Unpublished photos of the founder of the Mouride brotherhood handed over to the Senegalese embassy in Paris

2023-04-14T23:34:43.411Z

Highlights: Until a few months ago, there was only one known image of the religious leader. The set of six photos, which seem to represent the father of mouridism laying the first stone of the Diourbel mosque in 1918, was acquired at the beginning of March for 55,000 euros. They belonged to a French collector who had bought them himself from a second-hand dealer years ago. The photos will land this Saturday, April 15 in Senegal. They must be handed over to the Khalif General of the Brotherhood, who will decide where they should be kept.

Friday, April 14, six new photos of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood, were unveiled at the Senegalese Embassy in Paris in front of members of his community and officials...

Unpublished photos of the founder of the Mouride brotherhood handed over to the Senegalese embassy in Paris

Audio 01:27

The Ambassador of Senegal in France, El Hadji Magatte Seye, opens the ceremony of restitution of the photos of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, in the premises of the Embassy in Paris, Friday, April 14, 2023. © RFI/Pauline Le Troquier

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

On Friday, April 14, six new photos of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood, were unveiled at the Senegalese embassy in Paris in front of members of his community and Senegalese officials. Until a few months ago, there was only one known image of the religious leader. These photos appeared on sale on the internet in 2020. Murid disciples are interested in it, a collective is even formed to conduct the investigation, authenticate them and finally buy these photos at the beginning of March. The ambassador of Senegal in Paris handed them over this Friday to the representative of the Khalif General of the Mourides. Pauline Le Troquier reports.

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Khassaïdes, these Mouride poems, are started a few minutes after the return of the original photos of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba. For Serigne Amidou Mbacké, one of the grandsons of the religious leader, the emotion is great: "It gave me chills, it was an immense pleasure to discover the photos in a physical way. Now we have to preserve them well."

The set of six photos, which seem to represent the father of mouridism laying the first stone of the Diourbel mosque in 1918, was acquired at the beginning of March for 55,000 euros by the Mouride collective. They belonged to a French collector who had bought them himself from a second-hand dealer years ago.

► Read also Senegal: the extraordinary story of photographs of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of mouridism

Serigne Khadim Ngom, who participated in the purchase, highlights their symbolic value. "We have an unexpected profit from coming across these photos. Generations and generations of mourids have followed one another. They didn't have this incredible chance to be able to appreciate that smile, that face."

Another challenge had to be taken up by the collective: the restoration of these century-old shots. A task entrusted to Christophe Gœury, expert in collectible photography. "We must not forget that these are photos that were surely made by an amateur, in small format, at a time when the techniques were not very elaborate, so it was preserved, preserved, and now these images have a sustainable future in time.

The photos will land this Saturday, April 15 in Senegal. They must be handed over to the Khalif General of the Brotherhood, who will decide where they should be definitively kept.

Unpublished photos of the founder of the Mouride brotherhood handed over to the Senegalese embassy in Paris

Unpublished photos of the founder of the Mouride brotherhood handed over to the Senegalese embassy in Paris

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