| Oumar Foutiyou Tall | |
|---|---|
| El Hadji, Khalifa, Amir al-Mu'minin | |
 | |
| Reign | 1852–1864 |
| Successor | Ahmadu Tall |
| Born | Oumar Tall c. 1796 Futa Tooro, Senegal |
| Died | 14 February 1864(1864-02-14) (aged 67–68) Bandiagara Escarpment |
| Issue | Ahmadu Tall |
| Religion | Tijaniyyah Islam |
Hadji Oumarûl Foutiyou Tall (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd al-Fūtī Ṭaʿl,Arabic:حاج عمر بن سعيد الفوتي طعل,c. 1794 – 1864CE), born inFuta Tooro, present-day Senegal, was a SenegaleseTijani sufiToucouleur Islamic scholar and military commander who founded the short-livedToucouleur Empire, which encompassed much of what is nowSenegal,Mauritania,Guinea andMali.[1]
Omar Tall’s name is spelt variously: in particular, his first name is commonlytransliterated in French asOmar, although some sources preferUmar; thepatronymic,ibn Saʿīd, is often omitted; and the final element of his name,Tall (Arabic:طعل), is spelt variously asTall,Taal orTal.
ThehonorificEl Hadj (alsoal-Hajj orel-Hadj), reserved for a Muslim who has successfully made theHajj toMecca,[2] precedes Omar Tall's name in many texts, especially those in Arabic. Later he also took on the honorificsAmir al-Mu'minin,Khalifa,Qutb (pole of the universe), vizier of theMahdi,Khalifat Khatim al-Awliya (successor of the seal of saints), andAlmami (Imam).[1]
Omar Tall was born about 1794 in Halwar in theImamate of Futa Toro (present-daySenegal), the tenth of twelve children.[3] His father was Saidou Tall, from the Torodbe lineage, and his mother was Sokhna Adama Aissatou Thiam.
Omar Tall attended amadrassa before embarking on the Hajj in 1828, during which he learned from the scholars ofAl Azhar University. While inMecca he stayed withMuhammad al Ghali [fr], the head of the Tijaniyyah order, who made him amuqaddam (commander) of the order with a commission to destroy paganism in the Sudan.[4] He returned in 1830 as amarabout with the titleEl Hadj and assumed thekhalifa of the TijaniyyaSufi order in theSudan. El-Hadj took the Tijani honorificKhalifat Khatim al-Awliya. This authority would become the basis of the authority necessary to lead Africans.[5]
When returning from the Hajj, he camped nearDamascus, where he metIbrahim Pasha, Omar Tall befriended the Pasha and healed his son from a deadly fever. The trends set by the Pasha highly inspired Omar Tall.[citation needed]
Settling inSokoto from 1831 to 1837, he entered into a polygynous marriage, with one of the women being the daughter of theFula caliph of theSokoto Caliphate,Muhammed Bello. In 1837, Omar Tall moved to theImamate of Futa Jallon and founded his religious settlement at Jegunko in 1840. Omar Tall claimed a transcendental personal authority. He denied the importance of adherence to amadhhab and favouredijtihad or personal religious judgment. He taught that a believer should follow the guidance of a Sufishaykh who has immediate personal knowledge of the divine truth. Even though Omar Tall never took the title of eithermujaddid orMahdi, he was regarded as such by his followers. He became theTorodbe ideal of religious revival and conquest of pagans.[1]
Omar Tall's message appealed to a large cross-section of the Sahelian population in the mid-19th century, includingFula,Soninke, Moors, and others. Many lower-class people had grievances against local religious or military elites. Slaves aspired to gain freedom fighting for Islam. Rootless individuals of mixed ethnic backgrounds found new social identities and opportunities. Communities under the power of Europeans looked to Tall to drive off the foreigners.Marabout families hoped to gain political power in addition to their religious influence.[6][1]
His growing power and number of followers caused tension with the leaders of the Imamate.[1][4] In 1851 he moved his community to found the city ofDinguiraye in what was then theKingdom of Tamba. The king, Yambi, granted him the land in return for a yearly payment.[7]: 107 Soon, however, Tall's continued stockpiling of weapons began to worry the Tamba leaders as well. After a series of emissaries to Tall were rebuffed, and one prominent griot even converted to Islam, Yambi pre-emptively attacked the community but was defeated in September 1852.[7]: 103 : 108
With his victory in Tamba, Tall proclaimed a jihad against pagans, lapsed Muslims, European intruders, and the backsliding rulers ofFuta Toro and Futa Jallon.[1] As his army scored victories, he reinforced his army with the recruits who flocked to Dinguiraye and English guns purchased inSierra Leone with the spoils of war.[4]
Omar Tall pressed on into what is today the region ofKayes in Mali, conquering several cities and building atata (fortification) near the city of Kayes which is today a populartourist destination.[8] He conqueredBambouk, then seizedNioro du Sahel, the capital ofKaarta, in April 1855, which became his capital.[4]
