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 for sale on the internet in 2020. Mouride disciples are interested in them, a collective is even formed to carry out the investigation, authenticate them and then finally buy these photos at the beginning of March. The Senegalese ambassador in Paris therefore handed them over this Friday to the representative of the Caliph General of the Mourides.
Khassaïdes, these Mouride poems, are started a few minutes after the restitution 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 a great pleasure to discover the photos in a physical way. Now we just have to keep 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 junk dealer years ago.
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Serigne Khadim Ngom, who participated in the purchase, especially notes their symbolic value. “ We have a windfall from coming across these photos. Generations and generations of Mourides have succeeded. They weren’t so lucky to be able to appreciate that smile, to be able to appreciate that face “.
Another challenge had to be taken up by the collective: the restoration of these century-old photos. A task entrusted to Christophe Gœury, expert in collection photography. “ We must not forget that these are photos that were surely taken by an amateur, in small format, at a time when the techniques were not very elaborate, so they have been preserved, preserved, and now these images have a sustainable future over time. »
The photos will land this Saturday, April 15 in Senegal. They must be handed over to the Caliph General of the Brotherhood, who will decide where they should be permanently kept.