Muqaddamatul XIDMA

        My name is Amadou, my friends call me Bëgg Bàmba which means the guy who loves Bàmba. Bàmba is Sheikh Ahmad Bamba a holy man and a Sheikh from Senegal who did a great service for Islam at the time of colonization. He fought pacifically in the name of Islam without any weapons or aggressive words. His only weapons, if we can say, was the holy Quran and the Sunna of the prophet (peace be upon him).
By teaching and training people as far as the straightway of Allah, the colonizer accused him of resistance and deported him for more than eight years alone without family or companions in different place in Africa in order to punish him. But God is the greatest and as he said in the Quran “wayamkuroona wayamkuru Allahu waAllahu khayru almakireena” (hey plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah). Sheikh Ahmad Bamba came back to that exile without any harm, disbelief or regrets on why he claimed himself ‘Abdullah and from that he got the title of Khadimul Rasuul (the servant of the prophet (peace be upon him).

      At the beginning of his journey and before his deportation in others lands, Sheikh Ahmad Bamba wrote a book named Muqaddamatul XIDMA in the holy city of Touba when there was nothing but a big jungle with wild animals. The introduction of that book tell us more about the Sheikh and his devotion caused his first word was to swear by saying “Billahi lazii la ilaha ila huwal karimul AAlim, khayati wa mamati wa kharakati wa sakanati ma’a Sayidina Muhamadin salalahu ta’ala ‘alayhi wa salama”   which means that he has sworn, Sheikh Ahmad Bamba in the name of God the generous and the knower that his live and dead, all his movements and resilience will be in the companion of the prophet (peace and salutation be upon him). And if you read that book carefully you will see that most of what he has is from that book. And he even said it because he said if we remove Muqaddamatul XIDMA on my journey (works) of exile the remained will not have the value or worth something for me to move one foot.

       From all of what is said and done, one would be curious about what is on that book.  Let me tell you my friends that you will found salawat ‘ala nabii full of it, more than 720 names of the prophet (peace be upon him) all with prayers for the Prophet (peace be upon him) and all mankind.
Muqaddamatul XIDMA is a book with more than 760 salawat ‘ala nabi and as you know it’s God himself who ask us believers to send blessing upon the Prophet (Asking God to send his blessing upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), and that in the surat al-Ahzaab God said “Inna Allaha wamalaikatahu yusalloona AAala alnnabiyyi ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo salloo AAalayhi wasallimoo tasleeman” which means: Allah himself and his Angels send blessing upon the Prophet and Allah order us as believers to do so. Sheikh Ahmad Bamba reminds us that on the book and answer to God’s order by  saying “labayka rabii” I answer to that call and all other call you made before now and after.

        He, Sheikh Ahmad Bamba, seeks forgiveness from God in the best way by showing his weakness toward God and by praising God as far as his greatness of forgiving and then he purifies  himself by asking God to bless him with a pure heart. After that he began from the first letter of the Arabic alphabet that is Hamza till Ya. Therefore, with the Arabic alphabet, he has written down all the names of the prophet (peace be upon him) in alphabetical order that is to say he started with the letter Hamza and from it he listed all the names of the Prophet started with the same letter until the letter Yaa and each one has covered a Salawat ‘ala nabii. But he did not stop there, at the end of each Salawat he has added a prayer that can be uttered for the one reading it to be granted with grace from God and that those Salawaats are beyond the mind and imagination of a simple human being. As we know it’s the Prophet (peace be upon him) who said “God never refuse a pray between two salawat ‘ala nabii”.

        So if I can give a piece of advise you, all I would say is to go and discover that book, read it and try to know what is inside. You will see that it’s not just a book but the organization of this live and one in the hereafter. What is in that book is the light of every given knowledge which is useful and that knowledge can’t be explained because a simple mind will never understand. So all I can say for a reader and a lover is that there is nothing like Muqaddamatul XIDMA, there is nothing faster than the Book on the way toward the almighty God Allah.

Written by: Bëgg Bàmba Muqaddamatul XIDMA x Faal

Corrections: Sëñ Saadix Faal