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The Murid Ethos and the Political Economy of the Muridiyya: Work and its Meaning in Ahmadou Bamba's thought.

Studies of the relations between the Muridiyya and the economy often limit their scope to the description of the mechanisms through which Murid disciples operate in the economic realm.

A study of the doctrinal basis of the Murid ethos and its impact on disciples' lives remains to be done. I contend that the preeminence given to work in the interpretation of the Murid doctrine by scholars and even Murid disciples is more reflective of colonial perceptions of the brotherhood than the substance of Ahmadou Bamba's thought. Furthermore, the sociological, political and economic circumstances of the development of the Muridiyya had more bearing on the shaping of the Murid work ethic than the actual teachings of Ahmadou Bamba. An analysis of Ahmadou Bamba's writings and teachings reveals that he does not give work any particular precedence beyond the prescriptions of the Koran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad on the matter.

By Looking at Ahmadou Bamba's writings, oral traditions, and Murid religious and economic practices, this article aims to gauge the spiritual and empirical foundations of what scholars have come to call the Murid work ethic.

Ahmadou Bamba, the founder of the Muridiyya was a sufi. Sufism is associated with withdrawal from the world, a focus on the world beyond, contemplative life and irrationality. But Bamba was an adept of a "moderate" form of sufism. He aspired to be a guide for his disciples in this world. He thought that a Muslim leader had the responsibility to make himself available to his people.

Ahmadou Bamba condoned isolation and renouncement of worldly matters in only two cases: when the leader (or Sheikh) feels that he is not adequately prepared to confront the world and its dangers, or when the context is so confused that it becomes impossible to distinguish between good and evil. However, he asserted that at any rate, when the community really needs his sheikh, it becomes an obligation for him to get involved.

For Ahmadou Bamba, participation in earthly life is a necessity for a sufi guide. He fulfilled what he felt to be his duty as a guide in two ways: first by providing by the example of his life a model for his disciples to emulate and second by creating an educational system aimed at preserving and disseminating the values of the brotherhood. Those values are submission to God, love of one's sheikh, solidarity and hard work. In one of his poem he defines the genuine Murid disciple as the one who surrenders himself to God's will, loves his sheikh and helps his community. Murid oral traditions report in an impressive tone the commitment of Ahmadou Bamba to putting his compatriots in the right path. Oral sources recount that after a prayer session in Diourbel, Bamba addressed the audience with these words: " On the day of judgment three things will bear witness that I have fulfilled my duty as guide: first, I have written books for your education, second, I have spent my life before your eyes as an example to learn from, and third, I have taught you by word of mouth."

Following the sufi tradition, Ahmadou Bamba provides in his work specific advices to his disciples. He emphasizes the importance of the acquisition of knowledge, work and the adoption of good manners in social life. He detailed in his writings what he meant by these three concepts. Knowledge for him included the esoteric as well as practical and Islamic sciences. In Paths to Paradise he wrote, "It is an obligation for one to accord the same attention to positive as to mystical sciences." He added, "There is no doubt that a limited time devoted to scientific work is better than a lifetime spent in ignorance." Ahmadou Bamba also considered that the acquisition of knowledge without practice was a waste of time. And he compared those who learn without conforming their actions to their science to donkeys loaded with books.

He saw science and action as the twin foundations of a virtuous life. These two elements underpin the pedagogy he gradually developed. The system that he designed was a lifelong education oriented towards the transformation of the character and behavior of the disciples. It comprised three steps, taalim or instruction, tarbiyya or education of the character, and tarqiyya or life apprenticeship, which capped the formation of the disciple. Taalim was the classical teaching of Koran to the youth and Islamic sciences to the qualified adults. Tarbiyya stressed collective work and manual labor as a means to combat the shortcomings associated with the traditional ruling class and their allies such as excess of pride, greed and idleness.

The level of tarqiyya, which was reached by only a small number of specially gifted disciples, allowed the elevation of their soul beyond the futility of material life and put them in a position of leaders of the community.

For Ahmadou Bamba, submission, education and work were the principal instruments for the education of the souls of disciples.
But for the founder of the Muridiyya work had a philosophical meaning that went beyond physical labor and the mere production of wealth. When referring to work in his writings he always used khidma, which means in Arabic "being at the service of somebody" instead of amal, which means "labor." Looking at the meaning of work for the Murid, Phillipe Couty, a researcher at ORSTOM (now IRD) in the late sixties, noted that what was important in the Murid conception of work was not the production of wealth but the fact that work gave a concrete content to the relation of submission between Sheikh and disciples. But Couty only partially understood the system. He considered that work was the means found by ignorant and unsophisticated Murid disciples to express their attachment to their sheikhs. In reality, khidma was not an exclusive duty of the disciples and it was not solely expressed in the form of physical labor of the disciples to the benefit of the Sheikh. The sheikhs performed khidma as well. In the early years of his career Ahmadou Bamba considered writing books and teaching the disciples as his khidma.

Later on, as he stated in Prelude to the khidma of the Prophet and Initiation to khidma, writing religious poems praising the qualities and achievements of Prophet Muhammad became an important part of his khidma. Sheikh Sidy Muhammad Ismu, a Mauritanian disciple of Ahmadou Bamba considered the dissemination of his master's teachings and message as his khidma. His disciple Sheikh Abdulaye Dieye is pursuing this action through the internationally renowned organization named "Khidmatu-l Khadim Fi ma yurdi-r-rahim" or (The servants of the Servant [Ahmadou Bamba] in the Path blessed by the Almighty).

The cultivation of millet, peanuts and the different tasks performed by the disciples in the daara tarbiyya (working school) were forms of khidma. But in the daara, work also had a pedagogic virtue. It was the tool to heal the soul of disciples of sicknesses such as pride, fear and attraction to worldly pleasure, and to protect disciples from idleness.

