Abdul Kader

Abdul Kader Kan (Arabic: عبد القادر; c. 1726 – 26 April 1806) was an 18th-century Islamic scholar and military leader, and the first Almaami of the Imamate of Futa Toro, hailing from what is now Senegal.

Background Abdul Kader Kan was born in Pafa Warneu in the Saloum, where his father was teaching. He came from a line of Islamic scholars; his grandfather Lamin had performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and his father Hamady studied the Qur'an in Futa Jallon.

In 1786, now allied with the Emirate of Brakna, Kan defeated the Trarza Moors near Dagana, killing their emir Ali Kouri and freeing the population from their raids and extortion. The Almamy's army was routed at the ensuing battle of Bunxoy, and Abdul Kader himself was captured. Ndela treated him with honor and respect, holding him in Cayor until a new Almamy had been elected, then sent him back to Futa Toro.

The Almaami frequently clashed with the French in Saint-Louis over trade and customs payments, with the latter raiding Futa Toro repeatedly between 1804 and 1806. That year, Bundu and Kaarta, alarmed by Kan's incessant intervention in their affairs, allied with dissidents to invade Futa Toro. Abdul Kader Kan was reportedly shot by the Almaami of Bundu on his prayer mat in the midst of the losing battle of Gouriki.

Hostility to the Slave Trade Based on the letters written by Thomas Clarkson, at least one scholar has made the argument that the reverend believed that Abdul Kader Kan had completely abolished the slave trade in Futa Toro. One such letter describes Kan as "the wise and virtuous Almaamy" who provides an "illustrious example in extirpating the commerce in the human race." A treaty had been signed which was meant to prevent the French from selling the people of Futa Toro into slavery, and the Almaami's success against the Emirate of Trarza may have been due to his willingness to release their slaves upon defeat. While there is no definitive proof that this lay behind the campaign's success, the promise of releasing slaves who fought against their masters was a common war strategy at this time.

The characterization of the Almaami as an abolitionist is not uncontested. Others characterize his policy of slavery as simply more in accord with traditional Islamic slavery; that is to say that while Muslims could not be legally enslaved, nonbelievers were still licit for enslavement. Though French slave traders were not allowed to either enslave the inhabitants of the Futa Toro nor transport slaves through the territory of the Imamate, the inhabitants themselves still owned slaves. According to this understanding, the inhabitants of Futa Toro were not protected because of a general hostility to slavery, but rather because the Almaami's subjects were by definition Muslim.