Ma‘afiri, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali al-
Ma‘afiri, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali al- (Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali al-Ma‘afiri) (d. 1208). Andalusian Maliki scholar. He is the author of a work called Biographies of Famous Women which deals primarily with women from the Umayyad period.
Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali al-Ma'afiri see Ma‘afiri, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali al-
Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali al-Ma'afiri see Ma‘afiri, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali al-
Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami (Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al-Qalqami) (1831/1840-1910). Scholar and religious and political leader of the Western Sahara. He organized a desert community, combined the roles of doctor, teacher, arbitrator and avenger, and wrote some 300 books. At least 30 of his major works are about Sufism.
Ma al-Aynayn was an important figure in the religio-political history of Mauritania and southern Morocco.
Ma al-Aynayn was the son of Muhammad Fadil, founder of the Fadiliyya Sufi brotherhood, a religious scholar and leader among the nomadic populations of northern Mauritania. Like his father, Ma al-Aynayn was head of the Fadiliyya, a noted scholar, and political leader. A prolific author, he is credited with over 140 books on a wide variety of topics.
A close ally and adviser of the sultans of Morocco from 1859, Ma al-Aynayn cooperated in the extension of Moroccan authority into the Western Sahara. Under Sultan Hassan I and his successor Abd al-Aziz, he organized resistance to imperialist incursions into the western Sahara by France and Spain.
At his death in 1910 he was succeeded by his son Ahmad Hibat Allah, known as "El Hiba."
Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al-Qalqami see Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Qalqami, Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al- see Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Qalqami, Ma' al-Aynayn al- see Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami (Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al-Qalqami) (1831/1840-1910). Scholar and religious and political leader of the Western Sahara. He organized a desert community, combined the roles of doctor, teacher, arbitrator and avenger, and wrote some 300 books. At least 30 of his major works are about Sufism.
Ma al-Aynayn was an important figure in the religio-political history of Mauritania and southern Morocco.
Ma al-Aynayn was the son of Muhammad Fadil, founder of the Fadiliyya Sufi brotherhood, a religious scholar and leader among the nomadic populations of northern Mauritania. Like his father, Ma al-Aynayn was head of the Fadiliyya, a noted scholar, and political leader. A prolific author, he is credited with over 140 books on a wide variety of topics.
A close ally and adviser of the sultans of Morocco from 1859, Ma al-Aynayn cooperated in the extension of Moroccan authority into the Western Sahara. Under Sultan Hassan I and his successor Abd al-Aziz, he organized resistance to imperialist incursions into the western Sahara by France and Spain.
At his death in 1910 he was succeeded by his son Ahmad Hibat Allah, known as "El Hiba."
Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al-Qalqami see Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Qalqami, Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al- see Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Qalqami, Ma' al-Aynayn al- see Ma’al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami
Ma‘arri
Ma‘arri (Abu’l-‘Ala’ Ahmad al-Ma‘arri) (al-Ma'ari) (Al-Ma‘arri) (Abu al-'Alā Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allāh ibn Sulaimān al-Tanūkhī al-Ma'arri) (December 26, 973 – May 10 or May 21, 1057). Arab poet and prose author from Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man. Although he lost his eyesight at the age of four or five, the defect was more than compensated by his extraordinary retentive memory. The poems of the first half of his life were collected in his The first spark of the tinder. Other famous titles are The self-imposed compulsion, relating to a peculiarity of rhyme, Letter of a horse and a mule, and The letter of forgiveness. A great deal of his work is supposed to have been lost during the Crusades.
Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi was born in Syria and lost his sight at the age of five due to smallpox. He then went on to study in Aleppo, Antioch, and other Syrian towns pursuing a career as a freethinker, philosopher and poet before returning to his native town of Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, where he lived the rest of his life.
Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi briefly travelled to the center of Baghdad where he drew a great following of disciples to listen to his lectures on poetry and grammar and rationalism. One of the recurring themes of this philosophy was the rights of reason against the claims of custom, tradition and authority.
