The Mouride holy city — Grand Magal pilgrimage and the largest mosque in sub-Saharan Africa
Touba is the spiritual capital of the Mouride Brotherhood — a Sufi Islamic order founded in 1887 by Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacké. Every year, millions of Mouride pilgrims converge on the city for the Grand Magal, one of the largest religious gatherings on earth outside the Hajj. Outside pilgrimage season, Touba moves at a different pace — commerce, prayer, and the trade routes of a city that functions almost as a theocratic city-state within Senegal.
Touba was founded in 1887 when Cheikh Amadou Bamba chose the uninhabited bush site for prayer and meditation. After the French colonial government exiled Bamba to Gabon (1895–1902) then Mauritania (1903–1907) for fear of his spiritual influence, returning followers built a town around his chosen site. The Great Mosque was begun in 1926; its central 86-metre minaret was completed in 1963. Bamba's mausoleum lies beneath the central dome.