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Senegal: on the roads of Islam, women watch

 

The Muslim religion, the majority in Senegal, structures society and intervenes in both private and public areas. In such an environment where a certain Islam is increasingly involved in politics, there are women who stand up and make their voices heard to contain the religious conservatism which is gaining ground in the country. Among them, Doctor Selly Ba, sociologist, specialist in gender and religion, Penda Mbow, historian and intellectual, currently representative of President Macky Sall to the Francophonie, and Maïmouna Thior, doctoral student in sociology at the University of Rennes and specialist in issues of identity transformation of Senegalese women.

A religious conservatism that progresses

“The Senegalese collective conscience is governed by Islam”, immediately announces Doctor Selly Ba. In this 95% Muslim country, Sufi Islam, imbued with local particularisms, is a pillar. According to the sociologist, the resurgence of religion in Senegalese society and its conservative turn took place from the 1980s, in the dynamics, among other things, of the Iranian Islamic revolution. Today, it should be noted that, although in the minority, the Islamists, through their reading of the Koran and of religion, are slowly and deeply modifying the country. A phenomenon of re-Islamization of society is taking shape. This translates into a more conservative approach to societal issues that are increasingly approached and debated in the light of religion. “Rigorist religious people gather on subjects for which there is a consensus. And to better obtain a broad support, they involve the religious leaders ”, underlines the historian Penda Mbow. “It is a manipulation to better control society which means that we do not escape the phenomenon of rising conservatism and populism,” she continues.

An increasingly closed space for debate

“I am a Muslim but also an African. We don’t need to import the dress code of Saudi women, nor of the West. We must keep our own identity and not give up who we are, ”says Penda Mbow, who does not hesitate to praise the colorful scarves worn by Senegalese women of previous generations. In this context, any critical approach to religion is rejected. “People do not know how to distinguish the faith (the intimate) from the intellectual process. The two are not, however, contradictory because there is room for doubt in Islam, ”says Professor Penda Mbow. For Maïmouna Thior, “discussion must be possible in religion, debate too, but this is not the case in Senegal”. “We are afraid of being rejected and that our ‘Senegalese’ will be questioned,” she sighs, stuck as she is between Senegalese practice and her personal relationship to religion.

Convergently, these three women are critical of the exegesis of religious texts as we see them today. “The suras of the Koran are cut off from their essence because many are limited to the parts that arrange them,” says Selly Ba. “And the context is not taken into account when it is essential! », She specifies. The context is what leads us to take another look at the Arabization of society and of Islam in Senegal.

An expanding arabization

It begins with the new sounds given to Senegalese first names, however mostly inspired by the Koran. These are more Arabizing to the detriment of their local variation observed until then. At the same time, other ways of practicing religion are increasingly emerging. The fact that many young people, via scholarships, go to study in Arab countries like Saudi Arabia has something to do with it. The problem is that they come back with a Salafist, rigorous vision of these regions. Since on their return, they often find themselves excluded from the Senegalese world of work dominated by those who have gone to study in Western countries, they are vulnerable. Result: they tend to come together and build their universe largely inspired by what they saw in the countries that had received them for their studies.

“By responding to the lack of policy for young people and giving them a status, Islamist organizations are gaining influence”, says Selly Ba, who recalls that, although in the minority, some want the establishment of an Islamic republic in the country. in opposition to the current secular republic.

Secularism challenged

It must be said that the context is not the easiest for Senegalese secularism. “Senegalese secularism can be puzzling because there is no secularization strictly speaking in the country”, indicates the young doctoral student Maïmouna Thior, who notes that “the stranglehold of the religious is real”. She takes as proof the practice of “ndigël” by which the religious guides give advice which is similar to instructions to their disciples. This can occur in civil acts, but also in civic acts such as voting in elections, which raises questions about the influence of religion on politics. This can be felt, for example, in a concrete reality that Selly Ba details: “The impossibility of passing a vote in the National Assembly on gender issues. In other words, the influence of the religious (Christian and Muslim) is such that it determines certain agendas for national representation.

In January 2000, former President Abdoulaye Wade thus proposed to abolish secularism from the Constitution. The project was finally abandoned but it shows how significant the subject is. “There was strong resistance to this political project of the Islamists which called into question all the advances between the year 1960 and 1970”, indicates Penda Mbow, an academic with a prestigious professional career, who has been rewarded many times for her commitments. And to add: “But I’m not sure that many still resist. There is a setback in the intellectual debate and on human rights. No one has the courage to broach the subject of religion anymore. ”For his part, Selly Ba argues that“ governance problems are the breeding ground for radicalization ”. “Justice being abused on the continent, some see in the application of Islamic law, that is to say Sharia, a means of ensuring respect for human rights through equitable management,” she continues.

A feminism perceived as disrupting traditionalist norms

Another point: in the rigorous reading of Islamic texts, the legitimacy of women in their handling of religion is called into question. Penda Mbow knows something about it, she who paid the price in the 90s because of her stance against the Islamists. “I have received several death threats,” she said. “I was seen as dangerous for them because, unlike many women, I thwarted them. It must be said that I studied religion too, if they wanted to silence me, they never succeeded in destabilizing me. “And to add in a confident voice:” I have my convictions and my knowledge. For Penda Mbow, studying religion is really important. “This is the key to deconstructing the rewriting of religion by some,” she continues.

“The Prophet Muhammad (PSL) had a feminist approach: women were associated with the political, economic and social management of society,” adds Selly Ba. “Tradition has taken the place of knowledge and interpretations have been made through cultural lenses and a patriarchal vision. Male domination is achieved by confiscating the use of religion from women, ”she supports. In his work Islam and radicalization in Senegal: female preaching, a response*, the sociologist demonstrates that from the 90s, the religious invited women to express themselves but always under control: “These preachers teach in religious schools or on television sets. They are tolerated because they are instruments of communication disseminating the dominant discourse ”, she indicates.

As for Penda Mbow, she sees no antinomy between the Muslim religion and feminism. “On the contrary, Islam frees me by giving me the moral and intellectual strength to be independent of men in religion. It helps me define a project for a society where women and men have the same rights, ”she says. In fact, the former Minister of Culture, “deeply religious and deeply cultural”, calls for a better coexistence between religion and African traditions. “African civilization is founded on matriarchy and the matrilineal system. African women must claim their vision of the world and get rid of the acculturation fund that dominates them, ”she concludes.

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