The first ethnic groups to accept the religion of Muhammad were the Tukul or kingdoms during the 11th century, and by the beginning of the 20th century, most of Senegal had been entirely Islamized. However, the style of Islam practiced in Senegal is significantly different than that found in most other Islamic countries. Members of these brotherhoods vow obedience to their marabouts. The marabouts are considered to be stewards and inheritors of the baraka, or divine grace of their brotherhood's founder. Through the force of their personal baraka, marabouts are believed to have the power to heal illness and grant spiritual salvation to their followers.
Most marabouts inherit their position and their disciples from their fathers.
Bamba was born in the village of Mback -Baol and lived from 1850 to 1927. The son of a marabout from the Xaadir brotherhood, Bamba was a mystic and ascetic more interested in meditation and Koranic study than in building a theocratic empire. He was also a pacifist and did not wage war on pagans as many Tijaan marabouts had done. In the first years of his religious career, Amadou Bamba had simply performed standard maraboutic functions such as teaching the Koran and preparing amulets for his followers. Because of his extraordinary charisma and wisdom, Bamba found that many of his followers were coming to him to partake of his baraka and to serve him rather than to learn the Koran.