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar suggested that each of the brothers should choose a particular formula from amongst the prayers, formulae, or dhikr that are unique to the Tijaniyya, which he as Shaykh would then ritually transmit to the disciple on behalf of his own chain of transmission, with all the barakathat was attached to it. This transmission was considered a gift of great mystical and spiritual value, the chain of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar being particularly direct since he had been initiated by one of the great disciples of the Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani himself.

The ceremony began. Everyone chose the formula of his choice, and received it from the Shaykh with an explanation of the particular methods of recitation that were attached to it.Then came Sharīf al-Mukhtar’s turn. He chose various formulae figuring on the list and the Shaykh granted them to him. Then he asked that the esoteric secret of each of them be explained to him. The Shaykh agreed to all of his requests. After this, the Sharīf named yet another formula. This time, instead of agreeing to give it to him, the Shaykh removed it from the list. “I am sorry,” he told him, “I cannot give this formula because it does not belong to me. It belongs to him who is predestined, whom I search for, and who alone will be qualified to recite it. However, in order that God might clarify this for me, I am going to make the istikhāra(9). If in response I am told to give it to you, then I shall give it to you. But I cannot myself decide to transmit it to you. If I did it without special authorization and without you being the one that it is really destined for, this will do you more harm than good.” This last remark offended Sharīf al-Mukhtar enormously. The remark only added to the fact that his students, because of the great knowledge of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar, had continued the custom of going to the latter’s quarters to hear his teachings before going to Sharīf al-Mukhtar to accomplish the prayer.

Although hurt, the Sharīf withdrew without saying anything. In the evening, at his home, during the meal around which his usual griots(10) (songsters)and a few students were gathered, he declared:

“Today the new marabout told me that he possessed a name of God such that, if I pronounced it, it would do me more harm than good.” The griots, who were accustomed to flattering him, exclaimed, “Really, Sharīf, you have well deserved it, because we never would have imagined that you would give allegiance to another marabout in this land, much less to a man who turns up one day unannounced!”

Continuing along these lines in which they, like every respectable griot, were experts, they influenced the Sharīf so much that in the end, overcome by their eloquent indignation, he went to look for all the papers that Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar had given him, including the fatwa renewing his wird, and had them sent back to the Shaykh with the following message: “I give you back the eleven beads and return to my twelve beads.” The prediction of the Shaykh was coming true.

And this is how the open conflict between the “twelve-beads” and the “eleven-beads” began, through a simple matter of wounded pride, which, in reality is foreign to all true religious sentiment. The next morning Sharīf al-Mukhtar gathered all of his students and shared with them his decision to return to the “twelve beads” and to separate himself from the Shaykh. But none of his elder students, that is, the senior and more educated adepts, were prepared to join him in this. In the end, they joined Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. When faced with this unexpected defection, Sharīf al-Mukhtar was deeply hurt. Embittered, he felt betrayed by everyone.

Sharīf Hamallah: The man “whose feet rested very high above this earth.”

This is the point at which Sharīf Hamallah appears in our story. Sharīf al-Mukhtar, like many dignitaries of Islamic brotherhoods, directed a Koranic school attended by young boys from the area and by several children of sharīfian families.

One of the latter was the young Shaykh Hamallah ben Muhammad ben Sidna Umar. His father had been a merchant near Nyamani, on the Niger River. His mother was a Fulani woman of the Wassoulou country. When his parents came to settle in Nioro, they had entrusted the education and religious upbringing of the child to Sharīf al-Mukhtar.

Sharīf al-Mukhtar had predicted a great spiritual future for the young boy. One day, watching him carefully, he had said in front of other students: “The day will come when the sun of this one will be at its zenith, when whoever is not under his shade will be burnt by his sun!”

At the time of the first outburst between the “eleven-beads” and the “twelve-beads,” the young Sharīf Hamallah was eighteen or nineteen years old. One evening he was going along a road which went past the compound of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar who happened to be resting in the shade of his wall. It was the first time that the Shaykh had seen the young man. Something about him struck him. He questioned Sidi Abdallah, who was near him.

“Who is the father of this black boy?”(11)

“He’s not a black,” responded Sidi Abdallah, “he’s a sharīf, a descendant of the Prophet. He’s Sharīf Hamallah, the son of Sidna Umar.”

For Africans, in fact, it is not color but birth which matters. As long as a man is a sharīf, even if he is as dark as ebony, he will be called a sharīf, therefore of Arab descent, and not black. Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar kept silent for a moment and then said, “His foot is placed very high in relation to the earth.”

All those present tried to outdo him: “It is not surprising. He has always caused wonder in people. He has even performed miracles, without seeking to do so and without taking pride in them.”

As the days passed, Sharīf al-Mukhtar, noticing that his students did not come back to him, wondered what was going on with the Shaykh. He ordered young Sharīf Hamallah to attend their meeting and to report to him what was said there. This is how Sharīf Hamallah went for the first time to Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. He sat in the back of the room and carefully followed the lesson. When it was finished, he returned to Sharīf al-Mukhtar.

“So, what did they say about me?” he immediately asked Sharīf Hamallah, convinced that he was the object of criticism and bad words. “Nothing at all,” answered the young man, “they did not even mention your name.” “But how did they spend their day?”

“Reading the Jawāhir al-Ma‘ānī(Pearl of Meanings) and commenting on it.” For three days Sharīf al-Mukhtar sent the young man to take part in the meetings. Upon his return, he gave the same answer every time: “They didn’t talk about you.” On the third day, Sharīf al-Mukhtar burst out furiously: “You too are amongst the traitors against me! They have won you over to their cause. Since this is the case, go and join them and don’t come back ever again!”

Although he was unfairly banished, the young Sharīf Hamallah did not go to see Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. Deeply upset and afflicted by a horrible headache, he went home. Since his birth, whenever he was upset, he would be besieged with such painful headaches that he would roll around on the floor and remain sick for entire weeks. Many cures had been attempted by every possible means, but nothing had worked.

His mother, Aissata, seeing him arrive in this state, rushed to a neighbor’s to borrow a certain type of incense which she would often burn to assuage his suffering. Her neighbor told her, “You would do better to take your son to the new marabout, Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. Many people have already gone to him to ask for blessings.” In hopes that her son would finally find a cure, Aissata got her son up and took him to the Shaykh. The Shaykh immediately recognized the young man, whom he had been observing for three days without ever speaking to him. Turning to Aissata, he asked her how the headache had come about; but she wasn’t able to give much of an answer.

***Addressing himself to the young sharīf, he asked him to accompany him to his room. Once they were alone, the Shaykh asked him precise questions about the nature of his pain, the circumstances that had set it off, and what he felt. Sharīf Hamallah answered his questions in detail. When he had finished, the Shaykh remained pensive a few moments. Then, leaning forward, he leveled out with his hand the fine sand on the ground in front of him and traced a word written in Arabic. It was a secret name of God that conceals the mysteries of the Tijani Qutbuya(12) which are preciously and secretly guarded by the master initiates of the order. It was a master word, one of those words which are only passed down mouth-to-mouth or that one writes in the sand so that no trace of it remains. In writing it, the Shaykh had made an error by omitting to inscribe a certain letter of the word.