Next, Omar Tall turned west towardsFuta Toro,Gajaaga andBundu. This brought him into conflict with the French who were attempting to establish their commercial supremacy along theSenegal river. Tall besieged the Frenchcolonial army atMedina Fort. The siege failed on July 18 1857 whenLouis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrived with relief forces. In 1860 Omar Tall made a treaty with the French that recognized his, and his followers', sphere of influence in Futa Toro and assigned them theBambara states ofKaarta andSegu.[1]
Prevented from expanding in the west by the French, Omar Tall turned East. He conquered the importantBambara cities ofNyamina andSansanding, followed by Ségou on 10 March 1860.[4][9] When Segu fell, their king, Ali Diara (Bina Ali), fled toHamdullahi[10] taking with him the traditional idols of the royal family.[11]
While Omar Tall's wars thus far had been against theanimist Bambara or the Christian French, he now turned his attention to the smaller Islamic states of the region. Installing his sonAhmadu Tall asimam of Segu, Omar Tall marched down theNiger to attack theMassina Empire ofHamdullahi. This was controversial, as attacking a fellow Muslim power was forbidden.[4]Ahmad al-Bakkai al-Kunti, of the Qadari Sufi order, led a coalition of local states to resist this invasion, denounced as an illegitimate war of Muslims on Muslims. The coalition includedinter alia,Masina andTimbuktu.[citation needed]
More than 70,000 died[8] in the battles that followed. The most decisive was atCayawal, after whichAmadu III, the Masina king, was captured and executed.[7]: 105 Djenné fell quickly[10] followed by the final fall of Hamdullahi in May 1862.[10][12][13]
Now controlling the entire Middle Niger, Omar Tall moved againstTimbuktu, only to be repulsed in 1863 by a combined force ofTuaregs,Moors, andFulas.[14] In 1863, the coalition inflicted several defeats on Omar Tall's army, ending up killing Tall's generals Alpha Umar (Alfa 'Umar), Thierno Bayla and Alfa 'Uthman.[15][16]
Meanwhile, a rebellion broke out in the Masina lands led byBa Lobbo, cousin of executed Masina monarchAmadu III. In suppressing the revolt during the spring of 1863, Omar Tall reoccupied the city of Hamdullahi, and in June Ba Lobbos's combined force of Fulas andKountas besieged Omar Tall's army there.[17] They capturedHamdallahi in February 1864. Omar Tall fled and managed to make it to a cave in Degembere (in theBandiagara Escarpment[18]) where he died on 14 February 1864.[15][17][19]
Omar Tall's nephewTidiani Tall succeeded him in retaking Massina, though his sonAhmadu Tall, operating out of Ségou, did much of the work in keeping the empire intact. Nonetheless, the French continued to advance, conquering Nioro in 1891.[4] Omar Tall's jihad state was completely absorbed into the growing French West African empire.[1]
Omar Tall remains a prominent figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, though his legacy varies by country. While many Senegalese tend to remember him as a hero of anti-French resistance, Malian sources tend to describe him as an invader who prepared the way for the French by weakening West Africa.[citation needed] Omar Tall also figures prominently inMaryse Condé'shistorical novelSegu.
He remains to this day an influential figure in theTijaniyya and other reformist movements, which stressed the importance of Muslim orthopraxy. Omar Tall's state forbade dancing, the use of tobacco, alcohol, charms, pagan ceremonies, and the worship of idols. Many un-Islamic practices were banned. These laws were also very strictly enforced, especially the ban on alcohol. Omar Tall abolished uncanonical taxes and replaced them withzakat, land taxes, andjizya. Polygamists were restricted to only four wives. Omar Tall, however, was uninterested in the logistical aspects of inculcating Islam such as building courts, madrassahs, and mosques. The primary function of Omar Tall's state was predatory warfare, slaving, the accumulation of booty, and the reform of morals.[1] In Senegambia, his emphasis during the “jihadic period” is remembered as "not resistance to the Europeans but the “destruction of paganism” in the Western Sudan."[20]
In November 2019, the French government returned the so-called sword of Omar Tall—which was the sword of Ahmadu Tall, Omar Tall's son—to the government of the Republic of Senegal. The sword was returned five years later. French MPs will vote later on permanently returning the sword.[21][22]
| Preceded by none | Leader of theToucouleur Empire 1850–1864 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Faama ofSégou 1861–1864 | Succeeded by |
{{cite book}}:|journal= ignored (help)| Main topics | |
|---|---|
| Mouride | |
| Tijaniyyah | |
| Qadiriyya (Xaadir) | |
| Layene | |
| Shia | |
| Mosques | |
| Other topics | |
