15 - A Senegalese Sufi Saint and ‘Ajamī Poet: Sëriñ Moor Kayre (1874–1951)

Summary

The numerous manuscripts in ‘Ajamī discovered in Africa are in striking contrast with the myth of Africa being devoid of writing and significant literature, as conveyed by colonial hegemonic discourses. Alongside the ‘Colonial Library’ or the writings produced by Europeans about Africa during the colonial period and by African intellectuals in French, English, and Portuguese, other libraries have thrived, among which is the Islamic library produced by ‘Non-Europhone Intellectuals’. These intellectuals wrote both in Arabic and in their native African languages (Fulani, Hausa, Swahili, Yoruba, Somali, Amharic, Kanuri, and so on) by using the Arabic script. This form of writing, called ‘Ajamī, enabled these ‘Muslims beyond the Arab world’ to produce a body of works of high intellectual quality and value, dealing with a variety of subjects touching their lives.

The official language in Senegal is French, which is a relic of the country's colonial past. It is the language of instruction despite being inaccessible to a majority of Senegalese. Alongside it, local languages are elective subjects for college students, are used as a medium of communication, and for other purposes in non-formal educational settings. ‘Ajamī writing is nevertheless widely used in Senegal in its Wolof form known as Wolofal, especially among followers of the Murīdiyya Sufi order, founded by Shaykh Amadu Bamba (1853–1927). The most prolific ‘Ajamī poets of this brotherhood are Sëriñ Moor Kayre (1874–1951), Sëriñ Sàmba Jaara Mbay (1870–1971), Sëriñ Muusaa Ka (1883–1967), and Sëriñ Mbay Jaxate (1875–1954). This group of ‘Ajamī poets were dubbed by some authors the ‘Pléiade mouride’, in reference to the group of sixteenth-century French Renaissance poets.

This chapter examines the poetic work of a leading Mouride scholar, Sëriñ Moor Kayre, whose work caught my attention. With the exception of his close followers and specialists of Wolof ‘Ajamī, his work is unknown to the general public.

The study of his manuscripts is premised on the alarm sounded by Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop in Nations nègres et culture regarding the urgency of preserving Africa's rich intellectual leagacy, especially its written literary sources. Diop emphasized particularly the national prominence of these four great scholars and Wolofal poets. In his view, the poetic legacy of Sëriñ Moor Kayre and his peers ‘should be carefully guarded before it disappears’.