Sheikh Ahmadu Bamba: Selected Poems

While in exile in Gabon (1895–1902), Sheikh Ahmadu Bamba marked a historic moment with his poetry of resilience, pivotal to the cultural and religious transformation of the Murids of Senegal. The qa?a?id (poems) included in this annotated edition, most of them hymns of praise to the qualities of Allah and the Prophet Mu?ammad, and professions of faith that demonstrate how to realize the precepts found in the Qur’an, display the underlying elements of Sheikh Ahmadu Bamba’s imaginative energy and poetic vision. They reveal a unifying poetic purpose and exemplify ?ufi literary traditions in subject matter, form, and versification and aim to explore the deepest regions of mysticism in search of the divine truth.