The Muslim community celebrates on the night of this Saturday October 8 to Sunday October 9, the Mawlid al nabi or the anniversary of the coming into the world of the Prophet Mohamed (PSL), the Chosen One, the Savior and Bearer of a universal message. Commonly called Gamou, the “Mawlid al Nabi” will have a particular echo in the religious city of Tivaouane. High place of spirituality, the blessed city is adorned with its finery to perpetuate this event that El Hadji Maodo Malick Sy, one of the greatest propagators of Islam and Tarikha Tidiane, had instituted at the beginning of the last century. (1902) to make it an intense moment of devotion, of reappropriation of the prophetic message and the teachings of Islam. This, through this famous call where he invited his people and his co-religionists to believe in Islam, to bring this night to life: “Let’s celebrate the night of the birth of the Prophet (Psl). But on condition that this does not lead to acts that are blameworthy and contrary to the prescriptions of Islam”. Gamou 2022, which coincides with the centenary of Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy’s call to God in 1922, is refocused this year around the theme “Tell people only good things”. With the imperative need to rethink and appropriate fundamental virtues that help maintain balance in society.
Tivaouane, the nun will be in this twelfth month of the lunar month “Rabi al Awal”, the point of convergence of Muslims to celebrate the “Mawlid al Nabi” or Gamou which commemorates the anniversary of the coming into the world of the Prophet, Mouhamad. After 10 days of recitations of Bourd (panegyric on the Prophet of the Egyptian Boussayri) started for ten days, the religious city is still adorned with its finest attire to welcome this event celebrated in Sunni Islam for at least eight centuries.
Although this practice is considered by a good fringe of believers as a religious innovation and even blameworthy innovation (bid’a sayyi’a), the Mawloud has ultimately imposed itself as a laudable innovation (bid’a hasana) which has, according to the great scholars or Muslim Oulémah having lived in different times, real foundations in the Koran and the Sunna.
In Senegal, El Hadji Malick Sy, one of the great propagators of Islam and the Tijania way in Senegal, had very early opened the way by giving a new breath to the Mawlid. A unique night which changed the face of the world and which welcomed the Chosen One of God. Through his encyclopaedic knowledge, the religious guide in 1902 invited his co-religionists to appropriate this prophetic light. “There is no point in proclaiming one’s love to the Prophet Muhammad if this love is not materialized in action or a follow-up to his sunnah or tradition” he had convinced himself.
The man with the parasol institutes this celebration by proclaiming that in this commemoration there are blessings and the resolution of the difficulties inherent in life in society. “Let us celebrate the night of the birth of the Prophet (as). But on condition that this does not lead to acts that are blameworthy and contrary to the prescriptions of Islam,” he said.
The guide and founder of the home of Tivaouane had however alerted by enacting to accomplish the Mawlid “In the strict observance of the principles of Islam and out of any act which prohibits by Sharia or Sunna”. It was first in Ngambou Thilé, in Saint-Louis, in Ndiarndé and later in 1902. Seydi Ell Hadji Malick created the great gathering in Tivaouane and offered the opportunity to his Mouhadams (dignitaries), whom he sent to the four corners of the country and even in the sub-region, to revisit for one night the quintessence of the message of the Messenger of God, to draw inspiration from his model. But above all to adapt it in everyday life to drink in the benefits.
In addition to the recitation of the Holy Quran, prayers on the Best of Creatures (PSL) (Salatou ala Naby), the Ziars (pious visits), the pilgrim is called to immerse himself in the prophetic model through the exegeses of the “Sira” (Biography ) of the Prophet. As such, the inimitable work “Khilâssou Zahab fî Sîrati Khayril Arab” or “Mimiyya”, by El Hadji Malick Sy remains the reference. As is traditional, the faithful anticipated the Gamou by reading the 10 chapters of the “Bourd”, eulogy that the Egyptian scholar Muhammad al-Boussayri had dedicated to the Prophet Mouhamed (Psl). This reading instituted by El Hadji Malick Sy has been perpetuated for more than a century. To the point that it is today inseparable with Mawlidou Nabi or Gamou. This is the whole meaning that he gives to this religious encounter which, according to him, above all makes it possible to appropriate the prophetic model.
“TELL PEOPLE ONLY GOOD”, A THEME AND VIATICUM
For the return of Gamou, coinciding with the centenary of the disappearance of Seydi El hadji Malick Sy, the chosen theme was centered around a laconic recommendation extracted from the Koran: Speak only good things to people”. An opportunity for the Caliph General of the Tidianes to invite the faithful to better practice this divine injunction. But also to establish more civilized and more balanced relationships both in human relationships and in life in society. This, in view of the depravity of morals and excesses that find their echoes in social networks and media supports.
A NIGHT OF REAPPROPRIATION OF THE MODEL AND OF THE PROPHETIC MESSAGE