Serigne Touba Dies

Serign Salieu Mbakeh, son of Serigne Touba, and the caliph of Mouridism in Senegal died this week.  Mouridism is one of the biggest Islamic sects in Senegal, with adherents all over the world, from the Gambia to the US, and the event got much media coverage. Senegal's current President is a Mouride, and he was one of the first people to go to Touba to pay his respects to the new caliph. 

I have long been fascinated  by the Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal. Nothing on the same scale exists in The Gambia - in Senegal everyone is a member of one of the brotherhoods, and swears allegiance to one of the Serigne. Every year the brotherhoods hold large Gamos, huge gatherings where all members convene and Allah is praised, and speeches/lectures are given by the Serignes. When a Serigne dies he is replaced by the next male heir in line. Serignes wield great power, perhaps even greater than the President: theirs is a religious rather than political rule, and therefore more enduring - it is lifelong, and not at all open to any form of challenge, as the Presidency (a democratic position) is. 

 

People over here join one of the Senegalese brotherhoods, and cross over into Senegal to attend annual Gamos and visits to pay homage to their Serignes.  Mourides all over the world work hard and send back money every year to Touba. It is a disciplined, hard-working order (for the sci-fi buffs: it brings to mind the Fremen of Frank Herbert's Dune sequence of novels, and Mu'addib, their messiah).

Mouridisme and all the other brotherhoods build up on the foundation of Islam - they are extensions rather than completely different religions. I think it's fair to say though that quite a few Mourides respect and revere - or feel more of a connection with - Serigne Touba than the Prophet himself (I use Mouridisme as an example because it is the one brotherhood whose adherents walk closest to the thin line separating acceptable Islamic practice from blasphemy - I have heard Mourides compare Touba to Mecca, and Serigne Touba to God, drawing horrified gasps and "Asta-furrlah"s from my Tijan grandmother). So all the brotherhoods work within the frameworks of Islam. But what would have happened if Islam hadn't made its way to us in the first place? Would Serigne Touba, for example, then be free to start his own religion?(Discouraging the starting of new religions is on of the things monotheistic religions are especially good at: in Islam for example worship of false Gods is one of the worst crimes you can commit). Perhaps, if things had gone differently, if Africa did not occupy the position at the bottom of the stack which it does now, importing religion and culture and language, the story of world religion would be different, with African religions being spread all over the world, an African messiah being worshipped and expected to come back to herald the coming of the end times. An African God - gods? - watching over us as we went about our daily lives.

The Holy Quran in Wolof Translation

I saw an ad in the paper about two weeks ago for the Holy Quran in Wolof (and Mandinka, and Pular) translation, being sold by the Ahmadiya Center here, and I bought myself a copy: there is a dearth of books published in Wolof or any of the local languages, and I bought it not only because I was interested in seeing how the old, "high" language of the Quran would translate into Wolof, but also because any attempts at producing a body of work in the local languages ought to be encouraged, in my opinion.

I went to the Ahmadiya center with high expectations, and I wasn't dissapointed. The book itself is a plain black one, hard-cover, solidly-bound so pages don't fall out. On the front is "The Holy Quran" in Arabic, and beneath that the words: "Al Xuraan Bu Tedda Bi, Bindi Arab Ak Pirim Wolof". ["The Holy Quran, Written in Arabic and its Wolof Translation"]. There is also a handy string bookmark to mark your place when you stop reading.

Inside, after the copyright and book information pages, there is a full-page Preface ["Ubbité" - literally "Opening"] detailing how the whole translation project came to take place (an idea the Ahmadiyya Center had, as a way of spreading the religion), and how long it took (5 years: from 1997 to 2002), as well as a list of the translators involved.

After the preface there is a table of contents, again in Wolof, though the Sura names are not translated, but written as they are pronounced (Al-Faatiha, Al-Baxara, etc.). Then the Quran itself starts proper.

As I said at the beginning, I bought this mainly because of my interest in the Wolof language. The Wolof currently spoken all across the country (especially in the urban areas) is a mixture of English, French, Arabic and Wolof words. The same is also mostly true across the border in Senegal, though there are more words borrowed from French than English. The Wolof in the translated Quran however is "pure" Wolof (in as far as a language can be called pure), and thus it is very instructive to read it. Ironically enough, I find myself reaching for the English translation every time there is a Wolof word I don't understand - I compare the English translation with the Wolof one, and that way get the meaning of the Wolof. (The irony lies in the fact that when I apply for schools in the US, for example, I have to check a little box on the form to tell them that English is not my first language; yet I need to use an English dictionary to understand words in my first language).

The verses are beautifully rendered in the Wolof - the translators did a very good job. The fourth verse of the first Sura (Al-Fatihah - "The Opening") reads "Master of the Day of Judgement", and is translated into Wolof as "Buuru Bés Pénca". Read that out aloud - it rolls, like a rumble of thunder, carrying with it an undercurrent of both the Mercy of this Master, as well as the terribleness of His wrath, and the absoluteness of His rule come the Day of Judgement. The sixth verse of the same Sura reads "Show us the straight way". This, translated directly, would have been "Won ñu yoon wu jub wi" - the translators instead chose to render it as "Gindi ñu ci yoon wu jub wi" (literally "Make us choose the straight way", i.e. don't just show us the way, but make it our volition to take it). I do not speak Arabic, but I have a feeling this is closer to the original Arabic meaning of that verse, considering it is a prayer.

