Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh

Guide of the Qadiriyya (Khadriya)

Family : Place of birth : Hodh (Mauritania) ; Date of birth : 1848 ; Mother : Mariama, daughter of Ahmed Abdi ; Father : Cheikhna Cheikh Muhammad Fadel (1797–1869), founder of the Fadiliyya

Education : He received a religious, juridical and mystical education from his father, then settled in the Trarza at eighteen.

Action : Founder of the Khadriya, a branch of the Qadiriyya, he gathered followers in Senegal, Mauritania and beyond. In 1872 he made his first journey to Saint-Louis; in 1881 he met Governor Lanneau and was recognised as the Fadiliyya’s representative in Senegal. In 1906 he wrote the Nasîha, a letter of counsel on the attitude to take toward the French presence.

Trials : On settling in the Trarza he faced opposition from local powers.

Spiritual legacy : From 1910 he settled at Nimzatt, in Mauritania, where followers from Senegal, Mauritania and neighbouring countries came. He rests there, and an annual pilgrimage gathers thousands of faithful. He left about 95 works on jurisprudence and Sufism and trained many scholars.

Sources

• T. Niang, Cheikhna Cheikh Saadbou (Google Books)
• Cairn — « An emerging pattern of cooperation between colonial authorities and Muslim societies in Senegal and Mauritania » (Le temps des marabouts)
• Persée — C. C. Stewart, Islam and Social Order in Mauritania (compte rendu, 1973)
• Wikipédia — Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh

Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh in Saint-Louis — founder of social peace