24/05/2025
Busó Baali - Women in Muridiyya
[Available on Amazon]
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As women's voices have been gaining freedom over the past few decades, their status is increasingly asserted in social, political, and economic spheres. For many women's rights movements, Islam is often viewed as a counterexample to liberalization in modern societies. On the contrary! Inspired by women's engagements and the promotion of women's empowerment, the emancipated, autonomous, and development-oriented woman is very much present in Islam. The role of women in Islam is of utmost importance, and the Muridiyya — a Sufi brotherhood founded in Senegal by Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba Mbacké — serves as a perfect illustration of this.
As evidence, for two centuries, Muslim women belonging to the Muridiyya have left their mark through their groundbreaking thoughts and achievements. In today’s era of media saturation and the promotion of independent women, their contributions — ranging from spiritual leadership to community-building—would have merited Nobel Prizes or other prestigious accolades.
Busó Baali invites readers to explore the world of women surrounding the "Servant of the Messenger" (Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba). These women exemplify piety, devotion, hard work, self-sacrifice, and moral integrity, seamlessly blending the temporal and the spiritual. Through these figures, the book tackles the many unanswered questions women often have about topics such as male-female relationships, mother-child dynamics, allegiance, spirituality, science, work, marital submission, and more.
Busó Baali, Women in Muridiyya is the culmination of over a decade of documented research and three years of writing, during which the co-authors distilled the essence of the biographies of these female figures who lived alongside "The Men Around the Servant of the Messenger"*. Published by Drouss, this new work complements the aforementioned volume by highlighting the balance these Mourides achieved between seeking Divine Approval and dedicating their lives to serving humanity.
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