A path to integration: Senegalese Tijanis in Cape Town

Abstract

In a case study of the Niassene branch of the Senegalese Tijaniyya in Cape Town, this article argues that Senegalese migrants create authentic belonging for themselves by adhering to an expression of Islam that manifested in their home country. At the same time, however, this Senegalese form of Islam attracts South Africans because of how it offers a new way of conceptualising the self in a post-racial country based on the African origin of its founder. In the context of a South Africa emerging from a racist past, this Islam offers new ways of breaking down racial divisions, and creating shared understandings of moral behaviour and definitions of humanity - a different understanding of what it means to be Muslim, to be a black Muslim, and to be black. The resulting mixed membership of Senegalese migrants and South African citizens triggers tensions in the Tijaniyya around questions on the role of cultural and territorial authority