Then, lifting his head, he asked the young man, “Are you accustomed to seeing this word written or to hearing it pronounced, either in a state of wakefulness or during your sleep?”

“Yes, I’m used to seeing it,” replied the Sharīf, “But in the word that you have written, there is a letter missing in relation to what I am used to seeing.”

“What is this letter, and where is it missing?” asked the Shaykh. Sharīf Hamallah leant over and traced in the sand the missing letter in the place where it belonged. Immediately, the Shaykh gathered the sand up into his hand from where the sacred name had been written, placed it into a bag and gave this bag to the sharīf. “Here,” he told him. “This belongs to you. You are the Qutb al-Zamān, the Master of the Hour, the Pole of the Time, for whom I have searched everywhere. I ask you to renew my wird.”

And, moved by an emotion that we can understand, the old master bowed before the young man, stretching the palms of his open hands in the form of a cup as is done in Islam to receive a blessing. Sharīf Hamallah renewed his wird for him. Then, taking the bag containing the precious sand charged with forces of the mysterious Name, he gave it back to the Shaykh. “I leave it with you,” he told him, “I am still too young to assume outwardly the function that God has honored me with. Also, I ask you to keep this bag until the time comes for me to take charge of it.”

Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar accepted and, although his heart was full of joy, for the time being he remained silent about his great discovery. From that day on, however, the students began to notice unusual behavior on the part of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. As soon as Sharīf Hamallah arrived, the Shaykh moved aside to make a place for him on the same rug. Every time the young man took tea, if even a drop remained in his cup, the Shaykh seized it to drink it. In Africa as in all Muslim countries, these are the great gestures of honor and of respect. Observing all this, the students said amongst themselves that the Shaykh undoubtedly felt a great consideration for the Sharīf, even if they did not know the precise reason why. Things continued like this for a time, the Shaykh having given up his plans to travel onward to Senegal.

One day, Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar was in a room with Tierno Sidi (the one who had asked that the wird of Sharīf al-Mukhtar be renewed in his absence), Hamedine Baro, and Kisman Doucouré, all of them “elder students” whom Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar had already named muqaddams of the order, since he had the authority to do so(13). He turned to Tierno Sidi.

“If I told you to swear allegiance to Sharīf Hamallah,” he said to him, “would you accept it?”

“He’s my son!” Tierno Sidi limited himself to replying, which could be understood in many ways.

The Shaykh added nothing. Then, turning towards Hamedine Baro: “And you, if I asked you to follow Sharīf Hamallah, to recognize him as your master, would you accept?”

“If you asked me to recognize a rooster as my master, I would recognize him,” replied the latter.

Then, the Shaykh said to them, “I ask you to recognize Sharīf Hamallah as Qutb,” and he told them about his long search, his discovery, the signs that he had recognized, and above all, the decisive sign of the secret Name destined for the Qutb, traced in sand and accurately corrected.

It was on this occasion that he pronounced the word Qutb in public for the first time(14). The time came when Sharīf al-Mukhtar, more and more upset at not having been able to convince his former students to come back to him, decided to go on the offensive. He had the means of doing so, being at once the son-in-law and personal marabout of Bodian, the Bambara king of the country. His partisans, the Kaba clan of Nioro, as well as the members of the Bodian family that found themselves now allied with the Taal (the family of Hajj Umar), began a strong campaign against Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. One of the sons of al-Hajj Umar, who traveled back and forth between Kayes and Dakar to sell animals, roused the Taals by telling them that in Nioro a man dared speak against the “doctrine” of al-Hajj Umar and that he had instituted a practice contrary to that of their ancestor.

They did so well in stirring up trouble that they succeeded in bringing the French Colonial Administration into the affair, telling them that there would be fights and bloodshed if Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar were not expelled from Nioro. Always anxious to avoid an incident, the Administration asked no questions and decided to expel the Shaykh. It was made known to him that, not being a native of the town, he should leave it and go back to his own country.

The Shaykh prepared to travel and left in the direction of Senegal. When he was about to leave Nioro, some students came to greet him for the last time. He said to them, “I am very surprised that they have been able to banish me from my burial place. In fact, it was revealed to me that my tomb would be in Nioro. And now I am ordered never to return. This greatly surprises me. But God alone knows!”(15)

The affair created a great stir. Senegalese merchants in Nioro, Kayes, and Medina-Kayes who had valued the human and spiritual qualities of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar, wrote to certain prominent marabouts in Saint-Louis-du-Senegal who were close to the central administrative authority in order that they might attest to the innocence of the Shaykh, the latter being, according to them, an agent of peace rather than a creator of troubles. They added that the Administration had certainly been misled into error.

When the Shaykh arrived in Saint-Louis, he made contact with these prominent marabouts who were, at that time, al-Hajj Malik Si, Abdoullaye Niasse, the Bou Kounta family, and the Shaykh Sidia family. They welcomed him with hospitality, but watched him carefully to find out with whom they were dealing, on the religious as well the human level. Over time, they found in him the very qualities that had been described to them by their Senegalese correspondents.

Having reached this opinion, they intervened with the governor of Senegal to ask him to retract his decision to expel the Shaykh and to allow him to return to Nioro as he wished. Their request was granted and it was thus that Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar, after about a year’s absence, was able to return to Nioro. A little more than two years after his return, he took his last breath in the town where, as he had announced, his tomb awaited him. His passing away was to mark the beginning of the fiery and tragic religious career of Sharīf Hamallah.

The Destiny of Sharīf Hamallah

A large crowd accompanied the body of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar on the day of his funeral. All of his students were there, amongst them Sharīf Hamallah. Upon returning from the burial, tradition would have it that the procession return to the home of the deceased. However, in an unplanned move the crowd spontaneously went to the home of Sharīf Hamallah and regrouped around him. This day in 1909 was the beginning of his public religious career. From this day onwards, Sharīf Hamallah assumed his function as khalīfa of the order in a public and active manner, having been recognized by a great number of the brothers as possessing the necessary qualifications. He fulfilled his function as master, gave the awrād, preached, commented on the holy books, guided the students, and spread his spiritual radiance and blessings on all—in short, he accomplished what was expected of him. His house became a veritable Zāwiya and was never empty until the day he was arrested for the first time.

Believers, not only from Nioro but from neighboring towns and even from surrounding countries, crowded around him. It was a veritable sea of humanity. These crowds contributed to enflaming not only the Taal family and their allies, but also the Colonial Administration, who were always naturally concerned by large gatherings of men.

In 1920 the writer Paul Marty(16), an officer in the Colonial Administration, wrote: Sharīf Hamallah is still only a bubbling spring, but he is a spring which will become a great river. This can be predicted by the growing strength of the spring’s current and by the virtue that is everywhere being attributed to its waters and to the convergence of neighboring streams.

As Tierno Bokar was to explain to me one day, Sharīf Hamallah had assumed his spiritual leadership in 1909, the time when the world had entered into a cycle of Mars,(17) a cycle of troubles, conflicts, and wars.

“Every saint or prophet,” he told me, “whose coming coincides with the beginning of a cycle of Mars will encounter more troubled times than peaceful days, but this will not diminish anything of his spiritual value. Our great master, Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani, had recommended to his elder students: ‘If you are slandered, do not slander. If you receive blows, do not return them. If someone refuses you a favor, offer to do one for him.’” Tierno added that Sharīf Hamallah himself respected this commandment to the end.

