Defying Sufism? Senegalese Converts to Shiite Islam

Abstract

Beginning in the mid-1980s, some Senegalese Sunni Muslims began to convert to Shiite Islam. Converts claimed that Shiite Islam better addressed their theological questions, being more textually based than the versions of Sufi Islam practised in Senegal and dominated by marabouts, Islamic leaders, with talibés (disciples) who submit to their ultimate authority. Senegalese intellectuals disapprove of the central role the Sufi brotherhoods play in Senegalese politics and society. Choosing another branch of Islam enables converts not to follow the established marabouts by heading their own religious movement.