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Senegal - Religion

Senegal is generally a very tolerant society, and 95 percent of the Senegalese population practice Islam. While the predominant religion in Senegal is Islam, the Senegalese take great pride in their country’s climate of religious tolerance. In fact, the government officially celebrates both Muslim and Roman Catholic holidays, even though more than 90 percent of the people are Muslim. Local laws reflect the fact that Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country. The US government estimates the total population at 13.9 million (July 2015 estimate). Approximately 95 percent of the population is Muslim.

Most Muslims are Sunni and belong to one of several Sufi brotherhoods, each of which incorporates unique practices. Sufism, the type of Islam practiced in Senegal, is based on the teachings of an ancient form of Islamic mysticism. Sufism follows the basic tenets of Islam but does not follow all of the practices of Sunni or Shiite Muslims. Some indigenous ethnic groups have been Muslim for more than 600 years, while others did not convert until the end of the 19th century. Islam came to Casamance relatively late, around the turn of the 19th to 20th century.

About 5 percent of Senegalese are Christian, primarily adherents of Roman Catholicism, which was brought to the country by Portuguese and French colonialists in the 15th through the 20th centuries. Christian groups include Protestants, and groups combining Christian and indigenous beliefs. A small percentage of citizens are animists, following traditional beliefs centered on the power of supernatural spirits. Animism also profoundly influences the practice of Islam and Christianity in Senegal. The constitution provides for the free practice of religious beliefs and self-governance by religious groups without government interference. Following the November arrest of two imams suspected of links to Boko Haram, the president stated there is a need to train imams with a sense of tolerant Islam. The government requires registration of religious and other groups, and provides funding for Islamic and Christian schools and pilgrimages.

Muslims may choose either the civil family code or sharia to adjudicate family conflicts, such as marriage and inheritance disputes. Civil court judges preside over civil and customary law cases, but religious leaders informally settle many disputes among Muslims, particularly in rural areas.

The government provided direct financial and material assistance to religious groups, primarily to maintain or rehabilitate places of worship or to underwrite special events. There was no formal procedure for applying for assistance. All religious groups had access to these funds and often competed on an ad hoc basis to obtain them.

The government encouraged and assisted Muslim participation in the Hajj, providing imams with hundreds of free airplane tickets for the pilgrimage for distribution among citizens. The government provided assistance for an annual Roman Catholic pilgrimage to the Vatican, the Palestinian territories, and Israel. The Catholic Church reported that the government provided 358 million CFA francs $594,000) for 338 Christian pilgrims who traveled to the Vatican in August and September.

The government allowed up to four hours of voluntary religious education per week in public elementary schools. Parents could choose either a Christian or Muslim curriculum. Students had the option to opt out of the curriculum. The Ministry of Education reported slightly more than a million students participated in religious education through the public elementary school system.

The education ministry provided partial funding to schools operated by religious groups that met national education standards. Established Christian schools with strong academic reputations received the largest share of this government funding. The majority of students attending Christian schools were Muslim. The government also funded a number of Islamic schools which enrolled approximately 60,000 students.

Islam, which is the religion of more than 90% of the Senegalese population, is dominated by the largely Wolof-speaking brotherhoods of the Mourides, the Layenes and the Tijaniya. The holy city of Tivaouane in Senegal receives guests from Morocco during the night of the Qur’an, which is celebrated once every year. In each of these brotherhoods, Wolof is the most commonly used language. In many mosques throughout Senegal, Wolof is used during the sermons.

After independence, Senegal’s leaders adopted the same practice and relied on the brotherhoods to reinforce state legitimacy and power in the early years. The marabouts provided a voting bloc of disciples through political ndigels (fatwas or orders), and in exchange, politicians gave gifts such as airline tickets for the pilgrimage to Mecca, good supplies of water and electricity during major religious events such as the Magal of Touba and the Gamou of Tivaouane, and diplomatic passports and other privileges.

President Macky Sall had a delicate balancing act with the marabout leaders of the Sufi brotherhoods. Their influence in politics has been waning in recent years while today, Salafist forms of Islam are gaining support. Some want to see President Sall prioritize the deepening of democracy and continue to move Senegal away from the forms of patrimonialism that gave religious leaders great influence in the past, while others want him to bolster the role the marabout leaders can play in protecting Senegal’s position as a bulwark against radical Islam.

In Senegal, as Alpha Blondy says, there are rasta poué, there are crazy rastas, there are rasta cool. The Rasta movement, still strongly associated with reggae and Jamaica, has many followers in Senegal. Particularly visible in tourist areas, Senegalese specimens often have rasta only appearance and adopt a way of life full of recklessness highly appreciated by tourists. Every year more and more, Senegal is rastafarise in the most disadvantaged social strata without really having any relationship with the fundamentals of the Rasta movement.

The vast majority of Senegalese "Rastafarians" are recruited from the battalions of poor people who live in the poor families of the country. The early termination of studies characterizes the philosophical level of the Middle Rastafaraï. Being "rasta" for most of these poor people has no religious aspect. Wearing dreadlocks, using a few connotated words (like Babylon, Zion, etc.), and smoking a little grass while listening to Tiken Jah Fakoly is enough for the illiterate of a miserable suburb of Dakar to define himself as "rasta".