The cycle of Mars that began in 1909 was to finish in 1945. By that time, Sharīf Hamallah had been resting in the cemetery of Montluçon for barely two years, having died as a consequence of his deportation. How could the situation have deteriorated throughout these years to reach such an extreme point?

When Sharīf Hamallah arrived on the religious scene, the conflict between “twelve-beaders” and “eleven-beaders”—a purely human and not a religious conflict—already existed. He only inherited it. The fiery enthusiasm of which he was the object, and the success that he had, only served to fan the flames that were smoldering within all the supporters of the “twelve beads.”

The Teapot Incident

Things stayed that way, however, until a completely banal and purely human incident arose. This incident, in which the Sharīf had no part, has been called the “teapot incident.” It lit the fuse and gave the conflict an open and irreversible character. An interpreter named Mamadou Salim had had a silver teapot made by a craftsman and had given it for safekeeping to his wife, a descendant of al-Hajj Umar. This interpreter’s master was Tierno Sidi, the one who had been initiated into the “eleven beads” by Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar in Nioro.

One day, wanting to honor his master with a gift, Mamadou Salim gave Tierno Sidi his teapot. Soon after that, the unfortunate Mamadou Salim was arrested by the French authorities and imprisoned. He died while in detention, leaving his family without resources. His wife recalls that one day she saw her husband give the silver teapot to one of Tierno Sidi’s messengers. She asked the latter to give the teapot back so that she would be able to sell it. Tierno Sidi answered that, unfortunately, the teapot had not been lent but given to him and he thus had given it to a third person, the Moorish leader of Tichitt. However, he added, if the Moorish chief still had the teapot in his possession, he would certainly not refuse to give it back to a descendant of al-Hajj Umar if she asked him for it.

Tierno Sidi had come to settle in Bamako so as not to get mixed up in the conflict confronting his former master, the Sharīf al-Mukhtar, and Sharīf Hamallah. He therefore had no relationship with Sharīf Hamallah.

The woman did not want to hear anything about it. She shouted out that her teapot had been stolen and took the matter to her brother Karamogo Taal, who at the time was the only known descendant of alHajj Umar in Bamako. He was a shopkeeper, illiterate in both French and Arabic. Very troubled, he summoned all the former sofas(18) of alHajj Umar, as well as the captives and griots who claimed obedience to him. When they were all together, he told them about the issue. His listeners, who for the most part had become domestics or cooks with the French who had settled in the town, decided to summon all the Tukolor present in Bamako. Now it happened that amongst all the Tukolor of Bamako only two belonged to a noble and educated family: Bokar Diafara, and my adopted father, Tijani Amadou Ali Thiam, the faithful friend of Tierno Bokar.

After everyone had assembled and Karamogo Taal had put forward his sister’s grievances concerning Tierno Sidi, my father Tijani Amadou Ali began to speak.

“Tierno Sidi is today the most remarkable personage of Futa,” he said. “He is known for his knowledge as well as for his piety. In addition, he is a great muqaddam. His ties with the family of al-Hajj Umar are very strong. Therefore, it would be unfitting if we were to enter into a conflict with him over a teapot. I suggest that every Tukolor present in Bamako, be he a noble or a servant, make a contribution so that we can gather the sum of three hundred francs which will be given to the sister of Karamogo Taal as compensation for her teapot.”

When this proposal was put to the sister of Karamogo Taal, she exclaimed that it was an injustice, a maneuver typical of a Thiam,(19) and she demanded that her silver teapot be returned to her, the one that her husband had had melted down and shaped, and no other! A short time later, the Tukolor held another meeting and sent two emissaries to Tierno Sidi to summon him and ask him to come explain the situation. Such a demand, within the context of African traditions based on the respect for hierarchy, was totally out of place.

So Tierno Sidi responded to the emissaries(20) thus: Because of my age, my standing, and my rank in the Tarīqa, I am the one who should call together a gathering of the Tukolor—it is not for them to summon me. However, if I am personally summoned by a grandson of al-Hajj Umar Taal (Karamogo Taal), I am ready to answer him out of respect for his grandfather.

Unfortunately, the emissaries had been badly chosen. One was known for his reputation of being a mischief maker, the other for his opposition to Tierno Sidi. They therefore were in complete agreement that upon their return to the Tukolor they would transmit an answer summarized in their own fashioning. They said: We have given the message to Tierno Sidi, but he made it known to us that he did not have to respond to a group of uncircumcised people! In other words, in plain language, to a group of insignificant kids!

Cries of indignation erupted everywhere. Feeling that they had been insulted, the Tukolor all rose up together against Tierno Sidi, except for my father, Tijani, and decided to organize a campaign of their own with a view towards ruining him. As most of them worked for members of the Colonial Administration, they were well placed for this kind of action. Each Tukolor was given the mission of setting his employer against Tierno Sidi by painting the blackest possible picture of him. After a certain time, this insidious campaign began to bear fruit. The commandant of the Bamako district began to hear from several sources about an “eleven-bead” marabout who was the very incarnation of dishonesty and of all possible faults. When he had judged that the Tukolor minds were sufficiently prepared, Karamogo Taal, in the name of the Tukolor community of Bamako, legally charged Tierno Sidi with “appropriating a silver teapot belonging to a widow.”

The District Commandant, who was ill-disposed towards Tierno Sidi due to the efforts of the former’s entourage, summoned him into his office. Without listening to any explanation, he sent the matter before the indigenous court. But Karamogo Taal and his friends had already gotten to the judge, promising him that he would be able to realize his dream of becoming imām of the Bamako mosque if he helped them win their trial.

The trial took place. Tierno Sidi lost and was ordered to return the teapot within a month, or he would be incarcerated. Fortunately for him, he was able to recover the teapot from the Moorish leader of Tichitt and returned it to the District Commandant within the allotted time.

For Tierno Sidi, at least, the matter thus seemed to be closed. But it was in fact to mark the beginning of a merciless war against all the “eleven-beaders” regardless of who they might be or where they came from.

Intoxicated by their easy success against a man of Tierno Sidi’s standing and discovering the strength they had in unity, the Tukolor held a new assembly in which they decided to take the conflict to another level. Karamogo Taal harangued them, saying, “Tierno Sidi and his family are traitors to al-Hajj Umar because they have chosen the formula of eleven recitations. It is now up to us to bring them back to the formula of twelve; otherwise, there will be a total split between our clan and their followers. No Tukolor shopkeeper or merchant shall sell them anything anymore. They shall be boycotted by everyone!”

My father, Tijani Amadou Ali Thiam, from whom I have received all the details of this affair, was present at this meeting. Once again, he tried to make them see reason, but in vain. He asked them, “Would you dare, Karamogo Taal, and all who are present here, attack Tierno Sidi on religious matters? If Tierno Sidi is to be challenged with religious objections, it is for others to do it, and certainly not you who know nothing!”

