Editing Senegal (section)

=== Religion ===
{{main|Religion in Senegal}}

{{Pie chart
|thumb = left
|caption = Religion in Senegal (2022, estimate)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/senegal/ | title=Senegal | access-date=29 January 2024 | archive-date=29 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129215348/https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/senegal/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
|label1 = [[Islam]]
|value1 = 97.2
|color1 = Green
|label2 = Christianity
|value2 = 2.7
|color2 = DodgerBlue
|label3= Other
|color3= Orange
|value3= 0.1
}}

Senegal is a secular state.<ref name="Constitution of Senegal" /> According to "CIA World Factbook: Senegal" [[Islam in Senegal|Islam]] is the predominant religion in the country, practiced by 97.2% of the country's population; the Christian community, at 2.7% of the population, consists mostly of  [[Roman Catholic]]s but there are also diverse [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] denominations. Less than one percent has [[animism|animist]] beliefs, particularly in the southeastern region of the country.<ref name=cia/> Some [[Serer people]] follow the [[Serer religion]].<ref>Conklin, Alice L. ''A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895–1930''. Stanford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-8047-2999-9}}. p. 27.</ref><ref>Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International</ref> According to the Berkley Center,  "approximately 95 percent of the population is Muslim and the other five percent is primarily Christian or animist."<ref>Berkley Center, "Country Mapping: Senegal." [https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/subprojects/country-mapping-senegal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231163333/https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/subprojects/country-mapping-senegal|date=31 December 2023}} (retrieved 15 April 2024)</ref> Marloes Janson, of SOAS, University of London, and other scholars, posit that, in Senegal, [[Gambia]], and many African countries where Islam is dominant, Muslim communities tend to [[Syncretism|syncretise]] Islam with [[Traditional African religions]], leading to a distinctive "African Islam".<ref>Johnson, Marloes, "Chapter 36: Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa." SOAS, University of London (2017), pp. 15-17 (PDF)</ref>

According to a 2012 Pew demographic study, 55% of the Muslims in Senegal are [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] of the [[Maliki]] [[madhhab]] with [[Sufi]] influences, whilst 27% are [[non-denominational Muslim]]s.<ref name="Pew">{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-1-religious-affiliation/#identity|title=Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation|date=9 August 2012|work=The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]'s Religion & Public Life Project|access-date=4 September 2013|archive-date=26 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226113158/http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-1-religious-affiliation/#identity|url-status=live}}</ref> Islamic communities in Senegal are generally organized around one of several Islamic Sufi orders called [[tariqa]]s, headed by a ''[[khalif]]'' (''xaliifa'' in [[Wolof language|Wolof]], from Arabic ''khalīfa''), who is usually a direct descendant of the group's founder; the study found that 92% of Senegalese Muslims belonged to a Sufi order. The two largest and most prominent Sufi tariqas in Senegal are the [[Tijaniyya]], whose largest Senegalese sub-groups are based in the cities of [[Tivaouane]] and [[Kaolack]] and has broad following in West Africa outside of Senegal, and the [[Mouride|Murīdiyya (Murid)]], who are based in the city of [[Touba, Senegal|Touba]] and has a follower base mostly limited to within Senegal.<ref name="Pew"/>
[[File:Saintlouis mosquée.jpg|thumb|A mosque in [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint-Louis]].|left]]
[[File:Dakar cathedrale.jpg|thumb|[[Our Lady of Victories Cathedral, Dakar|Our Lady of Victories Cathedral]], a [[Catholic Church]] in [[Dakar]]]]
The [[Halpulaar]] ([[Pulaar]]-speakers), composed of [[Fula people]], a widespread group found along the Sahel from Chad to Senegal, and ''[[Toucouleur people|Toucouleurs]]'', represent 23.8 percent of the population.<ref name=cia/> Historically, they were the first to become Muslim. Many of the ''Toucouleurs'', or sedentary Halpulaar of the Senegal River Valley in the north, converted to Islam around a millennium ago and later contributed to Islam's propagation throughout Senegal. Success was gained among the Wolofs, but repulsed by the Serers.
Most communities south of the Senegal River Valley, however, were not thoroughly [[Islamization|Islamized]]. The Serer people stood out as one of this group, who spent over one thousand years resisting Islamization (see [[Serer history (medieval era to present)|Serer history]]). Although many Serers are Christians or Muslim, their conversion to Islam in particular is very recent and came of free will rather than by force, after forced conversion had been unsuccessfully tried centuries earlier (see [[Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune]]).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hans Bressers|author2=Walter A. Rosenbaum|title=Achieving Sustainable Development: The Challenge of Governance Across Social Scales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvAGAeQNo7oC&pg=PA151|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97802-0|pages=151–}}</ref>

As a country with more than 90% Muslims, holidays such as Tabaski, Koriteh, Gamou, Weri Kor are highly regarded.

