Plush carpeting in the Mosque at Jurbel

 

 

 

Breaking the fast of Ramadan on Saturday evening at the home of the Dow family

We broke the Ramadan fast again at the home of the Dow family. This is the extended family of teachers we'd visited the evening before. We spent some more time with the matriarch this time. She is funny---and does speak some English. Professor Tim Longman from BU accompanies us for the first few minutes to lend the event some additional gravitas and importance. The leaders are keen to explain our presence to people---emphasizing our scholarly interest in the extraordinarily tolerant Senegalese society.

We bring some coffee this time as well as some "swag" from our colleges. I give the matriarch a NOVA umbrella---which she loves(hopefully). This is one of those little things we teachers get as a reward for attending the week long professional development orgy that is now required for NVCC employees at the beginning of the semesters. Since it is like going to the dentist to appropriate any "swag" for endeavors like this, I often squirrel these things away for times like this. The matriarch explains that this umbrella can be used for her next trip to Mecca. She has been twice in her life, an extraordinarily expensive thing for the Senegalese. She shows a photo on the wall of her in her Hadj finery when she was much younger.

I also give the son, Babacar, some NOVA earbuds. The boy, Ousmane, gets some lollipops which result in a symphony of sound.

Interior of the Mosque at Jurbel

There is no metal at all in the structure of this huge building. There are lots of clocks on the wall, many of them gifts. At one point I see a mouse scamper across the floor. Only a couple of people see this.

 

 

Caretakers of the Mosque in Jurbel

The one on the left is a specific kind of Sufi Mouride-- a Bai Fall---Dr. Fallou Ngom is something of an expert on this sub-order. They do not fast or pray. Instead they focus on good deeds---building or repairing Mosques and feeding the poorer members of the community when the Ramadan fast ends in the evening. While in the bigger Mosque at Touba, we saw them unloading heavy bags of cement, carrying them on their heads. Many are dreadlocked with interesting costumes. They are unsmiling. Very interesting.

 

Street scene in Jurbel, Senegal.

 

 

 

The honorable Imam of Jurbel Mbaye Ngirane. We spent 2 hours with him in his home and his Mosque. This was a big deal

Imam Ngirane is the head of the Sufi Mouride order in Senegal. He was a warm, funny, and generous man. We sat on the floor in his home and asked questions. He showed us how to sharpen a pen with a knife and gave us an example of Ajami calligraphy. Hopefully more to come on this. He seemed to have a large family. While we were there the phone rang a couple of times--he answered. Fallou explained that he is always on call---as the foremost expert on the Mouride founder(Sheikh Amadou Bamba)---these are often important spiritual questions. At one point his wife enters, points at the scores of pictures on the wall, and indicates a younger picture of him, laughing and saying he was much more handsome then.

 

 

The Mosque at Jurbel, near the holy city of Touba. We had a meeting for about an hour with the Imam.