THE GREAT MOSQUE

You enter through the library door on the east side and exit on the opposite side through the west door. Licensed guides (ask them for their maps) give interesting information about the mosque and the Mouride brotherhood. Entrance is free, but you have to think about the guide at the exit... Be careful! Pants for men, headscarf and long skirt for women. We can also provide what you need on the spot. Facing the mosque, all in white and pink marble, stucco and teak, gives an idea of the size of the brotherhood and the influence it can have on its followers. The building was built between 1927 and 1963, before being enlarged in 1987. It has a central minaret 87 m high, four corner minarets and a total of fourteen purple domes. The minarets each represent the five pillars of Islam. In the main dome is the tomb of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride brotherhood. Five other mausoleums house other important khalifes. Every Friday, 800 carpets are installed for the great prayer. About 10,000 Muslims gather there, and men and women are of course separated. But the devotion of the faithful is most noticeable during the annual pilgrimage to Touba, due to any good mouride: the Grand Magal. Established in July 1928 by the sheikh's first khalif, the Magal glorifies the triumphant return of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba from his exile in Gabon. It seems then that a part of Senegal is emptying to come and populate the city.