Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, the founder

The International Sufi School was founded by Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba to call men into becoming peace beings. He entrusted its realisation and its development to Sheikh Sidy Ahmed, one of his disciples from Mauritania. The latter, in turn transmitted this responsibility to his Senegalese disciple, Sheikh Abdoulaye Dieye.

Since the message of peace is directed towards the whole of humanity, Sheikh Abdoulaye Dieye left his country and dedicated his life to making the School known throughout the world. His successor and actual leader, Sheikh Aly N’Daw, continues the work of his guide and predecessor on all the continents, and makes visible the message through the creation of the Peace village Pout in Senegal.

Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba is the founder of the Sufi path, the Mouridiyya, and the spiritual school Khidmatul Khadim, school of peace and service. Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba was born in Senegal in 1853 during French occupation. 

The life of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba is a testimony of his commitment to the revival of authentic Islam, the religion of Peace and his only ideal was to serve humanity by giving teachings in accordance with the prophetic model. The teachings of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba were geared towards the transmission of the very essence of the prophetic message to his generation and to future ones. He devoted his entire life to awakening human consciousness, both among the oppressed and the oppressors.

The Sheikh made the choice of love from a very early age. In fact since his early childhood he renounced affairs of the lowly world and was committed to the quest of divine love. At the death of his father he was offered the post of counsellor to the local magnate but he declined the offer, for he was committed to an ideal of service to the whole of mankind irrespective of differences. To him service to humanity was the best expression of the love of God.

In order to actualise the essence of his teachings and his ideal of peace and service, Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba founded the spiritual path called Muridiyya – this is referred to as the path of those who seek the Truth. However Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba never denied any of the other spiritual traditions that existed in those days.

In 1883 he also laid the foundations of Khidmatul Khadim, the School of Peace and Service which he dedicated to those of his followers who wanted what he himself wanted, that is those who accepted to embody his message within their own lives in order to spread it to the whole of mankind as a living example. Hence Khidmatul Khadim is the school of those who choose to be in the service of the ‘servant’, for Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba defined himself as the Servant of the Prophet.