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French ‘Islamic’ Policy and Practice in Late Nineteenth-Century Senegal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

David Robinson
David Robinson
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Extract

In contrast to the negative conclusions reached by Donal Cruise O'Brien, it is here argued that the French, in the last half of the nineteenth century, maintained an Islamic policy. They practised some of it all of the time and all of it when they had the human and financial resources. They consistently opposed the Islamic state where it conflicted with their own political and economic interests. They identified it with their old nemesis of Futa Toro and the Tokolor, and then with the Tijaniyya. This attitude can be contrasted with a much more tolerant disposition towards the established monarchies, with whom thay coexisted for a much longer time and upon whom they relied to supply the cadre of chiefs.

In the case of Umar, the French confronted a jihad that was launched before they began their own expansion in the upper valley, but they contained its influence. They quarantined the Wolof areas and pushed the Umarian state to the margins of their sphere of influence. By allowing much of the younger generation of Tokolor to depart, they turned the preaching of hijra to their own advantage. The French opposed the efforts of Ma Bâ to move into the heart of the peanut basin and the campaigns of the Madiyankobe to block the river trade or disrupt cultivation in Cayor. As soon as Mamadu Lamin mobilized for jihad they responded by driving him out of their gateway to expansion.

Type
West Africa: Islam and the French
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , November 1988 , pp. 415 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

1 Letter of 29 August 1895, found in Archives Nationales Françaises, Section OutreMer (ANFOM) SEN 4 127.Google Scholar

2 J. Afr. Hist., VIII (1967), 303–16.Google Scholar

3 See Le Châtelier, Alfred, L'lslam dans l'Afrique Occidentale (Paris, 1899),Google Scholar and Léon Faidherbe's summary of Le Châtelier's position in Faidherbe, L., Le Sénégal (Paris, 1889), 46–7.Google Scholar For the contrasting role of the Tijaniyya in Algeria, where the order cooperated extensively with the French, see Abun-Nasr, Jamil, The Tijaniyya (Oxford, 1965), ch. 4.Google Scholar

4 See my paper, ‘Ethnography and customary law in Senegal’, presented to the Joint Stanford-Emory Conference on ‘Law in Colonial Africa’;, 7–9 April 1988, at the Stanford Humanities Centre.Google Scholar

5 By 1855 these encounters had already been labelled as appeasement in the rather anti- Muslim book of the French judge, Frédéric Carrère, and the mulatto official, Holle, Paul, De la Sénégambie française (Paris, 1855), 194–6. This version can be traced through Le Châelier (L'Islam, 175–6), to statements such as the 1906 circular of William Ponty, then Lt Governor of Soudan: ‘One must not forget that in 1846 and 1847… the public authorities of Senegal were fooled by the humble attitude of Al Hadji Omar and gave support in good faith to his initiatives which [were in fact] anti-French.’ Archives Nationales du Sénégal (ANS) 19G 3.12, 1 July 1906.Google Scholar

6 To the extent that these Muslims had a Sufi affiliation in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, it was Qadiriyya. The Tijaniyya was not introduced to the region until the early nineteenth century, and not in a major way until the middle of the century. For the foundation of the Almamate in Futa, see Robinson, D, ‘The Islamic revolution of Futa Toro’, Int. J. Afr. Hist. Studies, VIII (1975).Google Scholar For images of the Tokolor, see Robinson, D., The Holy War of Umar Tal (Oxford, 1985), 143–4.Google Scholar For the Islamic critique of Senegambian societies, see Klein, M., ‘The Muslim revolution in Senegambia’, J. Afr. Hist., XIII (1972).Google Scholar

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9 The original Arabic and a French translation can be found attached to a letter of Faidherbe to the Ministry in Paris (ANFOM SEN 1 41b, of 11 March 1855), and translated in Robinson, Holy War, 164.Google Scholar A French translation can be found in Carrère, F. and Holle, P., Sénégambie francaise, 204–9.Google Scholar

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11 Quoted later in the paper and taken from ANFOM SEN 10 11a, letter of 11 April 1856, quoted in Bouche, D., L'Enseignement dans les territoires français de l'Afrique Occidentale de 1817 à 1920 (Thèse de doctorat d'Etat, Paris 1, 1975, 2 vols.), 1, 283–4.Google Scholar For a description and analysis of Umarian and French relations during the 1850s, see Robinson, Holy War, chs. 4 and 6.Google Scholar

