Battle of Badr
Not on view
This large suwer (or souwer, Wolof for reverse glass painting) is one of the oldest known Senegalese glass paintings. The scene depicts the Battle of Badr, occurred on 17 Ramadan of 624, when the Prophet Muhammad’s army defeated the Meccan army of the Quraysh tribe led by Amr ibn Hishām. The lower half of the scene depicts the battle ground, bursting with horsemen on galloping horses and infantry, alive and dead, while a row of archangels, angels, and Buraq (the Prophet Muhammad's supernatural winged creature) are depicted in the upper half, flying in the sky.
This historical event, also mentioned in the Quran, marked the beginning of the six-year conflict between the Prophet and his tribe. Centuries later in Senegal, its spiritual connotation became particularly significant for the Muridiyya Sufi brotherhood, as his founder Ahmadou Bamba (1853–1927) experienced various forms of oppression by the French colonial institutions. In this suwer, the colonial evocation in the battle imagery and attire of some of the soldiers, and the Moroccan-inspired stars and moon banners have been read as a subtle critique of the French colonialism, showing how the Islamic historic past was activated to respond to contemporary political and spiritual concerns.