Al-Ma'arri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the ancients," worthless except for those who exploit the credulous masses. He rejected all the claims of Islam as well as other religions stating: "Do not suppose the statements of the prophets to be true; they are all fabrications. Men lived comfortably till they came and spoiled life. The sacred books are only such a set of idle tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce."
Al-Ma'arri criticized many of the dogmas of Islam, such as the Hajj, which he called, "a heathen's journey." He viewed the ritualistic kissing of the black stone at Mecca as being the superstitious nonsense of religions that have only resulted in fanatical and sectarian bigotry and bloodshed to force their beliefs onto people at the point of a sword.
Al-Ma'arri's collections of poetry are titled The Tinder Spark (Saqt az-zand) and Unnecessary Necessity (Luzum ma la yalzam), He is also well known for his famous book, The Epistle of Forgiveness (Resalat Al-Ghufran), which is one of the most influential books on the Arabic heritage and which left a notable imprint on the next generations of writers. The Resalat Al-Ghufran is a book of divine comedy that concentrates on the Arabic poetical civilization but in a way that touches all aspects of life. The most interesting characteristics of Resalat Al-Ghufran are its genius digression, deep philosophy, and brilliant language. Some scholars believe that the Resalat Al-Ghufran clearly had an influence on Dante's Divine Comedy.
Ma'ari, al- see Ma‘arri
Abu’l-‘Ala’ Ahmad al-Ma‘arri see Ma‘arri
The Eastern Lucretius see Ma‘arri
Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi see Ma‘arri
Tanukhi, Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al- see Ma‘arri
Ma‘arri (Abu’l-‘Ala’ Ahmad al-Ma‘arri) (al-Ma'ari) (Al-Ma‘arri) (Abu al-'Alā Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allāh ibn Sulaimān al-Tanūkhī al-Ma'arri) (December 26, 973 – May 10 or May 21, 1057). Arab poet and prose author from Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man. Although he lost his eyesight at the age of four or five, the defect was more than compensated by his extraordinary retentive memory. The poems of the first half of his life were collected in his The first spark of the tinder. Other famous titles are The self-imposed compulsion, relating to a peculiarity of rhyme, Letter of a horse and a mule, and The letter of forgiveness. A great deal of his work is supposed to have been lost during the Crusades.
Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi was born in Syria and lost his sight at the age of five due to smallpox. He then went on to study in Aleppo, Antioch, and other Syrian towns pursuing a career as a freethinker, philosopher and poet before returning to his native town of Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, where he lived the rest of his life.
Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi briefly travelled to the center of Baghdad where he drew a great following of disciples to listen to his lectures on poetry and grammar and rationalism. One of the recurring themes of this philosophy was the rights of reason against the claims of custom, tradition and authority.
Al-Ma'arri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the ancients," worthless except for those who exploit the credulous masses. He rejected all the claims of Islam as well as other religions stating: "Do not suppose the statements of the prophets to be true; they are all fabrications. Men lived comfortably till they came and spoiled life. The sacred books are only such a set of idle tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce."
Al-Ma'arri criticized many of the dogmas of Islam, such as the Hajj, which he called, "a heathen's journey." He viewed the ritualistic kissing of the black stone at Mecca as being the superstitious nonsense of religions that have only resulted in fanatical and sectarian bigotry and bloodshed to force their beliefs onto people at the point of a sword.
Al-Ma'arri's collections of poetry are titled The Tinder Spark (Saqt az-zand) and Unnecessary Necessity (Luzum ma la yalzam), He is also well known for his famous book, The Epistle of Forgiveness (Resalat Al-Ghufran), which is one of the most influential books on the Arabic heritage and which left a notable imprint on the next generations of writers. The Resalat Al-Ghufran is a book of divine comedy that concentrates on the Arabic poetical civilization but in a way that touches all aspects of life. The most interesting characteristics of Resalat Al-Ghufran are its genius digression, deep philosophy, and brilliant language. Some scholars believe that the Resalat Al-Ghufran clearly had an influence on Dante's Divine Comedy.