In effect, of the five hundred people present, all were illiterate except Tijani Amadou Ali himself. Furious at these words, the Tukolor ejected my father from their assembly. After their meeting, the Tukolor had letters written which they sent out everywhere: to all the countries, Senegal, Guinea, etc., wherever there were members of their clan, announcing their triumph over an enemy of al-Hajj Umar and asking them to boycott the “eleven-beaders” wherever they found them. One of these letters arrived in Bandiagara. The chief of the canton, who was a Tukolor, assembled the committee of Bandiagara, presided over by Tierno Bokar. Alfa Ali, the Koran master and an old friend of Tierno Bokar, was also present. He had already been initiated into the “eleven beads” but had never spoken about it to anyone. The letter was read, and then they asked Tierno Bokar his opinion.

He declared, “Personally, I will not take a position either for or against the ‘eleven beads’ without meeting the promoter of this practice and understanding on what grounds it is based. While waiting to learn more, I advise that we all remain with the tradition of ‘twelve beads.’”

This occurred in 1917. The majority of Bandiagara thus preserved the practice of the “twelve beads” until 1937, the year of Tierno Bokar’s trip to Nioro.

As can be seen, there was nothing political—as was believed by the French Administration—nor fundamentally religious in the origin of this conflict, because the implicated practice touched neither Islam nor the original teachings of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani. Until the campaign that was undertaken by the Tukolor after they had won the trial against Tierno Sidi, “twelve-beaders” and “eleven-beaders” had coexisted peacefully. In the mosques, after the canonical Islamic prayers, each person peacefully recited his Tijani wird, fingering the beads of his rosary, be they eleven or twelve. In fact, no-one paid much attention to it.

But from then on, the lions were unleashed and the formidable administrative machinery was put into action. For the French authorities, the “eleven-beaders” had become the target. In the eyes of many, “Hamallism,” which was the most representative movement of the “eleven-beaders,” became suspect and was seen as the cause of problems. Pressed hard by important and influential Tukolor marabouts, the Administration became embroiled in a quarrel which in fact did not concern them at all.

On his side, Sharīf Hamallah was unaware of the stratagems of intrigue and lived in a world estranged from the outward rules of diplomacy. With regard to the French Administration, he never strayed from an attitude of perfect dignity, but also one of total independence, which could be interpreted as disdain, even hostility. He sought no honor, was not concerned with winning medals, did not pay visits to the authorities of the time, and paid homage to no-one. In short, he stayed away from all worldly matters. This was a dangerous attitude at a time when the Colonial Administration had a strong tendency to think that whoever was not with them was against them. It did not take much more for the authorities, who were worried about the growing popular success of the Sharīf and were urged on by the Tukolor, to consider him to be a dangerous rebel who was devising secret, dark plots and was just awaiting a propitious moment to start a revolt.

In 1920 Paul Marty could still write: “Vis-à-vis us (the French Administration), his attitude is courteous but reserved. He only comes to the District office upon a formal summons. It seems that with a bit of astuteness, he could be easily controlled.”

Unfortunately the Administration did not listen to Paul Marty, who was better informed than they were because of his post of being in charge of Muslim affairs. In addition, he was well connected with marabouts of all followings. The Administration preferred to listen to those who trotted out the bogeyman of disorder and revolt, predicting that terrible troubles would come from the Hamallists. Such are the ways of history.

From that time on the situation became continually worse. The Sharīf was held responsible for even the most minor incidents, and these were used as pretexts to persecute his students. This was the beginning of arrests and mass deportations.

A minor brawl took place in Nioro in 1923 which motivated the summoning of Sharīf Hamallah to Bamako, some six hundred kilometers from his residence. The Governor, whose entourage had set him against Sharīf Hamallah, rudely received the Sharīf: “It is said that you claim to speak directly with God. So ask him, if you are able, to smash my head with the roof of my palace,” he guffawed. Through an interpreter, the Sharīf offered the following response: “Interpreter, tell the Governor to open his mouth wider (literally, in Bambara: ‘to make best wishes’). I have no interest in asking God to grant him life or death. I only know that when God puts a man at the head of even five people, it means that God has some consideration for that man, all the more so when he places the man as the leader of a country as large as the Soudan. Now when God has consideration for a man, he grants his wishes. It would have been more valuable for the Governor to ask God for a long life so as to better profit from the function that he has. Living is certainly better than dying because, here at least, he is assured of having an excellent position, whereas he does not know if the same will be in store for him in a future life.” We can easily understand that for an all-powerful Governor used to hearing only: “Yes, sir, as you command, Governor,” that he could not accept such words. At a fever-pitch of anger and indignation, he immediately ordered the deportation of the Sharīf. He was not even permitted to return to Nioro to see his family. He was handcuffed, and immediately taken to Saint-Louis-du-Senegal where he was put under house arrest.

In 1924, some incidents took place in Kiffa (in present-day Mauritania). Even though the Sharīf was then residing in Saint-Louis, he was held personally responsible for them. The incidents were used as a pretext for removing him from Saint-Louis, where his influence had begun to spread to the population and had provoked several conversions, and he was transferred to Muderdra in Mauritania.

In 1930, while Sharīf Hamallah was still in Muderdra, fights broke out in Kaedi (Senegal) between members of the Marka ethnic group. It was known who the instigator of these incidents was, but he was a Hamallist. Again, the blame was put on Sharīf Hamallah, who was deported from Muderdra to Adjopé in Ivory Coast, a particularly humid area. Undoubtedly, it was known that the best way to kill a Moor, used to living under a tent in the open air, was to make him live in a humid house. . .

From then on, access to Ivory Coast was forbidden to all Moors so that none of them could make contact with the Sharīf. That is why until 1936, when the Sharīf returned to the Soudan, the Moors were constantly expelled from the Ivory Coast. Throughout this period, life became impossible for the Hamallists. They were accused of any trouble that the Administration encountered. If someone refused to pay his taxes, he was accused of Hamallism. To take revenge on an enemy, it was enough to denounce him as a “dangerous Hamallist” and he was dragged off without any explanation. The followers of Sharīf Hamallah, particularly all of his main muqaddams, were deported and dispersed into the four corners of West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. But by a strange twist of fate, these measures were to work against the desired intention. In fact, everywhere where there were Hamallists in exile, they settled down and founded zāwiyas that were soon very successful. From every link that was separated from its chain, a new chain arose. In this way, the activities of Sharīf Hamallah’s enemies—who were inciting an administration that knew little about spiritual problems—seemed destined to continual failure.

In 1936, thanks to the formation of the Popular Front(21), all political prisoners were freed by the decision of the French government. Sharīf Hamallah could finally leave the Ivory Coast and return to Nioro. But his enemies were still present and they had not been disarmed. The prominent Tukolor marabouts, seeing the new Administration lose interest in the Sharīf, feared that the advantages that they enjoyed would be passed on to the Sharīf, whose popular following was growing all the time. Thus they decided to attack him again and so searched for a pretext. They did not delay in finding one.

Upon his return, Sharīf Hamallah had declared to his students who were celebrating his arrival, “This will not last. I still consider myself to be a traveler.” Because of the permanent insecurity he found himself in, he had shortened the length of his canonical prayers, making them two raka‘āt instead of four, which is permitted by Islamic law in cases of traveling, danger, or war. He had not advised anyone to imitate him, but this did not prevent some of his students, especially those belonging to the Marka ethnic group and who were always traveling for their trade, from following his example.

