In Praise of the Master

Abstract This paper aims at analysing comparatively two important poetic works composed in Senegambia at the beginning of the 20th century. The first of them, Ǧaḏb al-Qulūb (“the Attraction of the Hearts”), is a panegyric in honour of Muḥammad written in Arabic by Ahmadu Bamba Mbakke, the founder of the Muridiyya Sufi brotherhood. The second composition, Ǧaḏb al-Maǧḏūb (“The Attraction of the Attracted”), which, despite its Arabic title, is in Wolof language, has been composed by Samba Jaara Mbay, one of the first of Bamba’s disciples and renowned poet. The analysis of these two texts will focus particularly on their deep intertextual bonds, which are of great interest and relevance both at the stylistic level and in the content of the poem. Besides having a literary interest per se, this analysis can shed light on the intellectual atmosphere that characterised the development of the Murid brotherhood and its innovative vision of religion and contribute to trace the ideological positions that have contributed to make it a great, dynamic reality of West African Sufism.