Medina Baay Research Association

Medina Baay (written in French as “Médina Baye”) is a center of Islamic learning and Sufi practice on the outskirts of Kaolack, Senegal established in 1930 by Shaykh ᵓIbrāhīm Ñas (1900-1975), a leader of the Tijānī Sufi order who has millions of followers worldwide. Ñas is known to Senegalese disciples as “Baay” (“Father,” written “Baye” in French). The Medina Baay Research Association (originally called the Medina Baay Historical and Social Research Committee) conducts and presents research on the history and current dimensions of Shaykh ᵓIbrāhīm's disciples worldwide. The Association began its research in 2004, founded by anthropologist Joseph Hill and residents of Medina Baay, and since then its members have conducted research sporadically.

Our research consists of several activities:

As part of our historical research in Medina Baay, I returned to Kóosi Mbittéyeen today for a second time to do more interviews with grandparents, including:

When I went to Senegal this summer, I had just (I thought) finished writing an article on women acting as Islamic leaders in Senegal, based on interviews with a handful of female muqaddams (representatives of the Sufi order). I thought I would seize the opportunity to do a couple final interviews, and I interviewed several daughters of Baay Ñas who act as muqaddams (including Roqiyatu Ñas, pictured right) as well as women who came from non-Taalibe Baay and non-clerical families. I soon realized that the phenomenon was far more widespread than I had imagined.

Medina Baay (spelled “Médina Baye” in French), a neighborhood on the northeast edge of the city of Kawlax in Senegal, is the headquarters of the “’Ibrāhīmiyyah” branch of the Tijāniyyah Ṣūfī order and was founded by ’Ibrāhīm Ñas, usually called “Baay Ñas” in Wolof (“Baye Niass” or “Ibrahima Niass” in French). In Arabic, “Medina Baay” literally means "The City of Baay," but it also draws a parallel between Baay Ñas’s (spelled “Baye Niass” in French) refuge here in 1930 and that of Muḥammad in the Arabian city of al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah.
Add a comment