Introduction

Cerno Hasan Dem (Ash-Shaykh al-Ḥājj Ḥasan Dem al-Fūtiyy), one of Baay Ñas’s major muqaddams, was a Haal Pulaar born in the Mauritanian side of Fuuta Tooro but spent most of his life in Medina Baay. He had a number of muqaddams, some of them female.

Haraka Caam held his “roundtable” in honor of Cerno Hasan Dem on Friday 13 October, 1995, and the documents he collected for this roundtable give some information about Hasan Dem’s family. Haraka lists Dem’s children as follows:

1. Sayyidah al-Ḥājjah Fāṭimah Dem
2. Sayyidah Nenne Dem
3. Maam ᶜĀᵓishah Dem (named after Shaykh ᵓIbrāhīm’s mother)
4. Al-Ḥājj Muḥammad al-Kabīr Dem
5. Shaykh ᵓIbrāhīm Dem
6. Al-Ḥājj Muḥammad al-Ḥabīb Dem (named after the son of Shaykh Tijāniyy)
7. ᶜAbd al-Bāqī Dem
8. Sëriñ Alliw Siise Dem
9. Ummu Baniina Dem
10. Ummu Siise Dem (named after the sister of Alliw Siise)
11. Shaykh ᶜUmar Ture Dem (named after Sheex Omar Ture)
12. Shaykh ᵓAḥmad at-Tijāniyy Dem (named after the founder of the Ṭarīqah Tijāniyyah)
13. ᶜĀᵓishah Dem (named after the mother of [Fāṭumata] Zahrāᵓ ᵓIbrāhīm [Asta Daawur])
14. Zahrāᵓ Dem (named after Fāṭimata Zahrāᵓ ᵓIbrāhīm Ñas)
15. Ḥalīmah Dem
16. ᶜAbd Allāh Dem (named after Maam Allaaji Abdulaay Ñas)
17. Ndey ᶜĀᵓishah Dem (named after his wife, ᶜĀᵓishah Njaay)
18. Raḥmat Allāhi Dem
19. Ajaa Sow Dem (also called Marie Hélène Dem, named after Madame Jeŋ)
20. ᶜAbd al-Qudūs Dem
21. Ṭaha Dem (named after the Prophet)
22. Al-ᶜArabiyy ibn as-Sāᵓiḥ Dem [named after the Moroccan Shaykh]
23. Khalīfah Dem (named after Shaykh al-Ḥājj Muḥammad al-Khalīfah ᶜAbd Allāh Ñas [Xaliifa Ñas
24. Cerno Saᶜīd ash-Shuᶜarāᵓ (also called ash-Shiᶜrāwiyy) Dem (named after his first Shaykh)
25. ᶜAliyy Ḥarāzim Dem (named after one of the greats of the Tijāniyy Ṭarīqah and one of the disciples (ᵓaṣḥāb) of Shaykh at-Tijāniyy) [ᵓAḥmad at-Tijāniyy’s khalīfah and author of the canonical book Jawāhir al-Maᶜānī]
26. ᶜAliyy at-Tamāsīniyy Dem (also named after one of the greats of the Tijāniyy Ṭarīqah and one of the disciples (ᵓaṣḥāb) of Shaykh at-Tijāniyy)]
27. Sayyidah Salmah Dem

Haraka says this information is from Sayyidah al-Ḥājjah Fāṭimah Ḥasan Dem (Ḥasan Dem’s oldest child), 12 October, 1995.

Sources

Haraka also includes in his round-table documents a photocopied manuscript on gridded paper entitled “Shaykh al-Ḥājj Ḥasan Dem al-Fūtiyy makes himself known by his pen, thanks to God” (Ash-Shaykh al-Ḥājj Ḥasan Dem al-Fūtiyy yuᶜrifu nafsahū bi-qalamihī, shukran li-Llāh). This paper gives information about dozens of topics (in the same collection, Haraka enumerates 34 of these topics but does not go into their contents). I will go over this document later. This document is the last in the folder, found here, images 2986 to 2092.

Cerno Hasan’s son Ṭaḥa allowed me to photocopy a published biography of Cerno Hasan written by one of his disciples. It is mixed in with my papers and I have not had a chance to go over it yet.