Ma'ari, al- see Ma‘arri
Abu’l-‘Ala’ Ahmad al-Ma‘arri see Ma‘arri
The Eastern Lucretius see Ma‘arri
Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi see Ma‘arri
Tanukhi, Abu 'Ali al-Muhassin al- see Ma‘arri
Maassab, Hunein
Hunein Maassab (b. June 11, 1926, Damascus, - d. February 1, 2014, North Carolina) was the developer of nasal spray flu vaccine. He was born on June 11, 1926, in Damascus. His father was a jeweler. He enrolled at the University of Missouri, where he received a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1950 and a master’s in physiology and pharmacology in 1952. He then moved to Michigan, where he earned a master’s degree in public health in 1954 and his doctorate in epidemiology in 1956.
"John" Hunein F. Maassab was a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan since 1960 and served as the chairman from 1991-1997. He founded and directed the Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology program in the Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Maassab was a member of several scientific organizations including the American Public Health Association and the American Society of Microbiology and was a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Maassab had over 170 publications that range from studies on the basic biology of viruses to research on the development of methods to control viral infections.
"John" Hunein F. Maassab was a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan since 1960 and served as the chairman from 1991-1997. He founded and directed the Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology program in the Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Maassab was a member of several scientific organizations including the American Public Health Association and the American Society of Microbiology and was a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Maassab had over 170 publications that range from studies on the basic biology of viruses to research on the development of methods to control viral infections.
Dr. Maassab was awarded patents for the development of a cold-adapted influenza virus and for an attenuated respiratory syncytial virus. Dr. Maassab received the 1997 Award for Science and Technology from Popular Science for the development of the cold-adapted influenza virus. This discovery led him to develop a flu vaccine that can be administered by a nasal spray as an alternative to the "flu shot."
Influenza, commonly called "the flu," is an infection of the respiratory tract caused by the influenza virus. Compared with most other viral respiratory infections, such as the common cold, influenza infection often causes a more severe illness. Most people who get the flu recover completely in one to two weeks, but some people develop serious and potentially life-threatening medical complications, such as pneumonia. Between 25-50 million people in the United States are infected each year with the influenza virus. In an average year, infection with influenza virus is associated with 20,000 deaths nationwide and more than 100,000 hospitalizations. Approximately 90 million workdays are lost and 30 million school days are missed each year as a result of influenza.
Vaccination can prevent disease caused by influenza. Unlike vaccines used against other viruses such as measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, people need to be vaccinated annually against influenza. This is because the influenza virus often changes its genetic composition to evade the immune system of its host. Thus, people are susceptible to influenza virus infection throughout life. The current vaccine used for flu is a "killed" virus vaccine that is administered by injection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a flu shot for healthy adults over age 50 and high-risk children and adults. Unfortunately, less than one percent of healthy children and less than 30 percent of healthy adults, are routinely vaccinated. Achieving adequate flu protection is difficult because each year a new vaccine must be developed that is appropriate for the specific strainsof influenza likely to circulate. Currently, there is concern n the public health community regarding the timely supply of vaccine for the coming flu season.
In 1967, Dr. Maassab published a paper in the journal Nature describing the adaptation of an influenza virus for growth at a low temperature in culture. Importantly, this "cold-adapted" virus does not grow at higher temperatures such as those found in the lungs. However, the cold-adapted virus can replicate in the nasal passages where the temperature is lower. The cold-adapted virus cannot survive in the lungs where the body temperature is higher, and therefore cannot cause disease. The limited viral growth seen in the nasal passages may stimulate an immune response that may protect a person from infections from influenza viruses. This protection also prevents the spread of influenza to others.
