ISLAMIC HISTORY
In Senegal, the Baye Fall, followers of the Mouride movement, a sect of Islam indigenous to the country which was founded in 1887 by Shaykh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, a 'Sufi' are famous for growing dreadlocks and wearing multi-coloured gowns. Cheikh Ibra Fall, founder of the Baye Fall school of the Mouride Brotherhood, claims that he was "the first dread in West Africa". Since 1887 these movements have spread to Touba (founded by Mbakke) as well as Mali and Mauritania. Their second home outside of Senegal is Ghana, they also flourish in Benin, Togo, Cote de Ivoire (Ivory Coast in Abidjan) and can even be found in Abuja Nigeria. So large are in number are these Islamic peoples that they have their own pilgrimage not to Mecca but to Touba and the sacred mosque there. They are also known to pray at this time not to Mecca but to the Atlantic Ocean to commemorate their founders escape from his French colonial captors who prevented him from praying. He leapt from the boat and is said to have landed on a prayer rug in the middle of the ocean from whence he prayed, nor a dread on his head became wet!. His closest student and successor was 'Ibrahimi Fall' both are still highly revered today through Senegal, Algeria, Ghana, Mali and Mauritania
In Senegal, the Baye Fall, followers of the Mouride movement, a sect of Islam indigenous to the country which was founded in 1887 by Shaykh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, a 'Sufi' are famous for growing dreadlocks and wearing multi-coloured gowns. Cheikh Ibra Fall, founder of the Baye Fall school of the Mouride Brotherhood, claims that he was "the first dread in West Africa". Since 1887 these movements have spread to Touba (founded by Mbakke) as well as Mali and Mauritania. Their second home outside of Senegal is Ghana, they also flourish in Benin, Togo, Cote de Ivoire (Ivory Coast in Abidjan) and can even be found in Abuja Nigeria. So large are in number are these Islamic peoples that they have their own pilgrimage not to Mecca but to Touba and the sacred mosque there. They are also known to pray at this time not to Mecca but to the Atlantic Ocean to commemorate their founders escape from his French colonial captors who prevented him from praying. He leapt from the boat and is said to have landed on a prayer rug in the middle of the ocean from whence he prayed, nor a dread on his head became wet!. His closest student and successor was 'Ibrahimi Fall' both are still highly revered today through Senegal, Algeria, Ghana, Mali and Mauritania