The Magal of Touba is celebrated by the Mouride brotherhood, a Sufi order within Islam, in commemoration of the teachings and legacy of the brotherhood’s founder, Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba. The Magal of Touba commemorates the day that French colonial authorities arrested and deported Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba to Gabon on 12 August 1895.

The word magal means “commemoration or homage” in the Wolof language. The celebration is called Magal of Touba as it is held in the Senegalese city of Touba, 150km east of the capital, Dakar, where visits or pilgrimages (ziyârah) are made . The Great Mosque is located in the centre of Touba, constructed on the orders of Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba himself in 1926.

The celebration is held according to the Islamic lunar calendar, falling on the 18th day of the month of Safar. The Islamic lunar calendar’s dates are between ten and eleven days short of the solar calendar’s.

The magal’s characteristic rites include the practice of remembrance (dhikr) and a long, uninterrupted recitation of poems (qasâ’id) composed by the founder, which may last for several days. These are festive days on which members of the order travel from around the world to gather, pray and eat together.

THE MOURIDE ORDER (MURÎDIYYA)

Sufism represents Islam’s most spiritual and inner dimension and is organised around teachings attributed to a chain of masters (silsilah) purportedly dating back to the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632). Each of these chains is known as a “channel”, “path” or “order” (tarîqah).

The Mouride order was founded in Senegal by Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba (d. 1927) in an attempt to renew Islamic practices and peacefully resist French colonisation. It is an international Islamic movement noted for its devotion, work and service to the community. It groups together Muslims hailing from a variety of linguistic and racial backgrounds, but above all Africans from the Wolof ethnic group.

Shaykh Ibrahima Fall (d. 1930) was one of Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba’s disciples and created a branch within the Mouride order known as Baye Fall. This movement is noted not just for its detachment from worldly affairs but also for its vocation for service and glorification of work for the good of the community.