ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the widely held beliefs of Islam and the Sufi orders that are popular in Senegal. Islam traveled with traders across the African continent from its origins in the Arabian Peninsula. Archaeological evidence, such as trade goods that came from the Arabian Peninsula, also point to Islam's early arrival in the Western Sahel. Nomadic and semi-nomadic groups, important and prominent in West Africa's history, were also early adopters of Islam, with evidence from cemeteries and towns organized around mosques. Sufism became a dominant form of Islam in Senegal in the nineteenth century, though it had been a presence there for several centuries. Sufism's goal is inner spiritual knowledge about God. Sufism in West and North Africa started with scholarly elites drawn to its focus on intellectual and meditative study of the Qur'an and writings of Sufimystics. The chapter describes about syncretism. A syncretic religion is made up of several belief systems coming together to make something new.
