About Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba Mbacke.
Khadim ar-Rasul (The Servant of the Messenger)
© Sankore’ Institute 2004
Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba Mbacke was a descendant of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) who was born into a pious and scholarly family in 1854 in Senegambia, West Africa. From his infancy people saw signs that he was destined to be a great man of Allah the Exalted, it has been reported that he refused to nurse from his pious mother, Maryama “Jaratu’llah” Bousso, during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan. He memorized the Koran at an early age and mastered all of the sciences of Islam at the feet of his father, Muhammad ibn Habibu’llah Mbacke, and other great Senegambian scholars of his time. By the time he was fifteen, he had already composed Masalik al-Jannan Fi Jam’i Ma Farraqahu ad-Dayman, a profound and exhaustive poem of approximately 1,600 verses on the science of Tasawwuf in extremely eloquent Classical Arabic. Shaykh Ahmadu was blessed to compose hundreds of other works in Theology, Jurisprudence, Tasawwuf, Education, Praise of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and Arabic Grammar, probably making him the most prolific author throughout both Islamic and World History - producing an astonishing seven tons (that is, fifteen thousand pounds) of original compositions-all in poetry- that are preserved until the present day in the city of Touba, Senegal, which he founded.
The Shaykh is famous for his non-violent yet uncompromising resistance to the French occupation of Senegal and the hundreds of poems he composed praising the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and interceding with him in supplication to Allah, as a result he was favored with the title “Khadim ar-Rasul.”
While his blessed life ended in 1927 his ocean of works and teachings continue to educate, inspire, and most importantly connect Muslims to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace).
You are right to point that Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba was the most prolific author of all time. He wrote a myriad of books, treatises and poems on various aspects of knowledge ranging from theology, jurisprudence, Sufism, Islamic sociology, moral philosophy, Arabic grammar etc. He was also the first advocate of non-violence prior to Mahatma Ghandi and Dr Martin Luther King. His universal teaching and high human values earned him international acclaim. In the U.S many Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Days are celebrated in many states and in Europe as well.
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