Odyssey by Land

This chapter shows how hagiographic ʿAjamī sources present the last twenty-five years of Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba’s life. The period is termed the “odyssey by land” in Murīd sources and includes his second exile to Mauritania (1903–1907) and successive house arrests (1907–1927). This phase is now referred to in the academic literature as “the accommodation” phase because of the improved relations between Bamba and the French colonial administration during this period. The chapter uncovers the tangible and spiritual meaning of this phase in Murīd hagiographic ʿAjamī sources and shows how they interpret the change of attitude of the French, the expansion of Bamba’s Ṣūfī movement to encompass his local adversaries, and its flourishing, as the fulfillment of his prophecies and evidence of his supreme sainthood purchased with exemplary ethical and spiritual virtues.

Geography · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Environmental Science · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories