The Muridiyya (Mouride brotherhood) was founded in 1883 in Senegal by Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke, commonly known as Amadou Bamba (1850–1927). In Arabic, he is known as Aḥmad ibn Muhammad ibn Habīb Allāh or by the nickname “Khadīmu r-Rasūl” (“Servant of the Prophet”). In Wolof he is called “Sëriñ Tuubaa” (“Holy Man of Touba). He was born in the village of Mbacké in Baol, the son of a marabout from the Qadiriyya, the oldest of the Muslim brotherhoods in Senegal.

Amadou Bamba was a Muslim mystic and ascetic marabout, a spiritual leader who wrote tracts on meditation, rituals, work, and tafsir. He is perhaps best known for his emphasis on work, and his disciples are known for their industriousness. Although he did not support the French conquest of West Africa, he did not wage outright war on them, as several prominent Tijani marabouts had done. He taught, instead, what he called the jihād al-akbar or “greater struggle,” which fought not through weapons but through learning and fear of God.

Bamba’s followers call him a mujaddid (a “renewer of Islam”). Bamba’s fame spread through his followers, and people joined him to receive the salvation that he promised. Salvation, he said, comes through submission to the marabout and hard work.