Buh Kunta brought his first disciples (
taalibes) with him when he returned from The Gambia (Haidara, 1985). Gradually others joined. Many came from territories beyond the Wolof heartland. They included Bamana and Soninke people from the French Sudan, Mossi from Upper Volta who arrived in large numbers after 1905, Maninka from Guinée, and Socé from Senegambia. Some contemporary
taalibes report that their ancestors were led to Ndiassane through dreams. Buh Kunta also attracted disciples of Lebu background from nearby communities, especially Bargny, and ransomed some individuals from French colonial prisons. He gained a reputation for his piety, his mystical powers, his gifts as a healer, and his generosity toward his followers. His household is reported to have included many children and youths as well as many sick persons who came to be healed from mental and physical afflictions.
Buh Njaay, an elder in Thiès, spent his childhood and early youth in Ndiassane. In an
interview, he remembers Buh Kunta as a light-skinned man of medium height and slight built. Although his parents were not followers of Buh Kunta, they gave their son to the pious man out of gratitude because they attributed his birth to Buh Kunta’s mystical powers. Buh Njaay shared Buh Kunta’s room at night, sleeping on a bed of clay covered with an ox hide just like his name sake. He ran errands for Buh Kunta and learned the Koran. Other children were organized into groups under the supervision of adult disciples who instructed them. Buh Kunta provided for the children and youths who lived around him. He sent his
sons and the sons of some of his disciples to Mauritania to be educated by Qadiri religious leaders who shared a spiritual connection with Shaykh Sidi al-Mukhtar al-Kunti.
Although Buh Kunta lived simply, he acquired herds, land, and other property. He founded new villages where his followers cultivated millet and peanuts. His cooperation with French authorities before he established himself in Ndiassane proved useful in obtaining land for his growing community, but this did not mean that property was simply granted to him. He appears to have had an excellent understanding of French colonial land laws without having studied law or economics (Marty, 1917). He also relied on lawyers since his requests were carefully examined by the Administration and some were challenged.
In the villages he created, one of the fields and the harvest from it belonged to him. The
taalibes also gave him a portion of the yield from their own fields. Historian David Robinson (2000) has shown that Buh Kunta pioneered a pattern of peanut cultivation centered on the relationship between a religious leader and his disciples that was later adapted by the
Muridiyya founder Shaykh Amadu Bamba (see image to the left) and by El Haj Malik Sy, founder of the Tivaouane branch of the Tijaniyya (see image below right). The peanuts produced on the fields of these religious leaders and their disciples contributed significantly to the development of peanuts as a primary export crop. Buh Kunta sold to French merchants, and the Petersen peanut oil factory still owed him money at the time of his death. He also acquired palm orchards in public auction and put his followers to work in them (Marty, 1917).
Buh Kunta had a keen sense for business and took advantage of the changing political economy. In addition to cultivable land, he acquired urban properties and had lawyers who represented his interests. Although he did not travel any more after settling in Ndiassane, he maintained commercial operations in Saint Louis, Dakar, and Rufisque by appointing trusted disciples and some family members as his agents. For example Lamin, a son of his eldest brother Bekkaï, was his agent for several French commercial houses in Saint-Louis and at trading stations (Marty, 1917). He also had representatives in many locales - from nearby Tivaouane to Foundiougne, Kaolack, and Kayes - who acted as his intermediaries and directed labor migrants and potential followers to Ndiassane (Haidara, 1985; Marty, 1917). Some of his disciples and associates had small stores or traded along the railroad. Others were artisans (e.g. masons, tailors, fishermen) in cities such as Dakar, Rufisque, Saint-Louis, Kayes, Banjul, Conakry. Buh Kunta’s commercial enterprise was in keeping with Sidi Mukhtar al-Kunti’s emphasis on the accumulation of wealth and his view that economic success and religious piety are linked. Having followers produce agricultural crops also was in the spirit of Shaykh Sidi Mukhtar’s belief that all members of the Qadiriyya Way should earn a living rather than depend on the charity of others (Brenner, 1988).
The French colonial administration looked favorably on Buh Kunta’s agricultural and commercial
activities. Although Buh Kunta did not actively assist with colonial endeavors as he had on several occasions before settling in Ndiassane, he did maintain cordial relations with the Administration. He also developed ties with elite
métis families in Saint-Louis. He gave financial support to François Carpot in his 1902 bid for Deputy in the French Assembly and asked followers to vote for him. Carpot, in turn, intervened with the Administration on several occasions on behalf of Buh Kunta’s requests for property registration. Other elite men who assisted him in his commercial endeavors include Jules Couchard, a lawyer and Deputy in the 1890s, and Gaspard Devès (Haidara, 1985); the latter was instrumental in building an economic and political network throughout the the Sengalo-Mauritanian zone.
Buh Kunta maintained respectful relations with Shaykh Amadu Bamba and El Haj Malik Sy, who were his juniors by about thirteen years. El Haj Malik established his spiritual center in Tivaouane, only five kilometers from Ndiassane, in 1902 (
see map). Touba, located further east, became the center of the rapidly growing Murid community (
see map). Buh Kunta reinforced relations with both of these spiritual figures and their families by giving daughter Marième in marriage to El Haj Malik’s son Bubacar and daughter Aïssatou to Shaykh Amadu’s eldest son Mustapha Mbacké. Unfortunately neither of these marriages left any descendants who could perpetuate the ties between the families.
Buh Kunta died in 1914. No visual image exists of him. He did not leave a body of written texts in contrast with his younger contemporaries Amadu Bamba and El Haj Malik Sy. The lack of a written legacy does not mean that he did not value religious learning. He left a vibrant community and property that could sustain his large family. Colonial archival documents show that the resolution of issues surrounding the division of his estate between his wives and children took several years.