Dr. Maassab developed an intranasal cold-adapted live virus vaccine that may provide promising alternative to the "flu shot." Using a nasal mist, an attenuated (weakened) live form of the influenza virus is sprayed into the nasal passages, where influenza viruses enter the body.
The public health significance of this finding for the development of an influenza vaccine was apparent. By using nasal mist technology to eliminate the fear of injections, this method may offer the first practical way to immunize children and adults on a large scale annually in the near future.
Maba
Maba. The Maba of eastern Chad constitute that nation’s largest non-Arab Muslim group. Like other Chadian Muslims, they are universally Sunni following the Maliki rite. Primarily a farming population, they number some 200,000 people in Chad, with several thousands living as immigrants or refugees in neighboring Sudan. Since their conversion to Islam in the seventeenth century, they have formed the nucleus of Wadai, today a province, but earlier a Muslim sultanate which came to dominate the eastern Chad Basin in the nineteenth century. After years of resistance, the Maba of Wadai were conquered by the French in 1911. A half-century of colonial rule did little to change their culture or to integrate them into the larger nation.
The heritage of Arab immigration, political centralization and Islam are linked in the area. Local traditions begin with a shadowy Daju dynasty replaced by the Tunjur Arabs at the end of the fifteenth century. Both of these groups play a part in the political traditions of the Fur and hence, may indicate the appropriation of a neighboring dynastic history. Clearly, small groups of Arab nomads had begun to move onto the Maba plateau in the fourteenth century. An alternating pattern of conflict and cooperation between nomad and farmer began (and continues to the present). Beyond dominating the Maba core area, the Tunjur apparently had little impact upon their subjects.
Liberation and conversion to Islam is said to have come at one stroke in the seventeenth century. A small group of Arabs led by Abd al-Karim, reputedly an Abbasid prince, allied themselves with Maba chiefs and overthrew the Tunjur. This victory and the foundation of Wadai represents an increase in Arab migration and Islamic influence in the region. The resulting kingdom, however, was not exclusively Arab, the bulk of whom remained nomadic and somewhat marginal to political life. From the capital of Wara and later Abeche, the rulers of Wadai and their Maba supporters enlarged their territory and hence their position as middlemen in the trans-Saharan and trans-continental trade. Military campaigns, particularly in the south, provided ivory and the hundreds of slaves exported northward each year. Pilgrims and merchants came from the west on their way to Red Sea ports. By the mid-nineteenth century, Wadai was the strongest state in central Sudan, and Abeche was a cosmopolitan Muslim capital. The presence there today of regional Sufi orders such as the Mirghaniyya (Sudan), Sanusiyya (Libya), Qadiriyya and the dominant Tijaniyya (West Africa) reflects Wadai’s central position.
The colonial conquest was traumatic. The French dismantled the traditional administrative system. Drought, famine and epidemics reduced the population by an estimated fifty percent by 1918. In the previous year, the French massacred about 100 Muslim scholars and their followers in Abeche. Despite its former prominence, Wadai became a remote corner of French Equatorial Africa. Its population remained largely semi-subsistence farmers and herdsmen. Children were far more likely to attend Quranic classes than the handful of colonial schools serving 1,000 students in a population of 455,000. Literacy (in French) was estimated at less than five percent. Colonial neglect was not rectified in the early independence government, dominated as it was by Christian southerners. The attitudes and policies of both groups have fueled a rebellion in the later part of the twentieth century.
Under French rule, Arab nomads were encouraged to settle and Maba began to accumulate herds, joining Arabs in seasonal migration. Increased allegiance to Islam and the diffusion of the Arabic language became a form of cultural resistance. The fuqura have been involved in both activities. In Maba villages near Abeche, Arabic has become the sole language, and villagers have established an Arab identity complete with fictive genealogies. In remoter areas, Arabic has become universally known. Arabization has continued since independence. The tradition of labor migrations to Sudan has reinforced ties with the larger Arab community, as has the revolt against the national government.
