[60r] Only God is sufficient.

Praise be to God as He deserves to be praised, and blessings upon our master Muhammad, His Messenger and servant. May God be pleased with our shaykh, Shaykh Sa'd Bu, may he be pleased with us, and fulfill for him the inheritance of his father.

Thereafter: peace which is more delightful than the gentle breeze and more pleasant than the health of a healthy heart in the other life if God wills and "you will nothing save by the will of God." To our maternal uncle Sa'd ibn al-Mufassir 'Abdul Tafsir and his brother Ibrahim and all of their sisters in general and particularly Sella and Bariju and Fatima R„sin and others among the brothers. We are writing to you to inform you that God Most High has favored me by [allowing] me to return to our people from our pilgrimage and our visit to the best of mankind [the Prophet Muhammad] (upon whom be the best of blessing and the purest peace). This was accomplished through your baraka, praise God for this. We are today preparing to return to Futa if God Most High wills it.

Indeed I read the letter which you wrote me two years ago after our return from the pilgrimage [which came] by the intermediary of Mawlay 'Umar in whose hands I put some of our property. I left some gifts with him and he sent them to you in that year. I am preparing now to come to you if God Most High wills it, after I see the people and the brethren who are in Futa. As soon as the bearer of my letter reaches you, send me what you have mentioned in your [earlier] letter, a fine and precious slave girl.

Now as for my maternal uncle Biran, tell him that he owes me a fine servant. Give greetings to our brother Ahmad al-Mukhtar and tell him all of my news. And greet for me with joy the Commander of the Faithful and Sa'id Jeliya and Ibrahim ibn al-Mujtaba and 'Uthman Kusa and Belle Gede and 'Abdul Gede and the other brothers.

Now we heard that the Commander of the Faithful (may God make him powerful) has given you possession of the settlement of Guigne. Praise and gratitude be to God. If indeed that is true, then seize the ten [men of the] Awlad Bu Sba', and humiliate them and treat them in a vile manner, because they robbed me on the road, took my money and made off with it and wanted to kill me. It was God who prevented them from doing that. And as for the Reguiebat, set them free and don't take anything from them, because they were my companions on the road and were very kind to me. So show them nothing but kindness and good treatment.

What we have now in the way of news is that Ibrahim ibn Almamy Muhammad and Muhammad Sile together with the Darnel fought with a great force against [60v] Ahmad Mandi who claimed that he was 'Isa (peace be upon him), and that his father was the Mahdi. Ahmad continued his war against them, but now the Governor of Ndar together with his forces43 has resolved to join with them [Ibrahim and Muhammad Sile] in order to attack him [Ahmad] and expel him from the land, and they will kill him if they capture him. This is a true account of the situation. All of them arc presently in Kajor.

Now the cause of the two sides entering into this enmity is the terrible thing which was done by him [Ahmad] in the first year to the people of Pete, when they [the Madiyanke] betrayed them and killed more than sixty men. They came among them on the basis of safe-conduct. They stayed in the compounds until each one of the guests overpowered the host where he was staying and killed him. You have surely heard of this before now. They are now in the throes of a real civil war.

Greetings from Amina and her daughter Fatima al-Zahra. As for her mother Jelle, upon her and our dead be mercy and [God's] pleasure, may she and they find Paradise and forgiveness. Al-Mufassir Hammad greets you as does Ibn al-Miqdad and Maryam Sy and Fatima Silla and her mother Rahmata All„h and Lamabba An and others from the sisters and brothers. Greet for me Ahmad your son and Muhammad and others, as well as the wives, particularly Layla.

Tell the Commander of the Faithful that I came with three men from the west from the city of Fez, who are disciples of Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani and who wish to visit him. One is a sharif and the other two are wealthy and well known. He should honor them by receiving them and respect them greatly because they are truly of the people of the presence. One of them is named al-Hajj 'Ilal. Another is Mawlay Ahmad he is in fact the sharif. He [Ahmad al-Kabir] should know that the two of them have been extremely kind to me in their land in the west. Whatever God wills. There is no power except from God. Peace be upon you all.

Muhammad Mahmud Muhammad.

Written in Ndar on the 11th of Dhu'l-Qa'da 1291 of the hijra.