Serigne Fallou Mbacke (1945 – 1968)

One of the distinctive signs by which one identifies the true believer is his or her resignation before the divine decrees, however cruel they can appear. Thus, when on July 13th,1945,Shaykh Muhamadu Mustapha was taken away by Allah, from the Murid Community, it was with a pain, inexpressible certainly but with a total submission to the will of Allah, that the entire country lived the event. His younger brother (of six months), Shaykh Muhammadu Fadilou succeeded him to the caliphate because the flame lit by Khadimou Rassoul could not waver. He, whose memory is perpetuated by its many homonyms known under the first names of Gallas, Fallou or Fadel, was going to mark his time. All in this exceptional man that we call affectionately and respectfully Shaykh Fallou or El Hajj Fallou carries the marks of an undeniable holiness.

First his birth, that took place in 1888 in Daru Salaam. Indeed Serigne Fallou was born exactly on the twenty seventh night of the lunar month of Rajab. (Ndeyi koor in the local calendar), It is the birthday of the night voyage of the Prophet (in company of the Angel Gabriel) of which he brought back the ritual of the five prayers, so fundamental in Islam. The Kazu Rajab magal (celebration) which marks his birthday is a well-known event, which is attended by hundreds of thousands enthusiastic disciples (talibe). Then The Shaykh’s reaction when he was informed of this birth. He highly would, then, have expressed his gratitude to Allah (SWT) by concluding that if this new born had not appeared in his family, he would have been at its search, wherever that can be. Finally the pilgrimage to Mecca he performed. The circumstances of his stay in the Arab land were such he had much sorrow to return to TOUBA: people of Mecca did not want to depart from him any more, having discovered in him an exceptional scholarship and holiness.

Already, in his childhood, Serigne Fallou had started showing signs of an exceptional being. His mother Soxna Awa BOUSSO belongs to a family of great scholars which gave several Imams to TOUBA. It is with a surprising ease that at eight years age, he started learning the Qur’an, under the care of Serigne Ndame Abdourahmane LO at the school (daara) called Aalimun Xabiir, located at about five kilometers from Touba. His paternal uncle Serigne Mame Mor Diarra was his professor for his studies in Theology. His Religious Sciences education was supplemented by the Shaykh himself, at his return from exile. Let us specify that a good part of this education took place in Mauritania, in Saout El Maa (Khomack), where the Shaykh had been deported and where Serigne Fallou along with Serigne Muhammadu Moustapha MBACKE and d Serigne Mor Rokhaya BOUSSO.

Today still the vast scholarship of Serigne Fallou in Arabic is evoked with admiration, just as its outstanding talents of poet and calligrapher. He is credited with forty copies the Qur’an, of which twenty eights were directly offered to the Shaykh in the form of pious gift (adiya). Moreover it is with the same emotion that one still evokes his great mastery of this text, the reading of which he devoted most of his time. That is not surprising when one knows that he learned how to control the art of Tajwid with Serigne Mame Mor Diarra, initially, and then with Serigne Mame Thierno Birahim MBACKE another brother of his father.

Another striking fact of his personality is its incommensurable devotion, his unconditional submission to the Sheik who he was far from regarding as a father but rather as his spiritual guide, his Master. To understand this attachment, this quasi indescribable submission, let us point out an event which took place in Khomack. One morning, the Shaykh held with his audience a speech which can be summarized as follows: “I am neither the father, neither the brother, nor the uncle of any among you. I am a creature dedicated to the exclusive service of Allah (SWT). Those among you who will have chosen to accompany me on this way that I rehabilitated; those are my sons, nephews, brothers and disciples (talibes). “Serigne Fallou and its brothers made act of allegiance at once and, as the four years stay in Mauritanian lasted, they redoubled their fervor (enthusiasm) in their religious training, according to rules’ laid down by the Shaykh. This event was the source of a poem that Serigne Fallou dedicated to its Master and in wherein one can in particular read: “Our hope is in You, You who opened the doors of happiness for us. I am trading my status of a son in, to acquire the glory to be your disciple (talibe). And when you will have given me this glory, I would kindly request You to accept it like a pious gift. “

When the Sheik expressed his will to build the Great Mosque, Serigne Fallou engaged body and heart in the project: the wishes, even the most trivial of the Sheik, are for him peremptory orders. Thus, in 1926, whereas the Sheik mobilized the forces of his community for the realization of his project, Serigne Fallou was glad, after long explorations, to discover the quarry of NDOCK, likely to provide materials for the construction of the building. The samples which he sent to TOUBA met the approval of the Master who, on this occasion exhorted him to regard, as well as his elder brother Serigne Mamadou Mustapha, the construction incompressible mission. When in 1927 the Sheik disappeared, Serigne Fallou, in good disciple (talibe) deferred on his elder brother who later became the first caliph, all his devotion and affection. As much he was attentive with the least desire of the Master, as much he was at the Service of Serigne Muhammadu Mustapha, who he took as their father, moreover.

Besides on the recommendation “ndigal” of Serigne Muhammadu Mustapha, he went to Mecca and performed his famous pilgrimage. He was to materialize a project of Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba. Indeed, the Shaykh had one day expressed his will to go to the Holy Land. He had even designated people he wished to perform this pilgrimage with. Those lucky were Mame Sheik Anta, Serigne Mbacke Bousso, El Hadji Mayoro Fall and Serigne Moulaye Bou (a Moor). Allah (SWT) decided differently and the Shaykh passed away before putting his project to execution. Then, in 1928, Serigne Muhammadu Mustapha charged Serigne Fallou with concretizing the wish of their father and with the same people he had envisaged. The adventures of this voyage were so rich in events, quasi miraculous, that the Murid community is not far from believing that Serigne Fallou is actually a reincarnation of Serigne Touba.

