Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Ndiéguène, nicknamed Boroom Dalling Koor, was born on June 15, 1940 in the Keur Mame El Hadji district in Thiès. It is the fruit of the sacred union that the good Lord wanted to weave between his creatures El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène (1890-1997) and Sokhna Aminata Diba (1904-1988). This last named was a virtuous woman, a consummate example of devoted piety. She aroused hope with her exemplary behavior. Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha bears the name of the Prophet Seydouna Mouhamad (Peace and Salvation be upon him, his family and his companions). His father (Mame El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène) informs that at the time of his birth, he was in full worship of the approval of God. The Prophet revealed to him that the child to be born was a kind of reward to such an extent that he recommended that he be his namesake. Mame El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène also pointed out that he saw in a dream the holy Sheikh Ahmed Tidiane Chérif (Rta) send him warm congratulations for the immeasurable benefit that the Almighty had just granted him. This state of affairs justifies the action taken by El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène.
This means that from his birth to his call to God, the spiritual guide was accompanied by his namesake, the Great Prophet (Psl). It should be remembered, it was from his childhood that people began to have an idea of what he was going to become. Unlike most of his peers, he did not take the same path as children his age. He did not lend himself to children’s games. It was from birth that he became an adult. Very early on, he had an orientation of piety like no other.
All his deeds and words came down to following the precepts of Islam. He made 100 rakkas every night and prayed systematically on the Prophet (Psl), whom one day his father and guide (Mame El Hadj Mouhamed Ndièguène) called him to give him a name of God. He declares that it was the night when he pronounced it that he climbed unsuspected levels in the way of Seydina Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Chérif (May God be pleased with him). Already at the age of 14, he saw the Prophet Muhammad (as) for the first time. He saw him again a few years later, at the age of 17. He will have devoted his entire existence to devoting an exclusive cult to his creator.
It was his father, El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène, who introduced him to learning the Holy Quran. At that time, we were in the middle of the construction work of the Mame El Hadji mosque. It was his holy father who made him do all the necessary religious training, both esoteric and exoteric. He used to tell anyone who wanted to listen that there was no reason for people to have any apprehensions about his words and deeds, because he had them from his father. The latter kept saying that “it was I who shaped Moustapha. Everything in him bears my imprint. He was like annihilated in his father, with whom he never separated until the moment of his pilgrimage to Mecca, when he had just turned 40.
Serigne Moustapha Ndiéguène Boroom Dalling Koor had for one and only concern, the construction of the man so that he tends towards the accomplishment from all points of view and in the broad sense of the term. It is not superfluous to recall that his namesake, and no less Prophet of Islam, has never ceased to hammer home that he is invested with the divine mission of instilling cardinal values and virtues in creation. This is what led him to invest himself fully in the education of the souls of the faithful who had pledged allegiance to him. There are many people who have been able to realize their wish to rise to grades of spirituality through his care.
At the age of 17, Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Ndieguène had the blessing of celebrating a night dedicated to the Prophet Seydina Mouhamed (Psl).
The Gamou of Mame El Hadji, a major event that gets better over the years
It should be remembered that we are at the 66th edition of the Gamou celebration, the central theme of which is “the ethics and deontology of the Prophet Seydouna Mouhamed (Psl): the example of Serigne Moustapha Ndiéguène, the prototype of the Mouhamadiènne model “. This event was held for the first time in 1957. It is following the blessing of his father and guide, Mame El Hadij Mouhamed, that Boroom Dalling Koor will celebrate the Gamou. The inclusive approach he followed, to involve his brothers and disciples gathered in a gathering (dahira) named Jamahatou Tahzim Lissibiyanil Kiram, naturally contributed to the success of previous editions. It was at the age of 17 that he initiated the celebration of the birth of the Great Prophet. The event was so close to his heart that he was personally involved in the smooth running of all organizational aspects. He never ceased to urge the disciples to spare no effort to contribute to the success of the religious event, which he perceived as an opportunity, like no other, to perform acts of devotion to obtain the Approval of God.
This celebration was so important for the Hadara Ndiéguène that one day, Serigne Moustapha, who came to greet his father at the end of a Gamou, the latter addressed him as follows: “Moustapha, I hear that the Gamou that we just celebrated is yours. Nope ! I persist and sign that it is mine. It is said that each son is the essence of his father. Well you are my essence. In other words, it is I, your father, who am glorified through your person. It will be necessary to wait until your offspring grows up, achieves performances, so that we really know what you are worth.
The holy man used to point out to his worthy heir that it is he who ensures the success of the religious event. He told her that each edition is always better than the one that preceded it. Reality has never contradicted this statement.
