ABSTRACT
Senegal's Islamisation has more historical depth than that of Burkina Faso and Niger. Just as in the two other Sudanic lands, the animist norm, even when it ceased to be hegemonic, kept here a large degree of cultural autonomy at least until the colonial era. Islam was a prominent religious pattern in the Jolof Empire, the confederacy of Wolof states that dominated the area until the 16th century. The era of the marabouts was in full swing by the mid-19th century. Despite their resistance to certain aspects of colonial rule, the confréries became the major factor in ensuring that maraboutic Islam would become an integral part of the colonial order and not a source of opposition. After Faidherbe's intervention of 1857, the civil state in Senegal was no longer confronted with demands from Muslims advocating for more religion inside governing institutions. The independent Senegalese state accepted Sufi power in society, but the new nation had no cultural hegemony.