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13 ANFOM SEN 1 45, Faidherbe's ‘Mémoire sur la colonie du Sénégal’ of 14 October 1858. It is reprinted in Bâ, Oumar, La Pénétration française au Cayor, 1, (1854–1861) (Dakar, 1976), 130–8.Google Scholar See also Barrows, Leland, ‘General Faidherbe, the Maurel & Prom Company and French expansion in Senegal’ (unpublished Ph.D thesis, UCLA, 1974), 569–70;Google ScholarRobinson, Holy War, 219–31.Google Scholar For the French containment effort, see Colvin, L., ‘Kajor and its diplomatic relations with St Louis du Sénégal, 1763–1861’(unpublished Ph.D thesis, Columbia University, 1972), 330.Google Scholar

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19 Faidherbe sought to provide an alternative to the well-established Ploermel institution. His new creation did not succeed very well, but it had a secularizing influence on the Ploermel curriculum and it provided an important symbol of the separation of church from state and of confession from education. It was a precursor of the complete laïcisation of schools in 1903–1904. Bouche, , Enseignement, 1, 279–312, and 11, 475–96.Google Scholar

20 This measure gave the administration greater control over the fluctuating population of the capital, especially those who sympathized with the Umarian cause. The commission functioned only intermittently in the late nineteenth century, but it did provide a precedent for the system of information and control established by the Service des Affaires Musulmanes after 1906. See Klein, Martin, Islam and Imperialism in Senegal (Stanford, 1968), 221–2.Google Scholar

21 The travels usually appeared in the Revue Coloniale or Revue Maritime et Coloniale, and can be found in fairly complete form in Ancelle, J., Les Explorations au Sénégal et dans les contrées voisines (Paris, 1886), 118–230.Google Scholar See also Martin, Yves St, ‘La formation territoriale de la colonie du Sénégal sous le Second Empire, 1850–1871’(Thèse de doctorat d'Etat, 1980), 809–11.Google Scholar

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27 The movement led by Thierno Brahim Kane in eastern Futa Toro between 1865 and 1869 also threatened French trading interests, but it was too far from the priority zone of the peanut basin to cause major concern. Brahim was ftom the Qadiriyya tradition of Cheikh Sidiyya, but he nonetheless used the language of hijra and jihad in mobilizing his followers. See Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 70–8.Google Scholar

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29 Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 83.Google Scholar

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31 ANFOM SEN 4 48b, report of Trédos, February 1870; Annales de la communauté chrétienne de St Louis for 1868–1869.Google Scholar

32 A small amount of Amadu's correspondence has survived in ANS 13G 141. For the Madiyanke in the period 1869–1870, see Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 78–88;Google Scholar for their movement from the perspective of Jolof, see Charles, Eunice, Precolonial Senegal: The Jolof Kingdom 1800 to 1890 (Boston, 1977), ch. 5.Google Scholar

33 The man, Faly Gaye, was apparently also the son-in-law of Amadu. He was released, probably in May 1869, rearrested and deported to an isolated part of Cayor in July, and released again in 1870. ANS M 8.19, materials for 1870. See also Saint-Martin, Yves, ‘La formation territoriale’, 983–9.Google Scholar

34 For Faidherbe's account of the conflicts with the Madiyanke, which tend to get assimilated to the larger, troubled relationship with Lat Dior, see Faidherbe, Le Sénégal, 288–97, 35–9. With the advantage of hindsight, he was critical of the decision to recognize Lat Dior as Damel: ibid., 435–6, 441, 445.

35 See Charles, Jolof, ch. 5.Google Scholar

36 See ANS 13G 258, passim, for some of the chiefs' characterizations of the Madiyanke; in general, see Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 89–98.Google Scholar

37 In May 1873 the leading merchants and traitants of the central peanut basin pleaded with the Governor to do something about the ‘pillages and religious fanaticism’;that were destroying peanut production, but they received no satisfaction. ANFOM SEN 4 48b, letters from Rufisque of 30 May and from Dakar of June 1873. For a summary of the situation faced by the French, see Saint-Martin, Yves, Une Source de l'histoire coloniale du Sénégal: les rapports de la situation politique, 1874–1891 (Dakar, 1966), 63–72.Google Scholar

38 Valière had to prepare his case carefully for the Ministry and explain that intervention was designed to serve French interests and not primarily those of the eversuspect Lat Dior. See his letters of late 1874 in ANS 2B 73.Google Scholar

39 The negative images of the Tijaniyya help to explain the cold reception which Malik Sy initially received when he went to St Louis in the 1880s and 18905.Google Scholar