For the common disciples the hadiya or alms given to one's sheikh or the contribution to the brotherhood's projects were seen as a form of khidma. Therefore, khidma or work was not only an expression of the submission of the disciples to the sheikh but rather a manifestation of the common belonging and attachment to the Muridiyya.

The French colonial administration in Senegal did not understand and was not interested in the philosophy that underpins what they have come to call the Murid work ethic. They only focused on the positive economic consequence of Murid engagement in peanut cultivation for the economy of the colony. If from 1889 to 1910 the colonialists considered the Murid brotherhood as a fanatical and intolerant Muslim organization that should be destroyed at all costs, by 1910 they started to re-define the Muridiyya as a secular and therefore harmless organization preoccupied with the cultivation of peanuts and the accumulation of wealth and no longer engaged in the fight against the colonial enterprise.
In reality, there was no change in the attitude of the Murids towards work and wealth before and after 1910 that would have warranted a shift in the colonial policy. I argue that the depiction of the Muridiyya as a secular organization aimed at the accumulation of wealth was merely the rationale found by the colonial administration of Senegal to justify the policy of accommodation with the Murids that they adopted from 1910 on. But they have succeeded in their enterprise since the image of the Muridiyya as an organization of hard workers more oriented towards the accumulation of wealth than the fulfillment of spiritual goals was largely adopted by scholars of the brotherhood and even Murid disciples who tend to emphasize the economic dynamism of the brotherhood over its religious accomplishments.

French colonial administrators and writers exaggerated the role played by the Murids in the development of peanut cultivation in Senegal and overemphasized the place of work in their rendering of Ahmadou Bamba's thought. Paul Marty noted that the idea of the sanctifying virtue of work was the single innovation of the Muridiyya. Subsequent French writers such as Froelich, Gouilly and Brochier popularized the idea that among the Murid working for one's sheikh is equal to prayers. They based these assumptions on declarations arbitrary attributed to Ahmadou Bamba who supposedly had stated that: " Work equates prayers. Work for me and I will pray for you." Despite the criticisms of the biases of the colonial administrators and writers, contemporary scholars have not developed an alternative to colonial perceptions of the Muridiyya. Building on Webers's work, some writers have found some similarities between the Murid and the Protestant ethic of work; others saw the Muridiyya as an instrument of adaptation of the Wolof to colonial domination, and still others considered the organization as popular mode of political actions with messianic overtones. The religious dimension of the organization is given little attention.

The recent publication of some of Ahmadou Bamba's works and his correspondences as well as Murid oral traditions show that work does not occupy the prominent position it is given by scholars of the Muridiyya. Ahmadou Bamba wrote "Science and work are the surest paths to happiness." A well known and widely quoted saying attributed to Ahmadou Bamba, but which is in fact, a tradition of Prophet Muhammad, reads, "Work as if you would never leave this world and pray as if you knew that you would die tomorrow." In one of his poems Bamba notes that the heart was created as the receptacle of our thoughts, the tongue for the invocation of Allah's name and the body to perform legitimate work. But nothing in these statements goes beyond the recommendations of the Koran and the Traditions of the Prophet (or Hadiths), which in contrast to the Orientalists' perceptions value work highly. And in reading the Koran and the Traditions one comes across such statements as: " Nobody will ever consume a better food than the one he has earned by his labor." Or, "Working to feed one's family is tantamount to praying and worshipping God."
The foundation of the Murid work ethic and the role work has come to play in the development of the Muridiyya is better explained by the historical circumstances of the development of the organization. The Muridiyya developed in a context of hostility and conflict with the colonial administration in Senegal. Confronted by this unfriendly situation, Murid sheikhs and disciples developed a keen sense of self sufficiency and economic autonomy spurred by the daara tarbiyya and the different projects initiated by Ahmadou Bamba and subsequent Murid leaders. By shouldering the expenses for the development of the community and the well being of their sheikhs, Murid disciples progressively saw physical labor and the production of wealth as major forms of khidma. The building of the mosque of Diourbel in 1917 and the mosque of Touba from 1926 further enhanced this orientation. These two projects necessitated the investment of important sums of money that were mostly raised by the organization's members.
The urbanization of the brotherhood that started in the aftermath of World War II re-enforced the trend. The first urban Murid communities were overwhelmingly composed of farmers and craftsmen that were not educated in the modern French school. The distorted image of the Muridiyya associated with fanaticism and ignorance encouraged the Murids to develop a specific mode of social organization. While new city dwellers in Senegal organized themselves in different types of ethnically and geographically based associations that served as instruments of socialization, the dahira or prayer circle was the response of Murid disciples to urban constraints.

The dahira played an important rule in building what Cruise O'Brien has termed the "success story of urban Murid disciples." Even though the dahira was not meant to deal with secular issues, contacts made during the weekly meetings of disciples were helpful in securing financial support and getting employment. Dahira allowed members to exchange information about business opportunities. The dahira also assisted in the organization of religious and social events. But the dahira was able to perform its economic role because it constitutes an important source of social capital. It helped build networks of disciples and fostered a sense of trust. This trust was re-enforced by the common belief that by working, a Murid is also fulfilling a holy duty. For the disciples every economic success of a Murid is seen as a testimony to the truthfulness of Ahmadou Bamba's message and a concrete manifestation of God's acceptance of his prayers and mission.

Daara and dahira played an important role in fostering the Murid economic ethos. But both institutions were profoundly marked by the social, political and economic contexts in which they developed. The sharing among disciples of similar dispositions and interests such as solidarity, frugality, resilience, and optimism, that are only partially influenced by Ahmadou Bamba's teachings but have much to do with the historical development of the brotherhood, goes a long way towards explaining the Murid work ethic.

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