Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Texts and Sources: Jihad in the Futa Djalon

THE JIHAD IN THE FUTA DJALON

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Barry, Boubacar, Afro-AmerIcans and Futa Djalon, in J. E. Harris (ed), Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora, Howard University Press, 1979 ISBN 088 2581 49X
- 285 The Futa Djalon is that mountainous solid mass located in today's Republic of Guinea . . . the kingdom of the Futa Djalon was founded in the eighteenth century in the aftermath of an Islamic revolution which, at the onset, was but a reaction against the impact of the slave trade. Once the Islamic regime was instituted, the Futa Djalon was unable to escape the force of the slave trade which, at the time, was the only major activity with the Europeans on the coast.
  
  288 (Walter Rodney) . . . revealed the internal contradictions prevailing in the midst of precolonial societies. In so doing, he extolled not only the revolutionary character of the Jihad in Futa Djalon at the beginning of the eighteenth century but also the oppressive character of the regime which later developed on a large scale the system of Rundes or slave villages within the context of the slave trade.

OTHER REFERENCES

Fyfe, Christopher, A History of Sierra Leone, OUP 1962

Fyfe, Christopher, A Short History of Sierra Leone Longmans New edition 1979

Rodney, Walter A, History of the Upper Guinea Coast, OUP 1970
This map, scanned from one in Walter Rodney's book, shows the Futa Djalon, scene of the Jihad, and the Nunez River, scene of the activity of both the historical and the fictional Tomba.

Almaami-Sori

Then the famous Fula scholar Karamoko Alfa returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca, inspired with religious zeal. Travelling across the great desert, suffering terrible thirst and in danger of losing his life to brigands, he promised Allah that if He permitted him to return to his home in safety, he would undertake to convert all the infidels in the Futa Jalon to Islam. The jihad was the fulfillment of his promise. The instrument he chose was his cousin, Ibrahima Suri, who had already proved himself a capable general. United by their faith, the Fula forces overcame their erstwhile patrons.

AMA, chapter 23