Career
Led by Hamahullah, the movement spread in the 1920s in what was then French Soudan, modern Mali. Hamahullah bin Muhammad bin Umar was exiled by French authorities from his home in Nioro du Sahel (Mali) to Mauretania in 1933 following clashes between his followers and local leaders, then to Côte d"Ivoire and finally France, but the movement survived his death in exile. The movement was eventually made illegal in French West Africa, but has continued, especially among the rural poor.
Hamahullah"s most prominent disciples included Tierno Bokar Salif Tall in Mali and Yacouba Sylla in Mauretania, with the movement continuing as a small but prosperous religious faction across contemporary West Africa.