Armed opposition to the government of Francois Tombalaye began in central Chad in 1965, and then rapidly spread to the north and east including Wadai. Motives were complex. To the general resentment of northern Muslims towards a southern-dominated government was added opposition to the corruption of traditional chiefs and government bureaucrats, sectionalism and Islamic resurgence. The conflict was obscured by political rivalry, banditry and the changing foreign patrons of various factions. Maba participation was initially limited to émigrés in the Sudan who formed the Chadian Liberation Front (FLT), but the call for Muslim solidarity appealed to more and more Maba. In the first months of 1982, Abeche became the center for Hissene Habre’s forces, who have subsequently established tenuous control over the northern two-thirds of the country. Today, the Maba’s destiny in the war-torn country remained unclear.
Maba. The Maba of eastern Chad constitute that nation’s largest non-Arab Muslim group. Like other Chadian Muslims, they are universally Sunni following the Maliki rite. Primarily a farming population, they number some 200,000 people in Chad, with several thousands living as immigrants or refugees in neighboring Sudan. Since their conversion to Islam in the seventeenth century, they have formed the nucleus of Wadai, today a province, but earlier a Muslim sultanate which came to dominate the eastern Chad Basin in the nineteenth century. After years of resistance, the Maba of Wadai were conquered by the French in 1911. A half-century of colonial rule did little to change their culture or to integrate them into the larger nation.
The heritage of Arab immigration, political centralization and Islam are linked in the area. Local traditions begin with a shadowy Daju dynasty replaced by the Tunjur Arabs at the end of the fifteenth century. Both of these groups play a part in the political traditions of the Fur and hence, may indicate the appropriation of a neighboring dynastic history. Clearly, small groups of Arab nomads had begun to move onto the Maba plateau in the fourteenth century. An alternating pattern of conflict and cooperation between nomad and farmer began (and continues to the present). Beyond dominating the Maba core area, the Tunjur apparently had little impact upon their subjects.
Liberation and conversion to Islam is said to have come at one stroke in the seventeenth century. A small group of Arabs led by Abd al-Karim, reputedly an Abbasid prince, allied themselves with Maba chiefs and overthrew the Tunjur. This victory and the foundation of Wadai represents an increase in Arab migration and Islamic influence in the region. The resulting kingdom, however, was not exclusively Arab, the bulk of whom remained nomadic and somewhat marginal to political life. From the capital of Wara and later Abeche, the rulers of Wadai and their Maba supporters enlarged their territory and hence their position as middlemen in the trans-Saharan and trans-continental trade. Military campaigns, particularly in the south, provided ivory and the hundreds of slaves exported northward each year. Pilgrims and merchants came from the west on their way to Red Sea ports. By the mid-nineteenth century, Wadai was the strongest state in central Sudan, and Abeche was a cosmopolitan Muslim capital. The presence there today of regional Sufi orders such as the Mirghaniyya (Sudan), Sanusiyya (Libya), Qadiriyya and the dominant Tijaniyya (West Africa) reflects Wadai’s central position.
The colonial conquest was traumatic. The French dismantled the traditional administrative system. Drought, famine and epidemics reduced the population by an estimated fifty percent by 1918. In the previous year, the French massacred about 100 Muslim scholars and their followers in Abeche. Despite its former prominence, Wadai became a remote corner of French Equatorial Africa. Its population remained largely semi-subsistence farmers and herdsmen. Children were far more likely to attend Quranic classes than the handful of colonial schools serving 1,000 students in a population of 455,000. Literacy (in French) was estimated at less than five percent. Colonial neglect was not rectified in the early independence government, dominated as it was by Christian southerners. The attitudes and policies of both groups have fueled a rebellion in the later part of the twentieth century.
