Page 37 - Nigeriaone mag 3 edition en

Pan-Africanist religious leaders in Africa

English or French. In the struggle for African
independence, many leaders did not receive the
recognition they deserved. The oppression of white
colonialism in Africa was met with great risk and
some religious leaders lost their lives because they
opposed the oppression of white colonialists.
There are several religious leaders in Africa who
impact African independence and freedom: Cheikh
Oumar Foutiyou, Thierno Souleyman Baal, El Malick
Sy, Abd al-Qadir, The Sanusi resistance, Maba
Diakhou, Samory Toure…
We will examine the role of one religious leader,
Cheikh Ahmad Bamba, whose followers were
organized into a homogeneous group through
Education, Work, and Solidarity.
At the age of eighteen, he developed the notion of
“TALIBE” (follower) as “someone who does not
possess anything but nothing possesses him in
return”.
Those followers are dedicated to Allah and adhere to
Cheikh Ahmad Bamba the biblical passage that states "you will work by the

The Pan-Africanism movement as we know it began sweat of your brow". Man, as we know, becomes
centuries ago in America and the Caribbean under independent through work and is more inclined to
the name Pan-Negrism, with an emphasis on follow his path freely when financially independent.
returning slaves to Africa. There have been eminent By contrast, knowledge is the key to success. A
figures who have fought to keep hope alive knowledgeable soul is free of all chains, nothing can
throughout the years. or will hold him down. The more knowledgeable a
Returning to Africa was a precursor to claiming person becomes, the more he can make the right
sovereignty ("Africa for the Africans"). This led to the decisions and teach others in need. His contribution
fourteen points outlined by Woodrow Wilson in the to society became invaluable.
Atlantic Charter, which announces an inevitable Bamba peacefully opposed French colonialists and
process of decolonization. spent most of his adult life in detention and exile,
Africans in the diaspora are no longer solely but that didn't deter his determination and faith. The
responsible for promoting the movement, as man wrote over seven tones of literature known as
evidenced by the listing of participants at the Pan- “khassaid’ and started a vast movement called
African Congress in Manchester in 1945. Alongside “MOURIDISM”, a Sufi term used to designate the
WEB DuBois and George Padmore, the figures of beliefs and practices of the “Mouridi”.
Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta emerge. Today, the brotherhood group counts millions of
In a few years, Africans broke free from their chains followers in Senegal and around the world. Various
and gained independence. Independent Ghana, organizations, including the United Nations, are
which paved the way in 1957, aspires to become, in studying his teachings as a model for emancipating
the words of Kwame Nkrumah, the “springboard of black nations.
African independence and unity”. It is crucial that these Pan-African leaders are well
Pan-African leaders in the past have often been known to the general public in order for Africans to
overlooked because they did not come from the be able to claim positively what is rightfully theirs
political side of the continent and did not write in and take advantage of what they have to teach.

Pan-Africanism 37