Shaykh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

Thierno Sulayman Bal (, c. 1720 - 1775) was an 18th-century

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n leader, warrior, and

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

scholar, from the

Futa Toro Futa Toro (Wolof language, Wolof and , , ; ), often simply the Futa, is a semidesert region around the middle run of the Senegal River. This region, along the border of Senegal and Mauritania, is historically significant as the center of several F ...

region in what is today Senegal. Suleyman Bal was born around 1720 in Bode. Inspired by the

Jihad ''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...

s of Alfa Ibrahima Nuhu who led the

Imamate The term imamate or ''imamah'' (, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a Muslim theocratic state ruled by an ''imam''. Theology *Imamate in Shia doctrine, the doctrine of the leadership of the Muslim commu ...

Futa Jallon Fouta Djallon (, , ; ) is a highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa. Etymology The Fulani people call the region Fuuta-Jaloo ( ) in the Pular language. 'Futa' is a Fula word for any re ...

, in 1770 Sulayman Bal led a revolt in the

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

Denyanke kingdom and their backers among the Brakna

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

, who had a long history of dominating and pillaging Futa Toro. An assembly of

Torodbe The Torodbe; singular Torodo (also called Turudiyya, Banu Toro, Takrur, Toronkawa) were Muslim Toucouleur people, Toucouleur clerics and theocratic monarchs who preached and reigned in Futa Toro, a region located in the north of present-day Senega ...

leaders announced the deposition of Sule Bubu Gaissiri, the last Denyanke king, and the introduction of a theocracy headed by an elected Imam (almami), but Bal refused the title. In 1776 he was killed in a battle against the Moors.Institut Fondamental de l'Afrique Noire. Musée Historique de Gorée Exhibit (August 2024). Sulayman Bal was succeeded by Abd al-Qadir who consolidated the Futa Toro state, created a military and

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

, and became one of the first of many

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n leaders to take the title almami. In 1796, his army was defeated during the battle of Bounghoy by the

Cayor The Cayor Kingdom (; ) was from 1549 to 1876 the largest and most powerful kingdom that split off from the Jolof Empire in what is now Senegal. The Cayor Kingdom was located in northern and central Senegal, southeast of Waalo, west of the kingdom ...

kingdom led by the Damel Amary Ngoné Ndella Fall. Abd al-Qādir was killed in 1807, to be replaced by a less oligarchic council of clan leaders.

References

* Holger Weiss
Attempts to Establish an Islamic Economy: A Survey on Zakāt in some Nineteenth-Century Muslim States of the Bilād as-Sūdān
Paper presented at the SAL-workshop: "State and Everyday Life in Africa", Accra, November–December 2000. * David Robinson. Chiefs and Clerics: Abdul Bokar Kan and Futa Toro, 1853–1891. Clarendon Press. (1975). 1775 deaths 18th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 1720 births History of Senegal {{Islamic-scholar-stub