We asked our panel of religious leaders of the region the following question: Is there one God or multiple Gods or no God? There are three dynasties of Tijanis, depending on the marabout a following owes most allegiance to: the Sy and Niasse in Wolof and Serer, and the Tall in Tukulor. Omar Saidou Tall first created a Tijani brotherhood in West Africa after he was initiated into the Tijaniyya during his hajj to Mecca. Having enforced a secular state, the French also limited the establishment of Qur’anic schools, created secular rather than Islamic curriculum in public schools, restricted public access books on Islamic topics, limited contacts with Senegal and the Middle East, restricted hajj pilgrimages to Mecca, arrested and killed Muslim scholars. The theological underpinnings for the network stem from the idea that God created Earth and humans, therefore, God’s children have a responsibility to care for his creations. Many have written of the Mourides because a deviationist faction of this brotherhood has become radical and at times dangerous. This faction does not represent a majority of Mourides and a Pew Report on Senegalese religion revealed that 92% of Senegalese do not associate the word “violent” with Muslims. The word “pentagram” has its roots in the Greek terms “penta,” meaning “five,” and “gramma,” meaning “letter” or “writing.” It refers to a figure composed of five lines, encapsulating the essence of the symbol – a star with five straight strokes.

Many theorize that the mythical bird is named after Guy Fawkes, a British soldier-turned-rebel, who participated in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Westminster Palace in 1605. Guy Fawkes and his accomplices were foiled in their plans, but the explosive nature of the historical figure may have some correlations with the beloved fictional phoenix. This group – which includes its share of lapsed Christians – suggests that Jesus may have been a mythological figure who, like Romulus, of Roman legend, was later historicised. More proof that the chosen people of God are in Jesus is understood in the new covenant outlined in Heb. Daphna Berman. “Aliyah with a cat, a dog and Jesus”. This connection was brought about in part by the tendency of entire communities to turn to the variety of Protestantism offered locally. Only 12 million people are Taoists, although more than one hundred million have taken part in Taoism activities before.

The Sufi brotherhoods or tariqas in Senegal are organized in elaborate hierarchies. The Mouride order is the most tightly organized and influential of Senegal’s Sufi brotherhoods. Especially in the countryside, the Senegalese joined Sufi brotherhoods to unite against colonization. Senegalese Muslims took a variety of responses to French colonization. The Mourides were founded by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba (1850-1927) who strongly rejected the French colonial powers, and this position attracted many political leaders who lost their positions due to French occupation. Every year, thousands of Senegal make a pilgrimage to Touba for a religious festival held by the Mourides to honor Cheikh Bamba. To this day, Cheikh Bamba is honored as an important leader of resistance in Senegal. This injustice only furthered his popularity and the Mourides’ extreme veneration of their leader. This expansion ceased temporarily when the Tukulors failed to convert the traditional states of the Serer, who defeated them and killed their 19th-century leader Maba Diakhou Ba at the Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune in order to preserve their Serer religious faith. Influenced by other Islamic movements throughout West Africa, they worked militaristically to convert traditional religious states and establish Muslim theocratic states. In the cities, especially the Four Communes the French created, Muslim Sufi marabouts, religious authorities, were involved in Senegalese politics.

The marabouts, leaders and sources of guidance in Sufi brotherhoods, became alternative sources of authority in dissidence from the French. However, Muslim Reform movements responded angrily to the marabouts’ collaboration with French authorities, calling these moves hypocritical. When first created, the Mourides proclaimed their superiority over the Tijaniyya, who in turn responded with violent repression of the Mourides. After the forced conversions, when all former Muslims and Jews had ostensibly become Catholic, the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions primarily targeted forced converts from Judaism and Islam, who came under suspicion, because they were either accused of continuing to adhere to their old religion, or they were accused of falling back into it. Even in areas where an Islamic presence was found, many continued traditional animist practices, according to Portuguese accounts. Some Italian groups even called on MTV to pull the show. Other Muslims chose to cooperate with the French, and even gain positions of power within the French government. Senegal was the only colony in Black Africa in which the French used “assimilationist tactics”, allowing elite Senegalese citizenship and political power if they became assimilated into French culture. More Senegalese Sufis identify with the Tijaniyya order than any other.