40 The Commandant of Podor wrote in 1874 that the people of Toro were saying that the eaglet must never again be allowed to become the eagle (ANS 13G 124.29, letter of 25 January 1874). This represented the sentiments of the French exactly.Google Scholar

41 The oral tradition of Cayor contains a considerable debate over the Madiyanke. In some accounts Amadu Bamba expresses some sympathy for the Madiyanke in a dispute with Madiakhate Kala, Lat Dior's qadi, over the legitimacy of the confiscation of booty after the 1875 battle. See Samb, Amar, Essai sur la contribution du Sénégal à la littérature d'expression arabe (Dakar, 1972), 269–70, 429–30.Google Scholar

42 Amadu Sheku was in Nioro for most of this period, and he used that vantage point to intensify his contacts with Senegal and St Louis. He reminded Valière of the 1860 commitment to keep the routes of recruitment and trade open, pressed for a clarification of frontiers and sought to purchase cannon. Valière, favorably disposed to negotiate, sent a draft treaty back with one envoy, but the ambassador was killed en route and nothing came of the project: Saint-Martin, Empire, 135–57. The Umarian leader sought to distinguish his cause from the Madiyanke one. In an 1870 letter (ANS 13G 141.28, received 19 April 1870), Amadu Sheku said that the innocent [emigrants] should not have to pay for the guilty [the Madiyanke].Google Scholar

43 Other key soudanais were Jean Jauréguiberry, who had served a brief time as Governor of Senegal, in the key position of Minister of the Marine from 1879 to 1883, and Joseph Galliéni, Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes and eventually Louis Archinard, who played key roles as commandants supérieurs. Galliéni was initially Director of the Political Affairs Bureau. Barrows, L., ‘L'oeuvre';Google ScholarKanya-Forstner, A. S., The Conquest of the Western Sudan (Cambridge, 1969), 60ff.;Google ScholarPerson, Yves, Samori: une révolution dyula, 1 (Dakar, 1968), 364–70.Google Scholar

44 Abdul Bokar was never Tijani. Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 92–103.Google Scholar

45 Robinson Chiefs and Clerics, 150. See also ANS 1G 70.92, letter of 5 August 1886; Journal de la communauté chrétienne de St Louis, entry for 1885 on the Mahdi.Google Scholar

46 So concerned were the French by the massive emigration from Walo, western Futa and adjacent areas that they developed a special file (13G 41), studied the work of the Direction de l'Intéieur, which had jurisdiction over these areas, and moved to restore protectorates in 1892, as described later in this article. See Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 536–7.Google Scholar

47 Kanya-Forstner, Conquest, 180–3;Google ScholarRobinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 149–59. See the Journal Officiel of 2nd April 1891 for an example of Archinard's use of letters of communication among these leaders.Google Scholar

48 Idowu, H. O., ‘The establishment of elective institutions in Senegal, 1869–1880’, J. Afr. Hist., IX (1968);Google ScholarManchuelle, F., ‘Métis et colons. La famille Devès etl'émergence politique des africains au Sénégal, 1881–1897’, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, XXIV (1984);Google ScholarN'Diaye, F., ‘La colonie du Sénégal au temps de Brière de l'Isle (1876–1881)’, Bulletin de l'IFAN, B, XXX (1968).Google Scholar

49 Ndiaye Sarr, a traitant at Podor, was recruited as the new Qadi, two sons of Bu El Mogdad were brought into the Political Affairs Bureau, and a number of traitants were enlisted to serve the expansion on the upper river. None of these measures could substitute for a corps of interpreters with a common body of training: Bouche, , Enseignement, 1, 341–3. The problem of intermediaries was well articulated by Brière on the day after Bu El Mogdad's death in 1880: ‘What cannot be replaced is the influential Al Hajj, the devoted and eminently intelligent servant who was of such powerful assistance in our relations with the Moors, the Damel of Cayor, the Sultan of Segou [Amadu Sheku]. This death occurring at the moment of inaugurating free trade on the river, and as we begin large undertakings on the Niger, can only be considered a calamity for the Administration of the Colony.’; ANS 2B 52.759, 24 October 1880, quoted in Bâ, Pénétration, 285.Google Scholar

50 The main archival source for Abdel Kader is ANS IG 70. Faidherbe (Le Sénégal, 398–407, 461–9; Barrows, ‘L'oeuvre’;, 144–6) was an important advocate of Abdel Kader and may have secured his passage on the Caron gunboat, at a time when many French officials were becoming very suspicious about his identity. For secondary sources, see Kanya-Forstner, A. S., Conquest, 110, 121–2;Google ScholarOloruntimehin, B., ‘Abd al-Qadir's mission as a factor in Franco-Tukulor relations, 1885–1887’, Genève-Afrique, VII (1968).Google Scholar