The Quran is full of metaphors, and allegories - where necessary, the translators have not shied away from injecting these with local color, to make them more meaningful to local readers. For example, the first part of verse 27 of Al-Baxara reads: " Allah disdains not to use the similitude of things, lowest as well as highest...". The translation of the same section reads: "Yalla du kersawu ci def misaal ci lu tuutee ni yoo walla lu ko gënna ndaw" - "Allah will not disdain from giving examples from creatures even as tiny as the mosquito, or even tinier..."
. Notice the introduction of the mosquito, that tiny, irritating, but nevertheless ever-present part of Gambian life; and how the mentioning of it points at the omniscience of Allah, who notices even the things we consider small and beyond the consideration of one as high as Him.



This is an indispensable book for those interested in improving (or perhaps even learning) their Wolof. Used simultaenously with an English translation, it will teach you quite a lot of the language. It is not easy-going, but it is certainly rewarding - definitely worth buying.

An Arab, a White Man, and an African

An Arab, a White Man, and an African went to visit God. God said to them 'I will give you whatever you want - just name it'. So first the Arab came up, and he asked for wisdom, and God said 'So shall it be', and the Arab was wise. Then came the White Man, and he asked for wealth, and God said 'So be it', and the White Man became wealthy. And the African? God asked "What do you want, my Son?". The African shrugged. "Oh don't worry about me, Lord", he replied, "I only came to keep the others company".



If you're a Gambian who grew up in The Gambia, you've probably heard this tale or variations of it. It's narrated more as a joke than anything, perhaps as someone's funny explanation of why we're behind everyone else in the world, during an after-dinner conversation. Yet funnily enough, this joke tells quite a lot about Gambians and their belief system.

1) The Three Races.

First, the three races. You will notice that there is an Arab (a Narr), a White Man (a Toubab), and an African. To the average Gambian, these are the only three types of people in the world, and every human being on the planet falls into one of these categories. This makes it very simple to classify people - they are either toubab, narr, or one of us. Being able to do this also makes it that much easier to neatly pigeonhole everyone into a tight stereotypical container (all Gambians know, for example, that Jews are rich but bad people, etc.)

2) The foolishness of the black man.

Whilst the representative of every other race chooses a gift, the African is so silly he does not think to seize the opportunity and ask for something useful for us. Yet at the same time the story is also excusing the African: he says "I am only here visiting" - he believes he does not deserve what the others are getting because whilst they are there specifically to ask for gifts, he only came along to accompany them. So instead of being crafty and pretending he is one of them, his honesty makes him tell the truth, and get nothing as a result. Thus the image of the African as an honest (maybe even likable) person who is only inferior because he is too naive, and not as coldly calculating and manipulative as the others. [1]

3) The Arab is Wise, The White Man wealthy. We just tag along.

Stereotypes exist all over the world, and The Gambia is no exception. Islam is the primary religion in The Gambia, and Islamic knowledge (of the Quran and Hadith) is put at a higher level in most people's estimation than Scientific knowledge (Imams and Oustasses are certainly more respected than Scientists[2]), hence the stereotype of the Arab as wise (Islam is Arabic). The wealth of the White Man is something that is universally believed to exist, mainly due to Hollywood and life in the west as portrayed in movies, and the many people who go abroad poor and come back (relatively) filthy rich. [3]

4) God as the giver of gifts, and how ours awaits us in the afterlife.

God giveth when he wishes, and God taketh away, etc. Gambians are very religious, and finding an openly Gambian atheist is even more uncommon than finding an openly gay Gambian. [4] Another thing you hear someone say along the same lines sometimes is that God gave the toubabs wealth in this world, and gave us wealth in the other (the afterlife), so there is nothing that can be done about that particular problem except wait for ours. People say this with a resigned air and a knowing smile (yes, you can have both at once), shaking their heads slowly up and down as they think of the heavenly pleasures that await us. On seeing a wonderful gadget or technique, the first thing people say is: "Toubabs are Djinns". This regardless of whether the object they're exclaiming over was made in China, Kenya, or next-door Senegal: if it's technology it's a Toubab's work.




[1] This only applies to this particular story though - at other times and in other stories the African is behind because he is too cruel, he does not like his fellow African, he is an idiot, etc. Every African has an opinion about why Africa is poor. return

[2] Except, perhaps, Doctors - but then they are a special case. return

[3] Thanks to the currency exchange rate, a Gambian-Dalasi millionaire would only be as rich as an average citizen in the US, for example, whilst an average citizen there earning the same amount (in dollars) here would live quite a comfortable - even wealthy - life. return

[4] I myself know of only one (openly atheist, that is, not the other): the distinguished Medical Doctor and Poet Lenrie Peters. I remember as a child watching him profess his atheism in a TV interview (to be honest I remember the scandalized reaction of my mother and her friends more than I remember anything else about the event). I have never met him, but he must have been a very brave man to do that, on national TV. return