EP2 - Jahankalu   Jahanka People of West Africa
Channel: Zec Culture
Date: 19/12/2021

The Diakhankés are members of a community of Soninke origin. This community was founded in 1059 by the patriarch El Hadj Salim Souare3, more commonly known as Diakha Laye Souare or Mbemba Laye Souare4. The Diakhanké movement, which is based on the pacifist expansion of Islam, appeared in the fourteenth century and developed especially during the reign of Kankou Moussa, emperor of Mandé.
Diakha Laye is from the town of Diaka in Macina. After long wanderings, he went through Diafounou, Saloum (Senegal) to finally settle in Bambouk, on the bank of Bafing. He founded a locality to which he gave the name of his village of origin, "Diakha". This locality which he founded with the help of his 3 maternal cousins ​​(Kharou Mahmoud Fofana-Guirassy, ​​Tounlé Fadiga, Dramé-Bâ) is called Bambougou-Diakha; the first being called Macina-Diakha5.
The Diakhanké community originally revolves around four Soninké clans:
Souaré (Sambakhès);
Dramé (Kandji Missané);
Fofana-Guirassy;
Fadiga (Dibassy).
These four founding clans are called “The Four Foyers” (or “boloun naano” or “boulou naano”). To these four clans were added among others the Diakhité-Kaba, the Sylla, the Diaby-Gassama, the Dansokho, the Diakhaby, the Badio, the Sakho, etc. The latter were, it seems, the natives of the diakhankés [ref. desired] who, as hosts, received and venerated their ethnic brothers (the four above-mentioned clans) as has always been the custom of the diakhankés [ref. desired]. There are also other surnames such as Minté, Diaouné, Touré, Simakha, Kadiakhé (Makhanner), Cissé.
The political instability suffered by the Manding Empire due to the many wars of independence of its provinces, caused the decline of Bambougou Diakha. The Diakhankés therefore dispersed in particular towards eastern Senegal, in the provinces of Boundou, Dantilia, Niokolo and Wulli, etc. Some have followed the Dioula trade routes. Villages were founded by the Diakhanké marabouts. The Dramé settled in Goundiour, the Diaby in Didé, the Diakhité in Toumboura and Djelany, the Sylla in Bani Israel, etc. All these Senegalese villages were major centers of religious education [ref. desired].
The wars of colonial conquest between El Hadj Oumar Tall and Mamadou Lamine Dramé on the one hand, and the French colonial army on the other hand caused a new dispersion of the Diakhankés. The city of Touba in Guinea was founded at the beginning of the 19th century (1815) by another Salim, nicknamed Karamokhoba Diaby Gassama, originally from Didé in Senegal. Touba was the main center of the Diakhanké movement until the arrest by the colonial administration of Karan Sankoung, great-grandson of Karamokhoba in March 1911. Another movement of dispersal of the people of Touba ensued. to southern Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, etc.
The Diakhankés have always conformed to the doctrine of El Hadj Salim Souare, opposed to any form of war (conquest or Jihad). They have always been concerned with the peaceful teaching (Heera sila) of Islam. But they were also able to defend themselves in a very direct way, which is why they are feared and respected by all [ref. desired].

The Diakhankés are called Toubaka in Guinea, Azer in Mauritania, Wangara in Hausa milieu, Suwarians (de Souaré) by the English.
According to the legend [Which one?], Certain Diakhankés clans would descend from the companions of the Prophet [ref. desired]. Thus the Dramé would be descendants of Salman al Farissi, the Fofana-Guirassy of Abou Bakr, the Diaby of Omar Bin Khattab, the Sylla of al Abbas [ref. desired]. These statements remain all the same probable [ref. desired] due to the fact that the town of Macina Dia was a crossroads town that overlooked the Sahel to the east and north and sub-Saharan Africa to the south. It is also recognized that when they arrived in Africa, some men in the army of Oqba Ibn Nafi Al Fihri took for wives and concubines African Berber women for some and sarakholé, Fulani or other ethnic groups, for some. others [ref. desired]. The historians themselves [Which?], Whether they are Arabs or not, attest to several mixtures of this kind in the course of history [ref. desired]. These alleged mixtures are highly questionable in the face of the absence of conclusive evidence [Personal interpretation?]. Some people [Which?] Question the Arab origin of the Diakhankés, interpreting this as a desire on their part to dissociate themselves from polytheists and other black African "disbelievers" [ref. desired].
Despite the wisdom of their analysis, they cannot provide solid historical evidence that would refute the Arab and / or Berber origins of certain Diakhankés Sarakhollés and Fulani clans.