In 1945, when Serigne Fallou became second caliph, he devoted body and heart in the continuation of the Great Mosque. He’s had the honor, on June 7, 1963, to preside over its inauguration and to lead the first prayer there. His caliphate is still evoked nowadays like a particularly prosperous period for the country. All Senegalese, all confessions and all ethnic groups regarded him as a true miracle-worker, a man who received from the Creator the power to make miracles.

Old people remembered that his ascension to the caliphate coincided with the eradication of the plague epidemic which decimated the country towards the end of the Second World War. The famine which threatened the population, then, ended and that marked the beginning of an era of economic prosperity, food safety and absence of natural calamities. The younger generations, which did not have the chance to known him, collect testimonies describing him as a good-natured grandfather, with an absolutely indescribable generosity, with who all the distresses found solution.

Wasn’t he the recourse of all Senegalese, whatever can be their social background, victims of the Administration abuses? It was not fortuitous he was called “Na am mu am, du am du amt”? “Things happen if he wishes” .He was credited with the gift from Allah (SWT) to see all formulated prayers accepted, as if he has the elements under control. The examples are numerous to attest of this gift. How many times did the peasants request his prayers to start the rain at a time when they started being concerned about a too long dry season? What followed every time is still fresh in people’s memories: an abundant rain which constrained solicitants to regain their village under the gust of wind, whereas, few moments earlier, there wasn’t any foreseeable sign of such an outburst of the elements.

Many are the people who live with the belief that it is enough to call upon Serigne Fallou’s name seven times, to obtain realization of one’s wishes. In any way, the memory of his elder son, nicknamed Serigne Modu Bousso Dieng is still fresh in our memories. He inherited from his father the nickname “Na am mu am, du am du am”: He largely showed that it was enough for him to formulate a wish to see it materialize.

Don’t be surprised when you are told that Serigne Fallou had the capacity to talk to animals. Regarding this point, his contemporaries reported a fact, surprising certainly, but very edifying. Disciples (talibes) came to him one day to complain about a restive horse, by the fault of which sowing of a field entrusted to them had been seriously delayed. Indeed, the animal had been particularly recalcitrant to draw the seeder to which it had been harnessed. The marabout made it come and, taking it by the support, scalded it: “Shame on you? Where nobody wants to lag behind to gain the graces of Serigne Touba, having a chance to implicate yourself, you refuse pull your weight! Really you make me look bad!” The dumbfounded witnesses saw the horse lower its head, fold its ears and start crying in repentance. From then on it was impossible to bring the horse home at the end of the day: taken by an inextinguishable enthusiasm it refused to stop working, when at sundown extenuated disciples (talibe) had only one desire: to go home.

This charismatic guide left behind the memory of a convivial man, a philanthropist and particularly gifted to find the witty remark intended to slacken the atmosphere and to put at ease his audience. How much time did he pull out of trouble culprits on the verge of experiencing the horrors of imprisonment, not to ensure impunity to crooks, but to give a second chance to citizens who, did not abide by the law, are not, for all that, irremediable for society? Under his caliphate, the town of TOUBA experienced a very significant development. Indeed he undertook the allotment and the electrification of the city while improving the existing infrastructures. He built roads and installed the first hydro drilling pump in Daru Manan for its water supply. The Great Mosque carries his indelible mark: it owes him the five majestic minarets which can be seen afar kilometers away of which the tallest is called Lamp Fall, in tribute to Shaykh Ibra FALL, founder of the Baye Fall Brotherhood.

Following the steps of his Master and Serigne Muhammadu Mustapha’s, the first caliph, he had, also, created villages – very prosperous Daara (Schools) of which we will retain: Ndindy, Madinatou Salam, Allia Mbepp, and Touba Bogo. These daara are generally supervised by the old disciples (talibes) of Serigne Touba.

It should be noted that the incomes generated by these exploitations were used to finance the construction of the Mosque or to relieve disciples (talibes) in dire straits or to maintain the many Moors that the Sheik brought back from his Khomack’s stay. This exceptional man left us in 1968 to join, without the shadow of a doubt, the Combatants of Badr.

From where did we draw such a conviction? In connection to one event, that was authenticated by the eyewitnesses’ credibility. Indeed it is told that one of the old disciples of the Shaykh had the unfortunate habit to boast about his age each time he would address to Serigne Fallou. It was not rare, each time at the evocation of an old event, to hear him say, with a point of irony, “Obviously, you are too young to remember it… At the time, you were not yet born….Admittedly, you are caliph, but, I am your senior. “Those who knew Serigne Fallou know that he walk with a light limping, of which nobody moreover, knows the cause. One day, whereas the senior disciple, in his bad habit of talking about his sizeable age compared to the extreme youth of the Caliph,exceeded him, and he replied: “Where were you, old man, when I received this leg wound at the battle of Badr?” And, joining the epic to the word, in front of an astonished assistance, he displayed a scar on his leg. Nobody, not even those who witness his birth, remembers Serigne Fallou ever wounded, in his life, to the leg. What else to say?