Torodbe
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Senegambia | |
| Religions | |
| Islam | |
| Scriptures | |
| Quran | |
| Languages | |
| Fula language |
The Torodbe (singular Torodo; also called Turudiyya, Banu Toro) were Muslim clerics who were active in the Western Sudan region of Africa from the 17th century. Their teachings in part inspired the series of jihads that the Fulbe launched at that time.
The Torodbe seem to have originated in Futa Toro from as early as the 9th to as late as 13th century, later spreading throughout the Fulbe territories. Futa Toro was a strip of agricultural land along the Senegal River. Two of the Futa Toro clans claimed to be descended from a seventh-century relative of one of the companions of the prophet Muhammad who was among a group of invaders of Futa Toro. They may well have been a distinct group by the fifteenth century, when the Denianke conquered Futa Toro. In the last quarter of the seventeenth century the Zawaya reformer Nasir al-Din launched a jihad to restore purity of religious observance in the Futa Tooro. He gained support from the Torodbe clerical clan against the warriors, but by 1677 the movement had been defeated. After this defeat, some of the Torodbe migrated south to Bundu and some continued on to the Fouta Djallon.
The Torodbe at first recruited members from all levels of Sūdānī society, particularly the poorer people. Torodbe clerics included people whose origin was Fula, Wolof, Mande, Hausa and Berber. However, they spoke the Fula language, married into Fulbe families, and became the Fulbe scholarly caste. As with the Zawaya and Mandé clerisies, the early Torodbe clerics were looked down upon by the warrior groups in their societies, which usually had little interest in Islam. The Torodbe originally lived on charity, as shown by sayings such as "the Torodo is a beggar" and "if the calabash did not exist, the Torodo would not survive". The term Torodo is derived from tooraade, meaning "to ask for alms." The Torodbe lived in settled communities and would not follow any caste-based trade such as being fishermen, smiths, weavers or tanners.
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Wikipedia