The spread of formal Quranic school (called ''daara'' in Wolof) during the colonial period increased largely through the effort of the Tidjâniyya. In Murid communities, which place more emphasis on the work ethic than on literary Quranic studies, the term ''daara'' often applies to work groups devoted to working for a religious leader. Other Islamic groups include the much older Qādiriyya order and the Senegalese [[Layene|Laayeen]] order, which is prominent among the coastal Lebu. Today, most Senegalese children study at ''daara''s for several years, memorizing as much of the Qur'an as they can. Some of them continue their religious studies at councils (''majlis'') or at the growing number of private Arabic schools and publicly funded Franco-Arabic schools.

Small Catholic communities are mainly found in coastal Serer, [[Jola people|Jola]], [[Mankanya people|Mankanya]] and Balant populations, and in eastern Senegal among the Bassari and Coniagui. The Protestant churches are mainly attended by immigrants but during the second half of the 20th century Protestant churches led by Senegalese leaders from different ethnic groups have evolved. In Dakar Catholic and Protestant rites are practiced by the Lebanese, Cape Verdean, European, and American immigrant populations, and among certain Africans of other countries as well as by the Senegalese themselves. Although Islam is Senegal's majority religion, Senegal's first president, [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]], was a Catholic Serer.

[[Serer religion]] encompasses a belief in a supreme deity called [[Roog]] ([[Koox]] among the [[Cangin languages|Cangin]]), [[Serer creation myth|Serer cosmogony]], [[Religious cosmology|cosmology]] and [[divination]] ceremonies such as the annual ''[[Xooy]]'' (or ''Khoy'') ceremony presided over by the Serer [[Saltigue]]s (high priests and priestesses). They were ancient Serer festivals rooted in Serer religion, not Islam.<ref name="N.Diouf">Diouf, Niokhobaye, « Chronique du royaume du Sine, suivie de Notes sur les traditions orales et les sources écrites concernant le [[Kingdom of Sine|royaume du Sine]] par Charles Becker et Victor Martin (1972)», . (1972). Bulletin de l'IFAN, tome 34, série B, no 4, 1972, pp. 706–7 (pp. 4–5), pp. 713–14 (pp. 9–10)</ref>

The [[Boukout]] is one of the Jola's religious ceremonies.

There are a small number of members of the Bani Israel tribe in the Senegalese bush that claim Jewish ancestry, though this is disputed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2013/05/23/lifestyle/in-senegalese-bush-bani-israel-tribe-claims-jewish-heritage|title=In Senegalese bush, Bani Israel tribe claims Jewish heritage|date=23 May 2013|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US|access-date=15 July 2019|archive-date=15 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715174843/https://www.jta.org/2013/05/23/lifestyle/in-senegalese-bush-bani-israel-tribe-claims-jewish-heritage|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Mahayana]] branch of [[Buddhism in Senegal]] is followed by a very tiny portion of the [[Expatriate|expat]] [[Overseas Vietnamese|Vietnamese community]]. The [[Bahá'í Faith in Senegal]] was established after [['Abdu'l-Bahá]], the son of the founder of the religion, mentioned Africa as a place that should be more broadly visited by Bahá'ís.<ref name="ToDP8">{{cite book |author = 'Abdu'l-Bahá |author-link = Abdu'l-Bahá |year = 1991 |title = Tablets of the Divine Plan |edition = Paperback |publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust |location = Wilmette, IL |isbn = 0-87743-233-3 |url = http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/TDP/tdp-8.html.iso8859-1 |pages = 47–59 |orig-year = 1916–17 |access-date = 1 August 2009 |archive-date = 11 May 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110511200654/http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/TDP/tdp-8.html.iso8859-1 |url-status = live }}</ref> The first Bahá'is to set foot in the territory of [[French West Africa]] that would become Senegal arrived in 1953.<ref name="hassal-egypt">{{cite web|last = Hassall|first = Graham|title = Egypt: Baha'i history|work = Asia Pacific Bahá'í Studies: Bahá'í Communities by country|publisher = Bahá'í Online Library|date = c. 2000|url = http://bahai-library.com/asia-pacific/country%20files/egypt.htm|access-date = 24 May 2009|archive-date = 27 December 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111227051203/http://bahai-library.com/asia-pacific/country%20files/egypt.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> The first Bahá'í [[Local Spiritual Assembly]] of Senegal was elected in 1966 in [[Dakar]].<ref name="50th">{{Cite news|last = Bahá'í International Community|author-link = Bahá'í International Community|title = National communities celebrate together|newspaper = Bahá'í International News Service|date = 28 December 2003|url = http://hfa01.news.bahai.org/story/283|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130112122749/http://hfa01.news.bahai.org/story/283|archive-date = 12 January 2013|df = dmy-all}}</ref> In 1975 the Bahá'í community elected the first [[National Spiritual Assembly]] of Senegal. The most recent estimate, by the [[Association of Religion Data Archives]] in a 2005 report details the population of Senegalese Bahá'ís at 22,000.<ref name="WCE-05">{{cite web|title=Most Baha'i Nations (2005)|work=QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions >|publisher=The Association of Religion Data Archives|year=2005|url=http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_40c.asp|access-date=4 July 2009|archive-date=14 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414021730/http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_40c.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>