As soon as they learned about this, the antagonists of Sharīf Hamallah agreed to warn the French authorities that Sharīf Hamallah was preparing a “holy war” because he was praying two raka‘āt instead of four. They simply neglected to explain that this practice—which is, indeed, valid in times of war—is also valid for simple journeys and states of insecurity.

The Sharīf was summoned. Again, the meeting was memorable. The Sharīf asked the commandant how many raka‘āt the French had prescribed so that he might know if he had gone against their orders. Fortunately, the Sharīf was sent home without troublesome consequences. The attention of the new Colonial Administration of the Popular Front was no less focused on Sharīf Hamallah, whose dossier acquired a political coloring. At the time, the ominous words “holy war” were not easily dismissed. From that day onwards, surveillance of the Hamallists was redoubled and they were considered “anti-French.”

Oppression against them multiplied, which began to irritate some. This state of latent persecution continued without the French Administration deciding to take any clear action against the Sharīf. Disappointed, his enemies looked for a new way to create difficulties for him from which he would not be able to escape. They found a means of accomplishing this by organizing a cruel provocation which was to result in the fatal incidents of Assaba. This was in 1940. A marabout family of Nioro (the Kaba Diakité) that was opposed to Sharīf Hamallah was looking for a way to provoke an incident. Now it happened that the Kaba Diakité had traditionally been hosts (i.e. landlords) of a Moorish tribe who were enemies of Sharīf Hamallah’s clan. This ancestral opposition was intensified by the fact that the tribes allied to the Sharīf had, along with him, embraced the Tijaniyya order, whereas the other tribes belonged to the Qadiriyya order. As always, religion served as a pretext for a conflict that was of purely human origin, which in this case was a tribal rivalry.

The Kaba Diakité asked their tenants to provoke their ancestral adversaries, which did not displease them. They did not hold back. One day when their tribe was traveling about, they encountered a caravan which was carrying the eldest son of Sharīf Hamallah. They immediately threw themselves upon the caravan, seized the young man and began to insult him: “You and your family are false sharīfs. But we are going to clear up this matter. Fire from God should not be able to burn a sharīf, isn’t that right? Well, we’re going to try it.” And they kept the young man upright, barefoot on some burning sand that had just been used to prepare a mechoui(22). Before being seized by his enemies, the son of Sharīf Hamallah had forbidden his companions to intervene to defend him. In fact there were fewer of them than their assailants and he feared that the confrontation would end up in a massacre. Therefore, his companions did not move, champing at the bit. After the torture, they rescued the young man. The soles of his feet had been badly burnt and they took him to Nioro where he had to be hospitalized. An investigation was begun.

Perhaps fearing turmoil or new provocations, Sharīf Hamallah forbade all of his followers, even members of his family, to visit his son in the hospital, advising them instead to wait until the Administration had done its work and until justice had been rendered and the guilty ones were brought to light. Therefore, the zāwiya stayed completely out of this affair.

This silence worried the Administration, who wondered whether something was being planned. In order to test the waters, the commandant summoned Sharīf Hamallah. He asked him what he thought of this matter and what he thought would be best to do about it. To this unexpected question, the Sharīf answered in his usual way, again very direct and lacking in diplomacy: “Where, then, does justice come from? Certainly not from me. Moreover, I personally am not the victim. The victim is an adult and well known. The question should be addressed to him. Since it is your duty to provide justice, and since you have seen the victim as well as the torturers who were arrested, I don’t understand why you are asking me what I think should be done.” Those responsible for the incident had in fact been arrested, and then put under house arrest in Nioro in a camp where they lived ordinary lives and where they were brought everything that they needed.

Two months later, they were simply released. Happy at having gotten off so easily, they then composed a poem with a provocative title: “Around the Grill,” a poem which they spread all over Mauritania by singers who were accompanied by drums. Now, the Moorish tribe to which the wife of the Sharīf belonged, the mother of the young man who had been tortured, was a warrior tribe.

In Mauritania there are three types of tribes: marabout tribes, warrior tribes, and merchant tribes. These tough warriors, whose pride had been stung, had waited in vain for a reaction from Sharīf Hamallah. Exasperated, they came to find him to ask him what should be done.

“Leave it to God to render justice,” was his response. For the moment, they accepted deferring any action, and things might have remained as they had been if their adversaries, seeing that no reaction was forthcoming, had not outdone themselves by now composing a new song, this one even more insulting than the first. It was addressed to all non-Tijani Moors and entitled “Come to the Rescue, Nothing Will Happen”—that is, you won’t have to risk anything. This new song was also spread all over the country.

This time it was too much for the young man’s uncles, who were particularly targeted through this poem. “Although Sharīf Hamallah may let himself be dragged through the mud,” they said, “we shall show our enemies that we have always been victorious over them.”

Having said that, they gathered a troop of warriors and left on a campaign against the tribe that had attacked their nephew. The provocation was bearing its fruits. They found the ones they were looking for at a place called Assaba, a place of sterile sand dunes. Alas, overcome with fury, they massacred their enemies on the spot. Hardly any of them escaped.

Feeling that they had now avenged their nephew, they immediately calmed down. When seven civil guards accompanied by a doctor came to arrest them, they showed no resistance, although they could easily have killed all of them. This shows that their action was a purely private one and had nothing to do with the “anti-French revolt” of which they were to be accused.

The reaction of the Administration was severe. Let us remember that this was 1940, the time when France was torn between Vichyists and Gaullists. To be accused of hostility towards France amounted to being accused of plotting with the enemy, the Gaullists in this case.

The Administration was sensitive to events in Europe and had been pushed to the brink by the enemies of the Sharīf who were portraying him as a dangerous rebel. They could not imagine that the reserve of this man came primarily from his detachment from purely worldly events. In striving to apply the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani to everything, he did not even want to react to the torture of his son. “If you receive blows, don’t return them.” Because they did not understand him, the Administration suspected the worst of him.

Once again, he was considered personally responsible for the events of Assaba. Not finding any proof of his participation in these events, and for good reason, it was not possible to bring the Sharīf into court. However, an administrative procedure was applied to his case which gave the Governor the right to deport him if he wanted to, according to his personal decision.

Very early one morning a group of guards came to get him. Dressed in a light cotton boubou, he walked in front of them. Even then, he did not react. Although only one word would have been necessary to raise thousands of men to defend him, he did not even go back into his house to get clothing, out of fear of waking his family; the cries of the women would have provoked a riot. So he followed the guards, never to return.

The few witnesses to this scene report that the only words he uttered were those that are pronounced during the pilgrimage and at the moment of death: “Rabbi labbayka! Rabbi labbayka!”(23) “Lord, here I am! Lord, here I am!” He was taken first to Gorée in Senegal, then to Cassaigne in Algeria, then to Vals-les-Bains in Ardèche (in France) before being transferred to Evaux. There he contracted a lung disease and was transported to the hospital of Montluçon where he died in January 1943.(24) He reposes in Montluçon, in the Eastern cemetery where his tomb has attracted more and more African pilgrims.

This was the outward destiny of Sharīf Hamallah, the man “whose feet rested very high above this earth.” It was necessary for us to trace out his life in order to throw light on the events of which Tierno Bokar would be the victim, events which were set into motion the very day after his meeting with Sharīf Hamallah.

