During the 20th century, the militant form of piety often known as fundamentalism erupted in every major religion as a rebellion against modernity. Every fundamentalist movement I have studied in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion. If the evil carnage we witnessed on Sept. 11 were typical of the faith, and Islam truly inspired and justified such violence, its growth and the increasing presence of Muslims in both Europe and the U.S. would be a terrifying prospect. Fortunately, this is not the case.

It has been 15 years since I was first introduced to Muridism as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. At that time I was based in a small village south of Ziguinchor, so I had little opportunity to meet any Murids, other than the Baaye Falls who begged on the streets of Dakar. I found them to be very intimidating with their large clubs and imposing stature. It was the stories of their drunkenness and self-flagellation that circulated among the young American volunteers, not the inspirational words of Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba or his courageous resistance to French colonialism

Majalis is pleased to introduce you to this interesting article in Geostrategic  studies by Serigne A. Aziz Mbacke entitled” Bamba, Obama, and World Peace” subtitled “Yes we can have a new dream between Islam and America” Included inthe article are excerpts from the recently edited English version of his book “JIHAD FOR PEACE (Exploring the Philosophy of Sheikh A. Bamba, The African Muslim of Non-Violence)”), wherein the author is attempting to study and analyze the great Senegalese Sufi’s thought and its relevance today’s world.