Al Jazeera Africa - Touba, SenegalSunday, December 30, 2007
The leader of Senegal's most powerful Muslim brotherhood has died [Friday 28] starting a three-day mourning period in the West African country.
Millions of Senegalese were expected to make a pilgrimage over the weekend to the grave of Serigne Saliou Mbacke, the leader of the influential Mouride association who died on Friday and was buried on Saturday.
Mbacke, who died aged 92, was a highly influential figure in the West African country, to the extent that he was a religious adviser to the Abdoulaye Wade, the president, who is a follower of the brotherhood.
Mbacke was the fifth caliph of the Mouride and the last surviving son of Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke, who founded the group in 1883.
He was buried in the holy city of Touba, about 200km east of the capital, Dakar, in a ceremony attended by Wade according to a source in the presidency.
News of the death was delayed until after the burial ceremony so as to avoid disruption from mourning followers of the brotherhood.
The brotherhood is the biggest centre of religious, economic and political influence in the mainly Muslim country.
(...)
The movement became wealthy based on Mbacke's investments in agriculture, particularly in peanuts.
Mbacke had built several Islamic schools in Senegal and figured among the 100 most influential Africans in a list drawn up by the French magazine Jeune Afrique.
Bamba's eldest grandson will become the sixth caliph of the Mourides.
[Read also (in French): http://www.africanglobalnews.com/article2242.html].
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