Berkley Center

In a country that is 95 percent Sufi Muslim it is only natural that religion should permeate society and politics. When that same country has experienced only 49 years of independence from French colonialism, a deep-rooted indigenous religion such as Sufi Islam provides a rich and colorful Senegalese tradition separate and apart from that of the Christian colonizers. Islam may not have been born in Western Africa, but the vein of brotherhood Sufi Islam that runs through Senegal is unique to this country and is intricately woven into the social fabric, embraced all the more closely for being in opposition to European colonialism. At the same time, the recent emancipation of this nation means that remnants of the colonial period still linger, and pieces of the French legacy remain intact, so while the Senegalese eagerly reach for their own history they must continue to balance their European heritage with their more nationalist aspirations.

Islam has been present in Senegal in a clear form since the eleventh century, but it blossomed into a popular and widespread religion in the 1700s in reaction to the appearance of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and heavy-handed European influence in the region. By the time it had attained a level of permanency among the populace, so too had the French, and while the Islamic leaders had control of the people, the colonial powers created and shaped the government, policy, and infrastructure. When the French left in 1960, ceding power to President Leopold Senghor and the Republic of Senegal, the only system of governance available to the Senegalese was that same central infrastructure left behind by the French, and so to avoid internal collapse this new country was forced to continue using the colonial machinery they had fought so hard to expel. Although many rallied around Islamic institutions and proposed an ostensibly more Senegalese way of life, the government largely persisted with the European status quo, with the result that two cultural lifestyles grew contiguously and have since begun to intertwine in a complex blend of religion, society, and politics.

Education is perhaps the clearest example of this prevalent dichotomy. There exist in Senegal two forms of schooling: Qur'anic and French. Qur'anic schools teach the principals of Islam, based upon the Qur'an and select other pieces of Holy Scripture, but rarely delve into secular disciplines. By contrast the French schools instruct their pupils in a wide variety of subjects, but they do so in French, the language of the colonizer, which is far less appealing than the local language of Wolof used by their counterparts in the Qur'anic schools. Still, to ask anyone in Senegal today if they have gone to school implies that you are asking if they have attended a French school, and those who have had years of Qur'anic schooling will often respond in the negative, for while Islamic teaching may be considered Senegalese, the European option is recognized as more formal and is often required in order to seek higher education.

While the schooling system offers a choice between two distinct alternatives, family life in Senegal exemplifies the blending of old and new values on an intimate level. In 1961 the government ratified the “Code de la Famille,” and though it was originally heralded as the legal liberation of Senegalese women and children, it has since become apparent that the liberties granted in this document are severely limited. Article 133 of the “marriage” section of the code stipulates that at the moment of marriage a husband and wife can declare whether they wish to practice monogamy or polygamy, but in the absence of a choice polygamy remains a viable option. Furthermore the decision of the man is final, so even if the woman should request a monogamous relationship, her husband must agree to make it legally binding for her to be guaranteed the right to an exclusive union. When this code was created, the introduction of the legally binding choice of a monogamous marriage was a revelation in a society that largely practices polygamy, but still the status of polygamy as the default in absence of a decision and the patriarchy enforced with the final say resting with the man is evidence of the powerful Muslim influence permeating the legal system.

In a country that is religiously homogeneous, conflict and sources of tension are not found between religions as much as between lifestyles. The French and Senegalese systems sit side-by-side and often clash, but many citizens successfully blend the two possibilities into one. Children can attend both Qur'anic and French schools and people openly discuss and debate the merits of polygamy, because legally another choice now exists. The greatest differences in Senegal manifest therefore, not out of disparate faiths, but from how the Senegalese choose to take the two systems—French and Wolof, European and African—and fashion a third alternative and make it their own.