Atlas
About this atlas
The atlas holds the chains of transmission from the Prophet as the standard references and the classical sources record them: the Sufi orders, the chains of Qurʾān recitation, the teachers of the schools of law and ḥadīth, and the lines of the Prophet's family, with the places they spread and the living houses and teachers who carry them today. Every link shows its sources; where they differ, both readings are shown, and we do not rule on any community's claims. Ibn ʿArabī's own life, teachers and readers are on their own page.
الشيخ سيديا باب
Shaykh Sidiyya Bābā
Mauritania
Qādirī shaykh of the Sidiyya line, Mauritania; named as Bamba's initiator (Creevey calls him 'Shaykh Sidia')
Sources for this person
The chain up to the Prophet
No chain up to the Prophet is recorded for this person in the sources read.
How to read the marks
- Two sources: a solid rule. Two independent references give the same link.
- One source: a lighter rule, so labelled.
- The community's own account: a dotted rule. The order tells it; we have not yet read it against a reference source.
- A gap in the rule: the sources omit names between the two. The label says which.
- The sources differ: tap the ≠ to read each reading with its source.
- A ring: a spiritual link, without a meeting (uwaysī).
Who received from Shaykh Sidiyya Bābā
1 recorded, each with the chain set it belongs to.
- Aḥmadu Bambaأحمد بمب1927
two sourcesin Qādiriyya
gave the khirqa · Shaykh Sidiyya Bābā to Aḥmadu Bamba · Two independent sources
TDV: after his father's death (1880) Bamba studied with 'Şeyh Sidya' in Mauritania, who appointed him khalīfa for the Wolof region; Creevey names the initiator 'Shaykh Sidia', and an academic text Sidiyya Bābā. Sīdiyā al-Kabīr died in 1868, so the link runs from Bābā.
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'Ahmedü Bamba'Lucy Creevey, 'Bamba, Ahmad (1853-1927)', Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, via Encyclopedia.comcore.ac.uk/download/357530624.pdf (academic text; read only as search-result excerpt)Checked against
- TDV 'Ahmedü Bamba', life section · agrees'Şeyh Sidya daha sonra onu Volof bölgesine halife tayin etti'; the visit follows his father's death in 1880.
- Creevey, Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, entry 'Bamba, Ahmad' · agreesInitiated into the Qādiriyya by Shaykh Sidia in Mauritania (per the Murīdiyya record).
two sourcesin Murīdiyya (Mouride)sources differ
initiation · Shaykh Sidiyya Bābā to Aḥmadu Bamba · Two independent sources
Creevey: Bamba was initiated into the Qādiriyya by Shaykh Sidia in Mauritania; an academic text (excerpt) says he took the ultimate initiation from Sidiyya Bābā after renewing affiliation with other Qādirī shaykhs.
Lucy Creevey, 'Bamba, Ahmad (1853-1927)', Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, via Encyclopedia.comcore.ac.uk/download/357530624.pdf (academic text; read only as search-result excerpt)Checked against
- Creevey, Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, entry 'Bamba, Ahmad' · agreesInitiated into the Qādiriyya by Shaykh Sidia in Mauritania.
- core.ac.uk academic text (search excerpt only), not located · agreesUltimate initiation from Shaikh Sidiyya Bābā, after renewals from several Qādirī shaykhs.
- Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (1971), local .txt, trimingham_sufi-orders-in-islam_1971.txt#L14262 · silentLists the Muridiyya (Ahmad Bamba, d. 1927) among orders distinct from the Qādirī silsila of al-Mukhtār al-Kuntī that includes the Sidiyya; names no initiator.
Where the sources differ, side by side. We do not rule between them.
- Another academic account says Bamba was also affiliated later with a Tijānī master; a David Robinson essay on Sidiyya Bābā says Bābā discouraged him from pursuing the Tijāniyya. Not read in full.Search results: core.ac.uk text and aodl.org Robinson essay (excerpts only)
- No source read mentions a Shādhilī affiliation of Bamba; none is asserted here.Wikipedia, Mouride (tertiary)
How to cite
Mashraba Reader, Atlas of transmission, “Shaykh Sidiyya Bābā”, https://www.mashraba.org/atlas/figure/sidiyya-baba (data of 31 October 2026).