When his father passed away, Serigne Moustapha Ndièguène had perpetuated the spiritual legacy. On the occasion of each Gamou celebration, he began his daily activities with a prayer, at dawn, at the Mausoleum of his late father.
During one of the prayers he performed there, he told him that the celebration of Gamou is a privileged moment of spiritual renewal, but also and above all of the fulfillment of wishes because on occasion, the Prophet Muhammad (Psl) and her grandson, Seydina Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Chérif (Rta), enhance the celebration with their presence.
As predicted by El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène, Gamou continues to grow and improve over the years and from all points of view. The 66th edition, which is looming on the horizon, will not be an exception to the rule. On the contrary, Serigne Ass Mouhamed Ndiéguène, who is the natural caliph of his father, has finished giving him an exceptional dimension. The pots are requisitioned to contain the dishes prepared in the various decentralized cooking points in the district and which bear the names of the holy women of Mame El Hadji Mouhamed Ndièguène including Sokhna Amy Diba, Sokhna Amy Dia, Sokhna Marième Diop, Sokhna Bineta Faye. Beyond the brotherhood, it is all Muslims of all persuasions who have finished appropriating the celebration of Gamou. It could not be otherwise because it is for God and the salvation of Muslims that El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène initiated it. Since its origin, it is celebrated in the first week of January. The organization period has never varied, even during the Covid-19 it has been organized taking all the necessary measures. This flagship event of the Ndiéguène family has ended up being appropriated by the disciples scattered in the 4 corners of the world. The celebration of Gamou is for them a perfect opportunity to spare neither their financial, material, moral or physical resources for the success of the event.
57 years in the service of his spiritual master, El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène
Boroom Dalling Koor (Serigne Moustapha Ndiéguène) was very close to his father, of whom he was both the right arm and the confidant. He was his appointed aide-de-camp. Which means that he used to maintain, and rightly so, that there was not in this world, someone who knows El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène better than himself. “I know him better here below and I will know him better than anyone in the invisible world,” he said. His father loved him with a visceral love, that he asked him to beware of having friends. Which is not surprising since he only knew his father, with whom he lived for 57 years. He only wanted what he wanted and he only hated what he hated. When he called her, he ceased all activity to meet her. The day after the Gamou, he came to give him the hadiyas given by the disciples. During a visit he paid him in the company of the disciples (talibés), Mame El Hadji Mouhamed Ndièguène (his father) was so satisfied with him that he told him this: “Moustapha, the disciples who accompany are Dalling Koor. In other words, their allegiance is never going to end until we all meet in the Afterlife. You are the general of the Dalling Koors.” Serigne Moustapha was the perfect model of the determined disciple, committed and disciplined towards his spiritual master (his father). He did her every service imaginable. When he had reached an advanced age which prevented him from being able to properly perform the tasks related to the exercise of the caliphate, Boroom Dalling Koor took over to carry them out according to the rules of the art. Throughout Senegal, he did not hesitate to seek out disciples to help them consolidate their Islamic faith and their brotherly allegiance. Should we remember, it was his father who gave him the Wird tidiane and all the other related initiations. Mame El Hadji Mouhamed Ndiéguène taught him the names of God very early on, along with his twin brother, Serigne Abdou Razakh Ndiéguène. Both in his thoughts and in his actions, Serigne Moustapha Ndiéguène has never put forward, to glorify himself, their relationship as father and son. He always relegated it to the background, to privilege the dimension of the accomplished disciple towards his guide. He gave her everything he had and gave her exemplary consideration. Until his father expresses, in a loud and intelligible voice, his satisfaction. Among the most significant testimonies that his father gave to him, we can remember that of 1993, the day he visited him in the new house he had built (Keur Guou Bèss). That day, his father had struck the floor of the house with the stick he was holding, before letting him know this: “Mustapha, know that your namesake, the Prophet Muhammad, is satisfied with you.” Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Ndiéguène had a modesty worthy of a man of God. To the many disciples who solicited him for the taking of the Wird tidiane, he was careful not to initiate them because he had not yet received his father’s blessing. A Moukhadam named El Hadji Sam Seck informed his father, who was surprised by this behavior. He immediately called him to give him the official authorization to give the Wird (Idiaza) to the disciples who asked for it. El Hadji Sam Seck, who was present, was quick to ask for the Wird from Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Ndiéguène. He was overwhelmed by an immeasurable happiness from the privilege, which is indeed one, of being the first disciple to be initiated into the way of Seydina Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Chérif by a man of this size.
Amary GUEYE