New history book out

Professor Samba Dieng of the Sheikh Anta Diop university Dakar recently published Alhaji Omar La Perle de L'Islam, a major work on the life of the venerable, Sheikh Omar Foutie Tall, the Senegambian Islamic Scholar and proseltyzer who lived from (C.1794 - 1864).

Speaking to the Daily Observer  yesterday, the literature don said he spent thirty years researching and writing the book."Omar Foutie Tall is my hero.  I began to develop interest in his life while I was a Phd student at the Sorbonne, France.  For the past thirty years I've dedicated all my research on his life works and achievements."

Professor Dieng who is in The Gambia to promote the book said he used the three main sources of history to compile the book."I toured the sub region collecting oral testimony from Islamic scholars.  I visited archaeological sites at Dinguyrai, Guinea, Gunjur, Badangara and Halewar in Podur, Senegal where the scholar either visited or lived.  His manuscripts and works kept at the Senegalese national library also proved useful for my research," narrated professor Dieng.

The professor revealed that the most fascinating aspect of Omar Foutie Tall was his multifarious personality as an Islamic scholar, preacher, teacher and anti-colonial resistant.  He fought the French colonial intruders in the Battle of Medina 1857.

Professor Dieng's book has been received well by the press intellectuals and ordinary readers in Senegal and abroad.  He expressed hope that the book will be read by Senegambian students so that they will learn from the virtues of Sheikh Omar Foutie Tall.Plans are afoot to translate the book from French into English and German.