Under French rule, Arab nomads were encouraged to settle and Maba began to accumulate herds, joining Arabs in seasonal migration. Increased allegiance to Islam and the diffusion of the Arabic language became a form of cultural resistance. The fuqura have been involved in both activities. In Maba villages near Abeche, Arabic has become the sole language, and villagers have established an Arab identity complete with fictive genealogies. In remoter areas, Arabic has become universally known. Arabization has continued since independence. The tradition of labor migrations to Sudan has reinforced ties with the larger Arab community, as has the revolt against the national government.
Armed opposition to the government of Francois Tombalaye began in central Chad in 1965, and then rapidly spread to the north and east including Wadai. Motives were complex. To the general resentment of northern Muslims towards a southern-dominated government was added opposition to the corruption of traditional chiefs and government bureaucrats, sectionalism and Islamic resurgence. The conflict was obscured by political rivalry, banditry and the changing foreign patrons of various factions. Maba participation was initially limited to émigrés in the Sudan who formed the Chadian Liberation Front (FLT), but the call for Muslim solidarity appealed to more and more Maba. In the first months of 1982, Abeche became the center for Hissene Habre’s forces, who have subsequently established tenuous control over the northern two-thirds of the country. Today, the Maba’s destiny in the war-torn country remained unclear.
Maba Diakhou Ba
Maba Diakhou Ba (Ma Ba Diakhu) (Prophet Maba) (1809 at Tavacaltou - July, 1867) was a religious and military leader who was responsible for the spread of Islam in much of the Senegambia.
The Prophet Maba was a Quranic scholar of the Tukolor clerical class. He was raised in the Mandingo states of the Senegambia. Maba’s family came from Futa Toro in present day Senegal, a center for the dispersion of Islam in West Africa. A descendant of the Fulani dynasty of Denyankobe, from the branch of the Ba family in the region of Badibou, Maba Diakhou Ba combined political and religious goals in an attempt to reform or overthrow previous animist monarchies, and resist French encroachment. He is in the tradition of Fulani jihad leaders who revolutionized the states of West Africa at the time of colonization.
Around 1850, Maba met the famous Islamic revolutionary, al-Hajj Umar. It is believed that al-Hajj Umar made Maba the representative of the rapidly developing Tijani Islamic brotherhood for the Senegambia. Also around this time, the people of the Gambia states were divided into two factions -- the Soninke who were non-Muslims or apathetic Muslims and the Marabout who were orthodox Muslims. The Prophet Maba was a member of the Marabout sect.
Maba soon founded his own town, Kirmaba, and began to gather his own followers. In 1861, Maba was attacked by a Soninke group. After he defeated the Soninke, other Muslim religious leaders and their followers joined him. Thus, with one small victory a great Muslim revolution began.
The Prophet Maba’s charisma and his belief in his divine mission appealed to Muslims in persecuted communities, whether they be Mandingo, Fula, or Wolof. After conquering a number of smaller Mandingo and Wolof states, Maba turned on the larger Serer states, which had no Muslim minorities.
By 1865, Maba had extended his control to the important state of Saloum (Saloun). During that time, Maba offered asylum to another famous military figure, Lat Dyor. At the time, Lat Dyor was fighting the French. Maba, too, would soon encounter the forces of imperialistic France.
Maba converted Lat Dyor and his soldiers from the traditional Tieddo animism to Islam. While Lat Dyor's conversion may have been for reasons more political than spiritual, he did become a powerful ally, even in exile, leading his forces alongside those of Sine.
On November 30, 1865, with the help of Lat Dyor and his Cayor forces, Maba Diakhou Ba began the conquest of the states of Sine, Baol and Djolof. Later at Kaolack, Maba and Lat Dyor were checked by a combined force of French under Pinet-Laprade of 2000 cavalry and 4000 colonial infantry, allied with 1000 infantry and 500 cavalry from the states of Waalo, Ndiambour and Ndiander. In 1866, Maba’s forces were forced to retreat to the south.
