theocracy · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan

Imamate of Nasir al-Din

1673 CE – 1677 CE (approx.)

A short-lived Islamic reform movement led by the Berber scholar Nasir al-Din, which overthrew the kings of the lower Senegal valley in the 1670s.

Origins

Nasir al-Din was a cleric of the Zawaya, the Berber scholarly tribes of south-western Mauritania, who resented the dominance of Hassani Arab warriors and the slave trade with the French at Saint-Louis. Around 1673 he proclaimed a holy war, known as the Tubenan movement, calling for rule by Islamic law.

Rule and society

His followers overthrew or converted the rulers of Waalo, Kayor, the Kingdom of Jolof and Futa Toro, replacing them with clerics loyal to the imam. The movement drew on peasant grievances against kings who sold their subjects into slavery. Nasir al-Din was killed in battle against Hassani warriors in 1674.

Decline and legacy

Under his successors the movement weakened. The old ruling families, supported by the French, regained their thrones by 1677, and the Hassani defeated the Zawaya in the Char Bouba war. The idea of a clerical state inspired later Fulani revolutions in Futa Jallon and Futa Toro.

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Imamate of Nasir al-Din. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imamate-of-nasir-al-din
MLA
“Imamate of Nasir al-Din.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imamate-of-nasir-al-din. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Imamate of Nasir al-Din.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imamate-of-nasir-al-din.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Imamate of Nasir al-Din’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imamate-of-nasir-al-din (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