Mamadu Diakhou Bâ (1809 – July 1867) was a Muslim leader inSenegambia (West Africa) during the 19th century. He was a disciple of theTijaniyya Sufi brotherhood and became theAlmami ofSaloum.
Maba Diakhou Bâ combined political and religious goals in an attempt to reform or overthrow previous animist monarchies, and resist French encroachment. He is a part of a tradition ofFulani jihad leaders whorevolutionized many West African states during the 19th century.
In the 19th century, he became a prominent Muslim cleric andslave trader and pillager of non-Muslim states.[1]
A descendant of theFulaniDenianke Dynasty, Amath Ba was born in 1809 in the region of Rip, also known asBadibou. His grandfather had immigrated fromFuta Toro, and the family were all teachers of theQuran. Maba studied inCayor and taught inKingdom of Jolof, his mother's native land, where he married a member of the royal family.[4] In 1846, he likely metEl Hadj Umar Tall, who named him the Tijani leader for the region.[5] He returned to Rip around 1850, and spent ten years teaching and preaching in the village ofKeur Maba Diakhou nearKaolack.[4]
During this time, French forces under governorFaidherbe had carried out a scorched-earth policy against resistance to their expansion inSenegambia, with villages razed and populations removed after each victory.
The king of Badibou (Rip) in the 1850s was entitledMansa Jeriba. He was a weak ruler, and his warriors would frequently raidmarabout villages in the area. Maba was the court marabout, frequently making amulets and praying for the king, but also attempting to weaken him by magical means and stockpiling weaponry.[6] When the marabouts retaliated against theceddo (animist) warriors for a raid, the king tried to crush them but Maba and histalibes (students) defeated them. This success attracted more supporters, and by 1861 Maba controlled all of Rip. At this point he launched his jihad intoSerer territory and soon controlled most ofSaloum and part ofNiumi.[7] He founded the city ofNioro as his capital, named after El Hadj Umar'scapital.[8]
In 1862, the formerDamel ofCayorMacodou Coumba Fall took refuge with Maba. Twice their combined forces defeated Fall's son Samba Laobe, theMaad Saloum, but on October 2nd they failed to take the French fortifications atKaolack, where Laobe had taken refuge. Still, Maba now controlled most of Saloum, and enforced his interpretation of Islam throughout the country, burning and enslaving villages that resisted. In 1863 a group of animistMandinka chiefs of Rip, assisted byKiang andWuli, counter-attacked and defeated the marabout forces atKwinella.[5]
In May 1864,Lat Dior, Damel of Cayor, was overthrown by a French-supported rival. Maba Diakhou Bâ offered him asylum, and converted Dior and his soldiers from the traditional Tièddo syncretic beliefs to rigorous Islam. While his conversion may have been for reasons more political than spiritual, Lat Dior became a powerful ally. With his support, Maba's movement became more than a civil war in Saloum and grew to impact the entire region.[7] Maba would also convertAlboury Ndiaye, the Buur of theKingdom of Jolof, to Islam. This marked a decisive turning point in the history of Islam among theWolof.[9]
Maba's forces now numbered up to 11,000 fighting men. In October 1864 the French recognized him asAlmamy of Baddibu and Saloum.[9] In the spring of 1865 Lat Dior led an army to conquer theKingdom of Jolof, alarming the French.[10] The marabout forces repeatedly defeated the Jolof-Jolof, and entered the capital of Warkhokh in July. Maba attempted to build alliances with the neighboringEmirate of Trarza and theImamate of Futa Toro, threatening to unify Senegambia against the French, but a rebellion in Rip forced him to leave Jolof in October after burning several animist villages and enslaving the inhabitants.[5]
An alarmed French governorÉmile Pinet-Laprade marched onSaloum at the head of 1,600 regulars, 2,000 cavalry, and 4,000 volunteers and footsoldiers. At theBattle of Pathé Badiane outside of Nioro on November 30th, however, the marabout forces led by Lat Dior drove the French back towardsKaolack.[11]
As well as converting traditional states and their populations toIslam, Maba Diakhou Bâ's forces sought to abolish the traditional caste system of theWolof andSerer aristocratic states. In unifying with other Muslim forces, West African Jihad states aimed to end the reign of small regional kingships who kept the area in a constant state of war, and the farming and artisanal classes in slave conditions.[citation needed] This centralization caused friction within his realm, asMandinka people near theGambia river resented being ruled by Wolof judges from the north.[9] TheToucouleur Empire ofEl Hadj Umar Tall in Mali rose at about the same time had much the same goals, and Umar Tall himself was in contact with and recruited among Maba Diakhou Bâ's forces.[12]
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Maba was a prominent Muslim cleric and slave trader that ravaged non-Muslim states.[1] Historian, Professor Klein notes that, "When a British Emissary told him famine would result from his ravaging, he replied "God is our father, and has brought this war. We are in his hands."[1]
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In 1866, Maba Diakhou Bâ invaded theKingdom of Sine, still led by theanimistSererrulerKumba Ndoffene Diouf. With a surprise attack he captured and burned the capital ofDiakhao. On April 20th 1867 he defeated and killed the French captain Le Creurer at Thiofack.[5] On July 18th, The Rip forces faced the Serer armies at theBattle of Fandane-Thiouthioune. A rainstorm rendered the Muslim guns useless, Maba's troops were routed and he himself was killed.[11]
With the continued resistance ofSine, much of Serer territory remained animist or Christian into the 20th century.Sine resistance was likely as much nationalist as religious, with Muslims and animists fighting on both sides of these struggles.[13]
Maba Diakhou Bâ is an important link in the tradition of Senegalese marabouts who trace their lineage toUmar Tall. This tradition has continued to the present, with such notables asEl Hadj Saidou Nourou Tall (the formergrand marabout ofFrench West Africa) theTivaouane-based Sy family ofEl Hadj Malik Sy (1855–1922), and the Niass family ofAbdoulaye Niasse [fr] (1840–1922) and his sonIbrahim in Kaolack. Tivaouane in the north among the Wolof and Kaolack among the Serer have become the two centers ofTijaniyyah Sufi teaching in Senegal, and both were founded as a direct result of Maba Diakhou Bâ's short-lived state.[13]: 67–68
He was interred in the village ofFandène (or Mbel Fandane), and his tomb, which has become a place of pilgrimage, is in theDiakhao Arrondissement, département ofFatick inSine-Saloum, Sénégal.
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