Book Review: Hassoum Ceesay, The Hajj As A Colonial And Post-Colonial Experience In The Gambia: 1945-1975, Baobab Printers, 2025, 62 pages.
Gambians and the Hajj
The Gambia’s prolific historian Hassoum Ceesay has published a new book which charts the Hajj experience of Gambians during the later phase of the Colonial rule and the first decade after independence. In 62 pages, the historian traces how much the colonial authorities paid scant attention to the Islamic pillar of performing the Hajj so much so that it was very hard for Gambian Muslims to perform the rite.
On page 11, 12, the historian explains solid cases where stonewalling by colonial authorities made many Gambian Muslims to sneak out using irregular routes to reach Makkah. He gives some cocnrete examples of Gambian intending pilgrims like Musa Njabu Conteh from Gambissara, who failed after many attempts to perform the Hajj just because of colonial lack of support.
However, following independence in 1965, Hassoum Ceesay explains on page 17–19 of how the PPP government of Sir Dawda wiped the tears from the faces of Gambian pilgrims when it created The Gambia Airways to ensure that Gambians can attend Hajj using modern airplanes and not walking or using lorries!
The book is well illustrated with photos of early Gambian pilgrims like Alhaji Masama Ceesay, Alhaji Turo Darboe, Alhaji Sheikh Omar Faye(page 62), and also has appendix showing the raw archival materials on the Gambian experience and Hajj.
There are also anecdotes of Gambians, including women, who walked to Makkah for the Hajj in the 1940s, and the famous Gambian drivers who drove lorries to Makah like Alhaji Babou Jagne(page 30).
All told, Hassoum has done a great work of history, social history, again. The book is well researched with adequate footnotes and citations. Through this book, Hassoum Ceesay has done service to the understanding of Islam in The Gambia, and Gambian history in general.
I recommend this book to all Gambians eager to know how independence helped to promote religious freedoms. This book will be a perfect gift to a newly arrived Aja or Alhaji, inshallah.
Available at Timbooktoo.
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