Maba Diakhou Bâ
Maba Diakhou Bâ combined political and religious goals in an attempt to reform or overthrow previous animist monarchies, and resist French encroachment.[1] During this time, French forces under governor Faidherbe had carried out a scorched-earth policy against resistance to their expansion in Senegambia, with villages razed and populations removed after each victory.Maba was the court marabout, frequently making amulets and praying for the king, but also attempting to weaken him by magical means and stockpiling weaponry.Maba Diakhou Bâ offered him asylum, and converted Dior and his soldiers from the traditional Tièddo syncretic beliefs to rigorous Islam.Maba attempted to build alliances with the neighboring Emirate of Trarza and the Imamate of Futa Toro, threatening to unify Senegambia against the French, but a rebellion in Rip forced him to leave Jolof in October after burning several animist villages and enslaving the inhabitants.Tivaouane in the north among the Wolof and Kaolack among the Serer have become the two centers of Tijaniyyah Sufi teaching in Senegal, and both were founded as a direct result of Maba Diakhou Bâ's short-lived state.[10]: 67–68 He was interred in the village of Fandène (or Mbel Fandane), and his tomb, which has become a place of pilgrimage, is in the Diakhao Arrondissement, département of Fatick in Sine-Saloum, Sénégal.