The Great Mosque of Touba: A Divine Promise Built by the Faith of the Disciples

A promise born in exile

During his exile in Gabon, from 1895 to 1902, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba put up a simple wooden enclosure to serve as a mosque, so that he could perform his five daily prayers. One of the soldiers in the camp, wanting to make him suffer or to provoke him (which was in fact impossible), destroyed this mosque and told him that here there would be “no prayer and no ritual.”

Another soldier, named Yelli Seye, stepped in forcefully to defend him, and nearly came to blows with his fellow soldier.

It was in these dark moments that God made known to Serigne Touba that, upon his return from exile, he would have two great mosques in Senegal: one in Diourbel, which he would see in his lifetime, and the other in his beloved city, Touba.

From Diourbel to Touba

On his return, placed under house arrest in Diourbel, the Cheikh and his disciples completed the construction of the Great Mosque of Diourbel. In 1926, he began gathering the funds for the Great Mosque of Touba.

He then gave an instruction that would guide the entire work: never accept outside funding, and rely only on the community’s own means, however long that might take.

Cheikh Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké: perseverance

After the Cheikh returned to God in 1927, his son and successor, Cheikh Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké, took up the project, surrounded by his brothers and the disciples. The colonial administration first demanded the construction of a railway linking Diourbel to Touba. Far from being discouraged, Cheikh Moustapha rose to the challenge: he completed the railway, then began building the mosque in 1932.

Driven by his determination to fulfill one of the dearest wishes of his father and revered guide, he continued the work until 1939. The outbreak of the Second World War then forced a pause, observed on his instructions until 1945, the year he returned to God.

Serigne Fallou: completing the work

His younger brother, Cheikh Mouhamadou Fadel Mbacké, better known as Serigne Fallou, carried the torch forward. Like his elder brother, he devoted all his energy to completing the work, in the same spirit: self-funded, with no outside donations or contributions.

To this end, he established fields such as Touba Bogo, whose harvests were used only to fund the construction. To this were added the adiya, the offerings brought by the disciples, all of which went to the construction.

On June 7, 1963, Serigne Fallou inaugurated one of the largest mosques in West Africa and the largest in Senegal. The website Linternaute.com ranks it among the 25 most beautiful mosques in the world.

An architectural masterpiece

The Great Mosque of Touba today covers about 8,790 m² (about 94,600 sq ft). It is crowned by seven minarets:

• four minarets 66 meters (217 ft) high;
• two minarets 60 meters (197 ft) high;
• and the central minaret, 86.80 meters (285 ft) high, named Lamp Fall in honor of Serigne Touba’s greatest disciple, Mame Cheikh Ibrahima Fall.

It can hold 6,000 worshippers. Inside, the decoration recalls the Byzantine style: precious blue marble and alabaster were used in its construction and renovations.

The Quran is recited there 28 times every week, a number that matches the numerical value of the word “Touba” in Arabic. The mosque also houses the mausoleum of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, as well as those of his sons and several khalifs.

Today: a living legacy

The current Khalife Général of the Mourides, Serigne Mouhamadou Mountakha Mbacké, has launched major renovation work on the Great Mosque, with a new design whose cost is said to approach 100 billion CFA francs.

Yet the essential remains unchanged: despite the size of the project, the philosophy is the same. No outside funding is accepted. Everything is funded 100% by the disciples, who today number in the millions around the world.

Nearly a century after the promise made in exile, the Great Mosque of Touba stands as a living testimony to the faith, unity and spirit of sacrifice of the Mouride community.

I added feet next to the meters for American readers, and you can remove them if you prefer. The same points to check as in the French version apply here too: the capacity, the surface area and the renovation cost.