the largest mosque in West Africa

I'm posting a lot less now, I know.  That's for two reasons - firstly, I still haven't found any social circle here, so don't go out much (compounded by a very heavy workload this year), and secondly, when I travel in the region now I don't get to go out much either, due to the poor security situation in so many of the places where we work.  Earlier this month I was in Burkina Faso - but all I did was work, eat and sleep, visiting only the office and the hotel - so, again, nothing I want to write about.

But today I pushed myself to go out in Dakar, to visit the new Massalikoul Djinâne mosque which opened three months ago.  I am a fan of Islamic architecture generally, and I thought this mosque was beautiful.  There is always a real tranquility inside mosques, but unlike churches and cathedrals, they tend to be designed to let in a lot of light, so it is quite an uplifting kind of tranquility.

This mosque cost some $32m, and took seven years to build.  It is the largest mosque in West Africa, designed to accommodate 30,000 people.  Fiendishly difficult to photograph, unless you have a camera that corrects converging lines back to parallel ones (and even then, the contrast between the bright light coming in through the windows and the shadows elsewhere makes it difficult), I ended up cropping most of my photos to capture just corners, like these two.

My 'guide' told me that the name means 'paths to paradise', which is also the name of a book written by Sheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Senegal Mourides.  Around 40% of the population are members of the Mourides, but they dominate the country.  Devout and hard-working (Bamba told them that salvation comes through hard work), they show great loyalty to their marabouts (spiritual guides) - and will generally vote as they are advised to by the heads of the different brotherhoods.  Indeed the former president Abdoulaye Wade was a member of the Mourides, which I'm sure explains why my 'guide', when we were chatting afterwards, blamed the deterioration in the economic situation of most Senegalese on the current president, who is not in the Mourides, whilst praising his predecessor!

I say 'guide' because whilst I was trying to work out whether or not (and how) I could go into the mosque, this chap came over to assist me.  He wanted to show me the way in, show me where to leave my sandals, and then to start telling me all about the mosque.  Having made clear to him that I had come out without money, I was a little surprised that he still hung around to talk, but he told me that he felt that I was a good person, and that Allah had sent me there today for a reason...

We actually had quite an interesting conversation, covering colonialism, current day politics, the security situation in West Africa, Islam and Mouridism, amongst others.  He told me that his mother had been a teacher, and when she died, her house was sold and the proceeds split between him and his two older brothers.  One used the money to go to Japan, where he found a wife and got his papers in order, the other did the same in France, with a French wife - whereas my guide gave his money towards the construction of the mosque.  He was sad that he has never travelled outside Senegal, that neither of his brothers has sent the money for him to even go and visit them, but he didn't express any regrets about his decision.  It was hard to know what to say to that, but I trotted out my usual line about how life in the West is hard for many Africans as it is very individualistic, how no-one in London says hello to passing strangers, how people are too busy working to pay the high cost of living to have time to sit and chat about life, as we were this morning.  Perhaps a tad exaggerated, but how else do you respond to someone like him?  I certainly couldn't justify the fact that I have so far been to 123 countries whilst he has been to just one, as it's not just.  There is little justice in the world over such matters - but I suppose here his faith helps him, as it teaches that everything happens for a good reason (as Allah has designed it that way).