Editor’s Footnotes:

(1)-Ta rīqa: literally “way.”This noun is the translation of order, congregation, or brotherhood (as applied to Sufism).

(2)-Twelve is supposed to be an emanation of “eleven” for arithmosophical reasons which are too involved to go into here.

(3)- The prayer The Pearl of Perfection (Jawharat al-kamāl) was revealed by the Prophet Muhammad in a vision to Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani one day in 1781 at Bar-Semghoum in Algeria, with the injunction to recite it eleven times, and it is thus that it is practiced in the mother zāwiya. The recitation of twelve times was introduced by the elder students of the founder of the order (see p. 44) and taken up again later by certain branches of the Tijaniyya, including the Umarian branch.

The importance of the number eleven comes from its signifi cance in Muslim numerological symbolism. Eleven is the number of pure spirituality and of esoterism because it symbolizes the unity of the creature bonded with the Unity of the Creator.

It is the key to mystic communion. This number plays a great role both in Muslim symbolism as well as in African traditions. The number twelve, which comes from eleven, symbolizes action in the world and sacrifice.

(4)-Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar was a student of Shaykh Tahir, who himself was a direct student of Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani and had been initiated by the latter.

(5)-Editor’s note: The story is told that a path of light, that is, an illuminated pathway like a light shining from above, had once led to Nioro and stopped there as an indication for people to understand the significance of the place.

(6)-The members of a tarīqa continue to be called “students” even when they have reached an advanced age and are themselves very learned. One then calls them “elder students.”

(7)-Each brotherhood (or tarīqa) thus possesses its own wird, which goes back to the saintly personage who founded the order, and through this latter, to the Prophet. We shall see in the appendix on brotherhoods (p. 211) that these awrād(pl. of wird) are not very different from one another, being essentially made up of prayers in praise of the Prophet and of dhikr, or repetitions of certain names of God. The recitation of the dhikr and of prayers specific to each tariqa should normally be “received” during initiation into the tarīqa, in order to be fully efficacious and not to run any spiritual risk. Each “chain” that emanates from the great spiritual masters extends, unbroken, back to the Prophet himself. A special spiritual energy, or baraka, which originates in God Himself, is transmitted through the Prophet to all the “links” of this chain. This spiritual energy is an aid on the path of spiritual development, but, as Shaykh Tadili, a great Sufi master of Morocco, has said, “The initiation gives you the key to the gate of the garden, but it is up to you to make the effort to cultivate the garden.”

(8)-Editor’s note: This renewing of one’s wird is not practiced in all Sufi orders, but does seem to have been widespread within the Tijani order.

(9)- The istikhāra is a supplication taught by the Prophet which one addresses to God to ask Him to remove an uncertainty, or to clarify a choice or an obscure point. Istikhāra is generally preceded by a fast. According to the severity of this fast, one distinguishes between single istikhāra and double istikhāra. It is the second one which is in question here. The response can come quickly or more slowly, directly or indirectly, in the form of a dream or in the form of an inspiration or a meaningful event. Sometimes it is a third party who receives the response in a dream in which he is told to transmit the message to the concerned person.

Advanced initiates and spiritual masters receive rapid and extremely precise responses. In general, they reserve this type of supplication for very serious situations and avoid using it for personal gain. This is because of their “courteousness” and modesty towards God.

(10)-Griots constitute a particular caste, made up of troubadours, poets, and musicians, but also of genealogists who know how to sing the great feats of the ancestors of a family. They live off the donations that the nobles have traditionally been obliged to give them and they are often attached to a family. As the “living memory” of the community, their role in African society is extremely important. However, because they are “masters of language,” it can happen that their influence on those who listen to them is not always positive, to the extent that the griots may stir up pride (in the negative sense).

(11)-This expression is common in African languages and has nothing pejorative about it.

(12)-Qutbuya—a noun derived from qutb(pole). The term, which is untranslatable in French [and English as well], refers to everything having to do with the Pole.

(13)-In the turuq(pl. oftarīqa), a shaykh has the power to appoint muqaddams.

(14)-Like all the events that took place at Nioro at the time, this scene was reported to me by an eyewitness, Kisman Doucouré, a marabout of Marka [ethnicity] from Nioro who had received his wird from the hands of Shaykh Muhammad al-Akhdar. The details of what transpired between the Shaykh and Sharīf Hamallah during the private meeting were moreover confirmed to me by Moulay Ismail, who heard them from the Sharīf himself.

(15)-This information was given to me by a direct witness, Gata Bâ, a member of the royal family of Denianke. A prominent merchant who had played an important role in Senegal and in the French Soudan, Gata Bâ left for Abidjan after independence.

(16)-Paul Marty was in charge of Muslim Affairs: Études sur l’Islam et les tribus du Soudan, vol. IV, p. 218.

(17)-This does not mean astrological or astronomical planetary cycles but numerological cycles linked to the symbolism of the planets.

(18)-Sofa: a name given to the warriors around a chief. Most often they belong to foreign ethnic groups.

(19)-The Tukolor are made up of two great families, the Taals and the Thiams, traditional rivals of one another.

(20)-The two emissaries were Bokar Yaya Dem and Karamogo Babali.

(21)-Editor’s note: The “Front Populaire” was a broad coalition of left-wing parties that won the French National Assembly election of 1936 and stayed in power until 1938. While in power, they changed many previous government policies.

(22)-Translator’s note: Mechoui means roasted meat. In some areas of Africa, meat is cooked in a clay pot buried in the sand or earth. To “have a mechoui” can also refer to having a large family or communal celebration at which one or several whole animals are roasted on a spit.

(23)-Editor’s note: The talbiya(i.e. the formula labbayka) literally means “at thy service.” It is repeated by all pilgrims to Mecca to state that they are performing this rite to fulfill their religious obligations and to renounce any egotistical reasons that they might have besides the pure service of God. Here, it is Sharīf Hamallah’s way of acknowledging that this turn in his destiny is of God’s design and that he accepts his fate. He puts himself utterly into the hands of God and states that even in this ordeal he intends to serve God’s will.

(24)-Dr. Charles Pidoux, who later became our friend, was at this time sequestered in Evaux for political reasons. He got to know Sharīf Hamallah there and provided us with a precious eyewitness account of the end of the Master’s life. It was thanks to the Doctor that we were able to find the tomb of the Sharīf in Montluçon.

Source:

“Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar”, by Ahmadou Hampate Ba.

Published by: World Wisdom, Inc (2008).

Edited by: Roger Gaetani

Introduction by: Louis Brenner

Translation by: Fatima Jane Casewit

THE CONCISE HAGIOGRAPHY OF SHAYKH SHARIFF AHMAD HAMAHULLAH (RA)

By: Abu Mufaddil Fadlullah bn Shuaib Awojobi

THE ENIGMATIC TIJANIYYA SCHOLAR OF 20^TH CENTURY: SHAYKHANA AHMAD

HAMAU'LLAH (RTA)

By: Abu Mufaddil Fadlullah bn Shuaib Awojobi

BIRTH:

The birth of great, sagacious, quintessential Rijaal (Sages) are blessings to mankind especially those that dine and wine with them. One of the most illustrious Kawakib (Stars) was descended to the well-known town of light called Nioro is:

Mawlana Shaykhana Wasilatana Ahmad bn Muhammad bn Sidna Umar, Shaykh Sharif (RTA), was born in early 1880's (1881*; 1883**) into Tisihiiti Sharifian family of Mauritania.

