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Im in Love with a Mourid in New York City

By Me, Tracy Thompson

The followers an unusual West African sect of Islam called the Baye Fall celebrated their religion’s founder, Cheikh Amadou Bamba, in Harlem on Tuesday with a 15-block parade.

While waiting for the march to start, men sat in circles chanting songs of thanks, remembering Bamba. Others were dressed in colorful “boubou garb,” the Wolof term for African clothing. Women gathered in sections wearing white, which symbolizes peace in Islam. Some women wore white “hijab,” a headscarf worn by Muslim women, although women are not forced to wear hijab in this movement. Children in tiny boubou outfits stood observing the mass of people.

“People have come from all over today. They come from Washington, North Carolina, Atlanta and Chicago,” said Lamp Fall, a leader within the movement in New York City.

The Baye Fall movement appears to represent a different kind of Islam. Some reports show that its members do not have to pray and they can smoke freely, although some Mouride members avoid these questions and others provide different answers.

“There is nothing in Chiekh Amadou Bamba’s writings or teachings that tells a Mouride not to pray. We are Muslim first. Prayer was very important to Bamba,” said Serigne Djigal, a leader within the Murid Islamic Community in America and a teacher of English at the Al-Azhar Center of Excellence in Senegal.

The men of the Baye Fall resemble Rastafarians, with their long, thick dreadlocks and their red, green, yellow and black and white patchwork clothing.

The Baye Fall movement is a part of the Mouride Brotherhood. Mouridism was founded in Senegal in 1883 by Bamba, a mystical, Muslim cleric who is known for his poetry and tracts on Quranic study. Mouridism is described as an African adaptation of Islam and some Mourides refer to it as “black Islam.”

Ibrahim Fall is known as one of Bamba’s most illustrious followers and led all of the manual labor in Mouridism during his time. He established the Baye Fall movement and was granted permission by Bamba to substitute prayer with hard work, eliminating the five daily prayers, a West African Islam report from Reuters said.

Tuesday’s walk began after 10 a.m. and Senegalese men played drums while singing “La ilaha ilala,” meaning there is no God but Allah in Arabic. The men drumming to this tune and drenched in sweat traveled from 110th St. to 125th St.

“Dancing is a way of giving thanks,” said Badou Diagne, one of the men dancing and singing during the march.

The march was organized by the Murid Islamic Community in America, a non-profit organization based in New York that supports the Murids in America.

The movement has come a long way in its relationship with New York City authorities. In 1988 one of Bamba’s sons raised the suspicion of the police when he was greeted at John F. Kennedy Airport by followers who bowed and sat on the floor as he passed.

As a result authorities began investigating the religion said Aladji Faye, a member of the Baye Falls who participated in the march. Once the authorities realized Bamba caused no threat, however, they welcomed him, Faye said, and eventually David Dinkins, Manhattan borough president at the time, issued a decree to honor Amadou Bamba’s achievements

The New York City Police Department peacefully controlled traffic during the parade. “We are not here to enforce rules. So far it’s a peaceful day. It’s a good day for us officers,” said Deputy Inspector Rodney Harrison, Commanding Officer of the 28th Precinct in Harlem.

After the parade, marchers went to lunch at Amadou Bamba’s former home, and later a lecture was held at the United Nations, where the speaker Mbaye Pekhe lectured about Mouridism and Cheikh Bamba.

With massive sized portraits of Bamba and other leaders raised high above the crowds, and their expression of love for the religion, the Senegalese brought a piece of Senegal to New York City.