Weakened by his losses to the French, Maba, nevertheless, resumed his attacks on the Serar state of Sine. It was during the 1867 attack on Sine that Maba was killed. The victory for Sine was also a victory for the French. With the demise of Maba, the French no longer had to deal with the threat of a unified Muslim force in the Senegambia. However, even though Maba was unsuccessful in maintaining and expanding his Islamic empire, his influence was lasting. His campaign permitted a new Muslim elite to seize power in their societies. This Muslim elite was largely responsible for the conversion of the people of Senegambia to Islam.
Prophet Maba see Maba Diakhou Ba
Ma Ba Diakhu see Maba Diakhou Ba
Ba, Maba Diakhou see Maba Diakhou Ba
Maba Diakhou Ba (Ma Ba Diakhu) (Prophet Maba) (1809 at Tavacaltou - July, 1867) was a religious and military leader who was responsible for the spread of Islam in much of the Senegambia.
The Prophet Maba was a Quranic scholar of the Tukolor clerical class. He was raised in the Mandingo states of the Senegambia. Maba’s family came from Futa Toro in present day Senegal, a center for the dispersion of Islam in West Africa. A descendant of the Fulani dynasty of Denyankobe, from the branch of the Ba family in the region of Badibou, Maba Diakhou Ba combined political and religious goals in an attempt to reform or overthrow previous animist monarchies, and resist French encroachment. He is in the tradition of Fulani jihad leaders who revolutionized the states of West Africa at the time of colonization.
Around 1850, Maba met the famous Islamic revolutionary, al-Hajj Umar. It is believed that al-Hajj Umar made Maba the representative of the rapidly developing Tijani Islamic brotherhood for the Senegambia. Also around this time, the people of the Gambia states were divided into two factions -- the Soninke who were non-Muslims or apathetic Muslims and the Marabout who were orthodox Muslims. The Prophet Maba was a member of the Marabout sect.
Maba soon founded his own town, Kirmaba, and began to gather his own followers. In 1861, Maba was attacked by a Soninke group. After he defeated the Soninke, other Muslim religious leaders and their followers joined him. Thus, with one small victory a great Muslim revolution began.
The Prophet Maba’s charisma and his belief in his divine mission appealed to Muslims in persecuted communities, whether they be Mandingo, Fula, or Wolof. After conquering a number of smaller Mandingo and Wolof states, Maba turned on the larger Serer states, which had no Muslim minorities.
By 1865, Maba had extended his control to the important state of Saloum (Saloun). During that time, Maba offered asylum to another famous military figure, Lat Dyor. At the time, Lat Dyor was fighting the French. Maba, too, would soon encounter the forces of imperialistic France.
Maba converted Lat Dyor and his soldiers from the traditional Tieddo animism to Islam. While Lat Dyor's conversion may have been for reasons more political than spiritual, he did become a powerful ally, even in exile, leading his forces alongside those of Sine.
On November 30, 1865, with the help of Lat Dyor and his Cayor forces, Maba Diakhou Ba began the conquest of the states of Sine, Baol and Djolof. Later at Kaolack, Maba and Lat Dyor were checked by a combined force of French under Pinet-Laprade of 2000 cavalry and 4000 colonial infantry, allied with 1000 infantry and 500 cavalry from the states of Waalo, Ndiambour and Ndiander. In 1866, Maba’s forces were forced to retreat to the south.
Weakened by his losses to the French, Maba, nevertheless, resumed his attacks on the Serar state of Sine. It was during the 1867 attack on Sine that Maba was killed. The victory for Sine was also a victory for the French. With the demise of Maba, the French no longer had to deal with the threat of a unified Muslim force in the Senegambia. However, even though Maba was unsuccessful in maintaining and expanding his Islamic empire, his influence was lasting. His campaign permitted a new Muslim elite to seize power in their societies. This Muslim elite was largely responsible for the conversion of the people of Senegambia to Islam.
Prophet Maba see Maba Diakhou Ba
Ma Ba Diakhu see Maba Diakhou Ba
Ba, Maba Diakhou see Maba Diakhou Ba
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