He was born about 30km away fron Mauritania on the desert of Nioro du sahel before the colonial boundary created. The expected Tijani leader was born by Sharif lineage father called Sidi Muhammad and, a merchant Fulani (Peul) mother known as Aishatu with local named "Badiallo".

On his birthday, great things happened in the town of Nioro. May Allah give us the Baraka of ashraaf, Aameen. He was named "AHMAD" son of Muhammad. His name, his father's name including his mother were corroborated with that of our enigmatic spiritual leader, the founder of great path, the path of sages, Shaykhana Wasilatana Ahmad Tijani 1737-1815 (RTA).

His sobriquet was Hamau'llah meaning 'Protected by God' due to the complex challenges faced by marabouts and their allies, the French government.

EDUCATIONAL UPBRINGING:

Shaykhana Ahmad 'Himayatul Rahman', the man of inestimable transcendence and incalculable wisdom, was nurtured under parental and family cares. He attended Madrasa (school) to study Islamic science-Qur'an, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, and other scholastic books.

At tender age of 8, a resplendent light had shown on him. A mystic whom was a merchant saw him and asked his teacher thus, 'who brought this child?'

His teacher responded; subsequently the mystic said, this young lad had been blessed with divine, astral scroll knowledge. At 12years, he became a gentle scholar of Islamic science like Shaykhana Ahmad Tijani.

SPIRITUAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Shaykh Hamallah as fondly called, Kibritul ahmar (Red Ruby) engaged in immense, incalculable spiritual explorations, trending the retreat path of his spiritual predecessors...may Allah sanctify their secrets, Aameen.

“Never say you can’t be like predecessors, indeed if you tread their path you will become one."

During his prodigious, deep spiritual quest, Sidina Shaykh Muhammad b Ahmad b Abdullah al-Akhdar (RTA), a pragmatic Tijani Sharif of Touat/Tuwat discovered him to be the Pole (Qutb) of bastion baton entrusted to him by Mawlana Shaykh (Amir) Tahir bu Tayyiba at-Tilmisani (Tlemence, Algeria), died 1878CE (RTA), via Shaykhana Ahmad Tijani Qutbul Maktuum (the concealed pole).

Shaykh Tahir was Amir in Tijaniyya league. A staunch follower and one of the closest associate of Qutb al-Aqtab (Pole of poles), Sidnaa Abul Abass Ahmad Tijani. He travelled far and wide with Abul Abbas Tijani during the earliest course.

ELEVEN BEADS & FRANCOPHILE CHALLENGES:

The 3 most influential leaders of 11 beads 'Jawharatul kamal' faced serious persecutions from French government and her Francophile.

Sidi Tahir bu Tayyiba was strongly challenged by French government and Tijani-Francophile marabouts; going against their authority.

Sidi Tahir at-Tilmisan in Algeria was alleged to conspire with Amir Abd Qadir to revolt against French government. What a clash of spiritual leadership!

Moreover, Sidi Muhammad Akhadar was not left out by the Francophile attack. He was banished in Nioro along with his 2 students, but later lifted it. He transcended/passed on in 1909. Allah says speak not of his servants as dead, rather they alive you perceive not (Q2:154).

The great preacher of Rayy, near present Tehran, the mystic Yahya ibn Mu’adh (d.871) spoke oft-repeated expression:

“Death is beautiful, for it joins the friend with the friend!”

Thus, the spiritual stoicism baton shifted to Shaykh Ahmad Hamallah.

Politics of spiritual leadership continues....

HAMALLAH & THE MARABOUTIC IMBROGLIO:

Shaykh Ahmad Hamaullah, a quite reserved, revered, spiritual embodiment sage, was considered threat to the French government due to his silence on many factors. There were different attacks from different angles.

Some western scholars wrote condemnable articles trying to defame his character and personality; the other Tijanis alleged him of un-orthodox to Tijaniyya league. French government also tagged his group of Socio-political movement to usurp French expansion rather than being a Religious gathering.

What a serious challenge facing the Pole leader of 11 nuts Tijaniyya of 20th century!

THE SCROLL "JAWHARAT AL KAMAL" PARLANCE:

Jawharatul kamal, the highly extolled prayer of Tijanis, was given to Shaykhana Ahmad Tijani to be included in his daily wazifa (office) prayer. This Salaat must not be recited without ablution, rather salaatul fathi 20 in lieu.

Initially, Jawharatul Kamal (jewel of perfection) of 11 beads was performed by Shaykh Tijani; the last one making 12 was recited by raising hands in welcoming their folks.

Furthermore, Shaykh Ahmad Hamau'llah said, “Jewel of perfection recited 12 is not by error but, he will stick to the originator code.” The number of Jawharatal Kamal contentions could be found in the first Jawahir al-ma'ani (Faslu awwal baab raabih), also reinforced in Kitab al Jami' by Muhammad Ibn al-Mushri.

ZAWAYA & THE POLITICS:

Many zawaya (sufis’ centres) sprang up without attached/coined names, until Politics of leadership and authorization emerged among Tijanis-Rabbaniyya, Umariyya, Kamaliyya, Hamawiyya, Ibrahimiyya and likes. Each Zawaya was addressed by its locality i.e Zawiya Tamasinni, Zawiyya Ain madi, Zawiya Tilmisani.

HAMAWIS & THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT:

Shaykhana Abu Muhammad Hamau'Llah and his followers suffered various persecutions from Vichy government and allies in Nioro, Mali.

Hysteric maneuvering of the 1920's conflicts. The colonial imperialists exiled stoic leader of Hamawiyya to the first exile of ten years. Though, Himayatul Rahman was not linked directly but could not do without arrest him. He was exiled like Shaykh Ahmad Bamba Mbacke Serigne, 1853-1927, that linked Cheikh Fadilu bn Mamin, 1795-1868, founder of Fadiliyya-Qadiriyya order.

Shaykh (in French Cheikh) Ahmad Bamba Mbacke (RA), the founder of Muridiyya order, was exiled twice like assiduous Hamallah. First exile was 1895-1902 and the second one commenced a year after first and lasted 4 years. Many power of karamat (miracles) were really shown.

1ST EXILE OF SHAYKH HAMALLAH:

Shaykhana Hamau'llah was arrested on christmas day 1925. He was immediately transferred, from St. Louis, Senegal to Mederdra in Mauritania, later moved to Adzope in Cote d'ivore for another reason. During the exile, Hamallah was highly honoured. People trooped out in multitude to accept his wird from various French West Africa nations. People of calibre and timber, among were 'Ulama and Senegalese politicians, joined his spiritual vehicle. Cheikh Hamallah was released in 1936.

2ND EXILE OF SHAYKH HAMALLAH:

Around 1938, an attack was launched against the eldest son of erudite Hamallah, Sidi Umar 1913-1941, by Tinwayiju members-the major opposition of Hamallist, as often called by French.

