Sheikh Saad Buh ({{Lang-ar, الشيخ سعد بوه) was a
Moor
Moor or Moors may refer to:
Nature and ecology
* Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils.
Ethnic and religious groups
* Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...
ish,
Qadiriyya, Fadiliyya
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
from
Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
. Buh, who settled in
Trarza
Trarza ( ar, ولاية الترارزة) is a region in southwest Mauritania. Its capital is Rosso. Other major cities and towns include Mederdra and Boutilimit. Trarza borders the regions of Inchiri and Adrar to the north, Brakna to the east, an ...
in the 1870s, developed a following in St. Louis, and began a pattern of visits to the peanut basin and river valley. In the late 1860s, before he was 20, Buh established ties with the French administration who were at the time trying to conquer the Senegalo-Mauritanian zone, and became involved in a network of teachers, schools and zawiyas (lodges) across the Sahel and Sahara.
Buh several times saved French explorers from local bands. He rescued
Paul Soleillet, Blanchet and Fabert. Soleillet was rescued from a local band that pillaged his possessions.
Buh had ties with the French for more than 50 years. He went on diplomatic missions for them- such as trying to convince
Lat-Dior to let the French build their railway, or to dissuade Ma Ba from warring with the French.
In return for his aid to the French Buh sought free travel, gifts and aid for his camps in Mauritania. He gained permission from the French to tour Senegal (which was comparatively richer than Mauritania) in order to collect gifts, alms which he gave to his disciples in Mauritania.
In 1910 he wrote a letter of counsel, which became famous, to Ma El Inin urging him not to wage war on the French, saying that French stability had allowed Islam to spread and acquire stability in the region. He used sources from the Koran to argue that Islam should be a pacifist religion.
He was said to be extremely fat and at times disgruntled.
Sources
*Behrman, L.C., Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal, Cambridge, 1970.
*Kingsbury, K.A., Doctoral Thesis on the Mourides of Senegal, to be published 2009. Oxford University.
*Marty, P. Études sur l'Islam au Sénégal. 2 vols. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1917
*Robinson, D. Paths of Accommodation: Muslim societies and French colonial authorities in Senegal and Mauritania, 1880-1920.
Mauritanian Sufis
History of Senegal
French West Africa