Editing Layene

{{Sufism}}
The '''Layene''' (also spelled Layène, Layenne, or Layeen)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Laborde|first=Cécile|title=La Confrérie layenne et les Lébou du Sénégal: Islam et culture tradtionnelle.|publisher=Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux: Université Montesquieu-Bordeaux IV|year=1994|location=Bordeaux|language=French}}</ref> is a religious [[Sufi brotherhood|brotherhood]] of [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[Muslims]] based in [[Senegal]] and founded in 1884 by [[Seydina Mouhammadou Limamou Laye|Seydina Limamou Laye]] (1844-1909),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Glover |first=John |date=2013 |title=The Prophet Muhammad Reincarnated and His Son, Jesus: Re-centering Islam among the Layenne of Senegal |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=42 |pages=24-35}}</ref> who was born Limamou Thiaw. It is notable for its belief that their founder was the [[Mahdi]] (the reincarnation of [[Muhammad]]), and that his son, Seydina Issa Rouhou Laye, was the reincarnation of Jesus.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Glover|first=John|date=2013|title=The Prophet Muhammad Reincarnated and His Son, Jesus: Re-centering Islam among the Layenne of Senegal.|journal=Journal of Historical Geography|volume=42|pages=24-35}}</ref> 

==Overview==
The Layene community is open to all Muslims but was founded within the [[Lebou|Lebu]] ethno-linguistic group, many of whom originally lived in fishing communities on the [[Cap-Vert]] peninsula on the northern edge of [[Dakar]], Senegal.  

The Layene brotherhood is the smallest of the [[Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bop|first=Codou|date=2005|title=Roles and the Position of Women in Sufi Brotherhoods in Senegal|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|volume=73|pages=1099-1119}}</ref> and likely numbers between seventy and one-hundred thousand members.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Halverson|first=Jeffry R.|date=2020|title=Embodying the Mahdi: Islamic Messianism and the Body in Colonial Senegal|journal=Journal of Africana Religions|volume=8|pages=37-61}}</ref> 

The community leader is known as the [[Khalif]] Générale, who also has broad authority over temporal matters in the Layene quarter of the neighborhood of [[Yoff]], Senegal. Yoff is home to the Khalif, an elaborate [[mosque]], the mausoleum of its founder, and of several of his descendants. There is a notable Layene mosque as well as a substantial Layene community in [[Cambérène]], Senegal, where Seydina Issa Rouhou Laye is interred, and also in many other villages (like Malika, Yeumbeul, Ngor, Ouakam, Bargny). 

==Beliefs and practices==
Layene beliefs and practices include the normal five pillars of [[Islam]], with some additional obligations recommended by Seydina Limamou Laye. For instance, prior to each of the five daily prayers, they wash not only their feet but up to their knees as well, and practice ''zikr'' before and after each prayer. 

They hold a weekly ceremony called the ''chants religieux'' that begins shortly before midnight on Saturday and continues until the dawn prayer on Sunday. The ''chants religieux'' consist of energetic sermons and loud [[Dhikr|zikr]] (Wolof: ''sikkar'').

Many in the Layene community will arrange for their newborn daughters to be married at the time of their naming ceremonies, often to a young son of a friend. These marriages are binding, but when the children reach adulthood they are able to choose whether to continue in the marriage, or divorce (without stigma) and marry another community member or another person she chooses and loves.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Riley|first=Emily|title=Terànga and the Art of Hospitality: Engendering the Nation, Politics, and Religion in Dakar, Senegal|publisher=Doctoral Dissertation|year=2016|location=Michigan State University|pages=164}}</ref> Newborn boys are circumcised on the day of their baptism (i.e. on the seventh day after birth). Many women choose to pray in the mosque for Friday prayer.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Douglas|title=Sufism, Mahdism and Nationalism: Limamou Laye and the Layennes of Senegal.|publisher=Continuum|year=2012|location=New York|pages=114}}</ref> There is a place for women to pray inside any Layene mosque, and children are also encouraged to pray in the mosque.

People in the community wear white during events. In addition, it is customary to take the symbolic last name "Laye" - derived from Allah - in order to flatten social hierarchies and support the teaching that all humans are equal in the eyes of God.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Douglas|title=Sufism, Mahdism and Nationalism: Limamou Laye and the Layennes of Senegal.|publisher=Continuum|year=2012|location=New York|pages=127}}</ref>

==Distribution==
Most Layenes live in the [[Cap-Vert]] area around [[Dakar]], but there is a Layene presence in most other areas of Senegal, and a few live in Italy, France, Canada and the United States.{{no source|date=February 2023}}

In 1812 the political independence of the Lebu from the Kingdom of [[Cayor]] was recognized.{{no source|date=February 2023}} Today the Layene are granted special autonomy in the constitution, laws and practices of Senegal.{{no source|date=February 2023}}

==History==
The Layene Brotherhood was founded in 1884 by Seydina  Limamou  Laye who was an uneducated man from the Lebu ethnic group, and  a fisherman. He claimed to be the [[Mahdi]], an Islamic messianic figure, whose coming is prophesied. He claimed his son, Seydina Issa Rouhou Laye, was the second coming of [[Jesus]].<ref>Sylla, Assane. Not dated [after 1987]. ''Les Prophetes: Seydina Limamou le Mahdi et Seydina Issa Rouhou Lahi''. Dakar: Imprimerie Saint-Paul.</ref> Seydina Limamou Laye is reported to have said that when he left Mecca when he died, he took refuge in a cave in Ngor in the form of light. For more than a thousand years, he traveled the whole earth nightly to see in which people he would appear for his second mission, and “it is because of the moral discretion (''sutura'') and the decency of the clothing of the Lebu women that I was born among this people,” and that “God saw that I was born among the Lebus.”<ref>Cheikh Makhtar Lô. ''Bus râ, al-Muhibbî n wa tayqîz al-jâhilî n (Joy of Friends and Awakening of the Lost).'' Unpublished English translation of the biography of Seydina Limamou Laye.</ref> Despite this, from the earliest days of the community, membership has been open to all Muslims. He attracted a following both among and outside the Lebu ethno-linguistic group.<ref>Laborde, Cécile. 1995. ''La Confrérie Layenne et les Lébou du Sénégal: Islam et culture traditionnelle en Afrique''. Université Montisquieu: Institut d’études politiques de Bordeaux.</ref><ref>Matthew Kearney. 2005. "The Societal Ideal and Religious Authority in the Layene Brotherhood." B.A. Thesis in Sociology, Haverford College.</ref>

The present Khalif of the Layene is Seydina Mouhamadou Makhtar Laye, who is a son of Seydina Mandione Laye.

==Caliphs==
[[Caliph]]s of the Layene Brotherhood: 

#Seydina Issa Rouhou Laye, 1909-1949
#Seydina Mandione Laye, 1949-1971
#Seydina Issa Laye II, 1971-1987
#Seydina Mame Alassane Laye, 1987-2001
#Seydina Abdoulaye Thiaw Laye, 2001–2021
#Seydina Mouhamadou Makhtar Laye, 2021-present

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.layene.sn/new/index.php/ Official webpage of the Layene Brotherhood] 

{{Islam in Senegal}}

[[Category:Lebou people]]
[[Category:Religion in Senegal]]
[[Category:French West Africa]]
[[Category:Sufi orders]]
[[Category:Sufism in Africa]]