In late July/early August 1940, a fatal reprisal attacked was initiated, led by 2 sons (Sidi Umar and Sidi Ahmad) and, number of men. The French government under Vichy regime was forced to another exile, and nearly 30 aggressors were punished severely. In fact, many unlinked Muqadams and Mureeds were also detained into various camps like Shaykh Abdullah bn Muhammad Amin al-Dukre (RA), 1885-1974, later released in 1957. Cheikh Muhammad al Amin bn Talib bn al Akhtar too was arrested and died in detention in January 1937.

In 1941, Shaykhana Hamau'llah was flown in Military aircraft enroute Dakar, Senegal to Cassaigne in Algeria. Mawlay Hamaullah was seriously humiliated in the presence of the French High commissioner and Vichy cohort marabouts. What a serious politics!

In 1942 another politics ensnared. The renowned Shaykh of reference locus, Shaykh Abu Hammed Hamaullah, was again deported out of Africa soil to the land of French dictators’, Valsles-Bains, France.

Before his departure, manifestation of the concentric body secrets in mirror happened – Mawlay Shaykh Ahmad bn Muhammad Hamaullah appeared in all aircrafts on the tarmac. And left a valuable statement on marble thus: Even if they kill, pound and dry him, and eventually throw him into the sea, his secrets will remain.

IN THE LAND OF ALLIENS:

Subject of high concerns, French government deprived people to have access to Mawlay Shaykh Hamallah documentary file in government archive, strictly non granta. Why?

In Jan. 1943, French government claimed that Shaykh Hamallah died amidst controversial and contradictory reports. What could have happened? The like of controversial warlord Shaykh Hajj Umar Tal 1794-1864 of Futa Toro region, the leading figure of 12 pearl of perfection, was said to have died while his cave was exploded by the enemies’ gunpowder. The circumstances surrounded his demise, the scarred bodies of his mureed (followers) were found intact, but that of Shaykh Umar Tal couldn’t be found. What a mysterious disappearance!

Colonial imperialists said,’ he was secretly buried in a single confined graveyard in Mutlucon, France.’

Unsolved riddle!

Life vault has everything you've ever wanted; it is encoded with Divine DNA, only You can decipher or remains closed in your heart. Frantically speaking, the Blessed Heart has many secrets.

Where was Shaykh Hamallah?

The renowned poet, Jalaludeen Rumi 1207-1273 said:

... Seek your resting place, Not in the earth but in the heart of men.

The erudite scholar of all time, Qutb al waqt, Hamau'Llah (Protected by God), Nuur ul Saraair (Light of Mysteries), waliyy kaamilan wa mukashifan (complete friend of God and the unveiled one) remained in thin air of his Lord.

Allah Baatin Mudabbir!

More to come...In shaa Allah!

Source:

* Al yaqut wal marjan fi hayat shaykhina Himayatul Rahman, by Ibn Mu'adh.

* Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar, by Ahmadou Hampate Ba

Compiled by; Sidi Phadlan Awojobi

For comments:

Email: phadlancoded@gmail.com

Whatsapp/Call: +2348037253415

SHAYKH AHMAD HAMAHULLAH (MALI)

via: Arabic Literature of Africa (ALA), Volume 4 (The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa), 2003 ~ Hamahullah and his Community

By: Professor John O. Hunwick

He was born in Nioro of an Arab father and a servile Fulani mother in 1883. He became a disciple of Sidi Muhammad wuld Ahmad wuld Abdullah al-Akhdar, a Tijani sharif of Tuwat who had settled in Nioro, and who taught that a prayer Jawharatul Kamal was to be recited only eleven times in the wazifa rather than twelve, the majority Tijani practice.

The seemingly minor ritual difference was to mark out its practitioners as a "misunderstood" group, both in the eyes of fellow Tijanis and the French.

Hamahullah himself was a quietist ascetic teacher who avoided contact with the French, contrary to the Umarian Tijanis whose closeness to the French administration had eventually assured them a favoured position.

....Incidents involving Umarians and followers of Hamahullah in 1917, 1923 and 1924 led to the French exiling Hamahullah to Mederdra in Southern Mauritania in 1925.

....He was sent off to the Ivory Coast for the remaining part of his ten years exile. At this time he also began the abbreviated prayer of two rak'as sanctioned for times of danger.

After Shaykh Hamaahullah's return to Nioro in 1935, tensions with Tinwajiiyu escalated and in 1940 some of his disciples perpetrated a revenge.

The French undertook their own reprisals....

Although Shaykh Hamahullah disavowed and condemned the massacre as contrary to his teachings, he was exiled, first to Algeria and later to France where he died in 16 January 1943.

His most prominent disciple was Cerno Bokar Salif, whose own disciples included the writer and historian Ahmadu Hampate Ba, Modibo Keita (President of Mali), Diori Hamani (President of Niger) and Boubou Hama (historian, and President of the National Assembly of Niger).

A zawiyya of the (Hamawiyyah) movement was maintained at Nioro du Sahel, headed until 1972 by Hamahullah's son Ahmad, and now by his sole surviving son Muhammad. It is a place of annual visitation during the mawlid of the Prophet.

Literature on the Hamawiyyah;

Al-Yaaquutat wa'l marjaan fii mad'hi hayaat Shaykhinaa Himaayat al-Rahmaan,....by Muhammad ibn Mu'adh

Further reading;

The Hamahullah Group: A Sub-Tijaniyyah Movement and its Traces in Nigeria.

By: Professor Y. A. Quadri (University of Ilorin, Nigeria)

Published in:

Islamic Studies Quarterly Journal. Vol. xxiv Summer 1405/1985 No.2. Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad-Pakistan

SUFI BOOKS BY/ON SHAYKH IBRAHIM NIASSE AND THE TIJANI TARIQAH (AVAILABLE FOR SALE)

1. Vessel of Spiritual Flood, Translation of Goran Faydah by Shaykh Balarabe Haroon Jega - (Translated by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)

2. Rihlat Konakriyah (A trip to Conakry), Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse - (Translated by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)

3. Shariah and Haqeeqah: In the Light of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions (Compiled by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)

4. The Icon of Mystics: Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse Al-Kawlakhy (Compiled by Khalifah Awwal Baba Taofiq)

5. Kano Conferences (Majlis Kano) and the khutba titled (Hadiqat al-Anwar fii ma ihtawa alayhi qawaaid al-Islam minal hikam wal asrar) - (Translated by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)

6. Katsina and Kaduna Conferences (Jadhbul ahbab ila hadrat Rabbil arbab) and Mecca Conference - (Translated by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)

7. A Brief Biography of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibrahim Niasse (Compiled by Sayyidah Bilqis Grillo)

8. Risalat at-Tawbah (Epistle of Repentance) of Shaykh Ibrahim Niyass al-Kawlakhi" – (Translation & Commentary by Dr. Razzaq Solagberu)

9. Islamic Law of Inheritance, by Sayyid Ali ibn Abubakar al-Muthanna ibn Abdullah Niasse (Translated by Dr. Sulaiman Shittu)

10. Muassasah Nasr al-'ilm Int. (AAII) Magazines No. 13, 14 & 15 (with Articles like Outline of Life of Sufi Heros & Heroines like Shaikh Ibrahim Niasse, Shaikh Abdus-Salam Oniwiridi Pakata, Shaikh Muhammad Bello Eleha, Shaikh Ahmad Rufa'i Nda Salati, and others...this magazines also features other interesting Articles).