Nasr set himself the goals of fighting those who he believed had neglected Islam and oppressed Muslims, uniting the various groups of the region in a single state, and creating a new and divinely guided order.
He sent emissaries and preachers to the Senegambian royal courts to demand they more closely follow the tenets of Sharia law, restrict themselves to four wives, and stop pillaging and enslaving their own subjects.
[11] With the promise to end endemic raiding and the large-scale export of slaves (though not slavery itself), the movement became a revolution, with local Muslims and the peasantry flocking to al-Din's banner.
[5] In Futa Tooro the population rose massively against the rule of the Denianke satigis, and the marabouts, led by Ennahouy Abdilby, quickly gained control.
[12]: 326 Strengthened with Torodbe recruits, Nasr's army overwhelmed and killed the brak of Waalo, Fara Kumba Mbodj, replacing him with a puppet, Yerim Kode, who took the title of buur jallit, meaning 'master of prayer.'
Al Fadel ibn Abu Yadel led the invasion of the Kingdom of Jolof, where a man named Suranko was, according to legend, miraculously cured of blindness and then enthroned as ruler.
[12]: 327 In Cayor, Yacine Bubu, the former lingeer, allied with Ndiaye Sall and the marabout party to overthrow and kill the reigning damel.
When the successor, chosen by Yacine Bubu, was in turn caught drinking alcohol and killed by the clerics, she and her faction within the ruling class looked to the king of Saloum for armed support against the marabouts.
[13][12]: 328 Nasr then turned his attention to strengthening the rule of his Islamic state, and imposed the zakat on the tributary tribes north of the Senegal river.
[14] The ensuing conflict saw the forces of Nasr and those of Hãdi clash in three battles; the first near the port of Portendick and the second near the salt mines of Awlil positioned just north of the mouth of the Senegal river.
[17] Senegalese historian Boubacar Barry also argues that competition with the Dutch trading post contributed to the anxiety of French merchants.
[18] As a result of their absolute defeat the Zawaya relinquished all claims to political or military authority and paid tribute to the Hassan for their protection.
Although defeated, the war had the result of adding militancy to the Zawaya religious teaching, which in turn spread to neighbouring countries in the Sudan.
Following the death of Nasr, support in the form of guns and soldiers would be given to Senegalese nobles who had lost power in the wake of the jihad.
Sieur De Muchins, from the French trading post of Saint-Louis, supplied Waalo forces loyal to Brak (king) Yeerim Koodé from May 1674 onwards.
[21] With their victory the Trarza and Brakna Moors became active and permanent fixtures of the Senegambian political mix, exerting constant military pressure on their neighbors to the south and dominating the lucrative gum trade.
[22][15] With the traditional Wolof and Fula aristocracy re-entrenched, the slave trade boomed and wars and raiding between the kingdoms became endemic.
The lower classes bore the brunt of both the attacks from Mauritania and the slave raids, and increasingly turned to Islam as a potential political counterweight to the established regimes.
[24][23] The Marabout war inspired an increasingly militant tone of Islamic preaching and created links between Berber and Torodbe groups, both of which helped set in motion and invigorate internal conflicts that would eventually lead to the Fula jihads.