Mohamed Yahya Babah

Visited the IAS from May to July 2025

Mohamed Yahya Babah's research is embedded in the field of Sufi studies, especially the so-called Sufi orders, where he pursue a project titled: “The Resurgence of Tijaniyya Spirituality through the Emergence of the Divine Flood of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse” (or “Abrahamic Flood”, fayda ibrahimiyya, as this movement is often referred to in West Africa). The research questions address the origins of this twentieth-century Sufi movement and as well as the various forms of its presence in Mauritania.

During his stay, Babah relied on the rich sources and references available in three documentation units at the University of Bayreuth: the Tijaniyya Collection at the Chair of Islamic Studies, the archive on Islam in Africa kept at Iwalewahaus, and the University Library.

In his analysis, Babaj juxtapose the intellectual strands and approaches of the Tijaniyya in general and the Abrahamic Flood in particular with the broader tendencies of Sufi Islam. The evidence shows that the spiritual path of the Tijaniyya provides the “mother method” for the Abrahamic Flood, as can be discerned in (a) the practices of dhikr, i.e., the individual and collective forms of Sufi ritual performance, (b) the nature of its chains of transmission, and (c) in the method of spiritual training.

Babah's research project also addresses the historical circumstances of the emergence of the Abrahamic Flood. It introduces its founder, Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse from Kaolack (Senegal), who died in 1975 AD; and provides definitions of the “Flood” (Arabic, fayda) and its spiritual content. It also offers an analysis of some of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse’s religious writings, demonstrating their roots in Sunni Islam and their inspiration from the intellectual and social setting of the historical region of Shinqit (present-day Mauritania). The resulting publication will contextualize the Abrahamic Flood within the well-known trilogy of Sunni mysticism expressed in the terms shari'a – tariqa – haqiqa, i.e., Divine Law – Spiritual Path – Ultimate Reality, and also chart its spread in the Mauritanian space, including a presentation of its major protagonists in Mauritania.