51 The incidents also showed that the administration was woefully unprepared to evaluate the authenticity of Abdel Kader and even to translate the Arabic letters which he brought. Colonel Combes in Kayes complained bitterly that he had had no competent translator since Abdulaye, son of Bu El Mogdad, had left the Haut Fleuve administration in 1884, while the Professor of Arabic assigned to accompany Abdel Kader proved incompetent. ANS IG 70.Google Scholar

52 ANS 2B 7, letter of Governor to Minister, April 1882;Google ScholarLe Châtelier, Islam, 329–34;Google ScholarMarty, P., ‘Les Fadelia’, in Revue du Monde Musulman, XXXI (1915–1916), especially 180–200.Google Scholar

53 Marty, Sénégal, 1, 357.Google Scholar See ibid., 333–64 for more detail on Bu Kunta, and Faidherbe, Le Séne'gal, 406.

54 L'Islam dans l'Afrique Occidentale was written primarily in 1889–9 but not published until 1899. See O'Brien, D. Cruise, The Mourides of Senegal (Oxford, 1971), 34, n.;Google ScholarMessal, R., La genèse de notre victoire marocaine: un précurseur, Alfred Le Chátelier (1855–1929) (Paris, 1931), ch. 4.Google Scholar

55 See Robinson, ‘Ethnography’ (cited in n.4), and Holy War, 143–4.Google Scholar

56 The richest archival source on Mamadu Lamin is I D 81, especially pièces 65–91. See also Méniaud, Jacques, Les Pionniers du Soudan, 2 vols. (Paris, 1931), I, 261ff.;Google ScholarMonteil, Charles, Les Khassonkés (Paris, 1915), 373–8;Google ScholarPerson, Yves, Samori, II (Dakar, IFAN, 1968), 682ff.;Google ScholarRobinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 145.Google Scholar

57 Galliéni gives a vivid description of the impact of the battle on Bakel, in Deux campagnes au Soudan français, 1886–1888 (Paris, 1891), 13–14.Google Scholar

58 Mamadu Lamin became a negative model for French administrators. Galliéni and Victor Allys, a prominent official and member of the bureau, rejected the candidacy of Cheikh Mamadu Mamudu for a French appointment in eastern Futa on the basis of the supposition that he ‘would inevitably attempt to create a great religious empire’ in the image of Mamadu Lamin. ANS 13G 153.2 16, letter of Allys of 2 April 1887. See also 153.191, letter of Galliéni of 22 January 1887; 154.6, report of Allys of February 1888; 162.14, letter of Archinard of I Decmber 1888.Google Scholar

59 Faidherbe, Le Sénégal, 419. At the same time Faidherbe was very critical of the ‘excessive repression’ of Frey in April and May 1886 (106). Faidherbe concluded his assessment of the Mamadu Lamin sequence by suggesting, from the pattern of sudden, xenophobic revolt and intense hostility, that the marabout must represent the western outpost of the Sanusis. Le Sénégal, 447–8.Google Scholar

60 In 1890 a combined French and chiefly coalition destroyed the final ‘Tijani’ on Merlin's list, Samba Diadana Ndiatch. Robinson, Chiefs and Clerics, 152–3.Google Scholar

61 The French reassured the chiefs and other members of the interior élites that they would not interfere with domestic slavery and that they could even ‘buy slaves from foreigners in the areas where slaves continued to be sold’. ANS 2G 1/122, report for March 1901.Google Scholar

62 See Bouche, Enseignement, 1, 341–4;Google ScholarSearing, James, ‘Accommodation and resistance: chiefs, Muslim leaders and politicians in colonial Senegal, 1890–1934’ (unpublished Ph.D thesis, Princeton, 1985), 86–102.Google Scholar

63 Stewart, Charles, Islam and Social Order in Mauritania (Oxford, 1973), passim.Google Scholar

64 His most signal contribution to the colonial administration of Senegal was to serve as host to Amadu Bamba during the Murid leader's second exile (1903–7), but he began to co-operate closely with the regime in the 1890s. See Marty, Paul, ‘Cheikh Sidia et sa voie’, in Revue du Monde Musulman, XXXI (1915–1916). For Sidiyya connexions in St Louis, see my interview with Amadu Diagne Yaya, son of Gaspard Devès' maternal brother, on 19 March 1985, deposited at ANS.Google Scholar

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67 Marty, Se'négal, I.Google Scholar