Islam in Senegal: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Senegal

The Republic of Senegal has an area of 196,722 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.2.10a. It was occupied by France in 1850s and gained its independence from France in 1960. Islam entered here in the 1030s when the War Jabi, King of Tekrur Kingdom embraced Islam. The Kingdom was situated in the north of current Senegal around the Senegal River. War Jabi died in 1040. Islam spread further around 1040 when Abdullah bnu Yassin and Yahya bnu Ibrahim, the founders of the Almoravid Dynasty, isolated themselves in an island at the end of the Senegal River, which separates current Mauritania from Senegal. They were followed by hundreds from which was the seed of Almoravid Dynasty. King Labi son of War Jabi continued the spread of Islam in this region. The Muslim population increased slowly as more local chiefs converted to Islam. The Muslim population was estimated at half million or 44.6% in 1910 [SNH], which increased to 0.9 million or 74.7% in 1921 and 1.3 million or 65.8% in 1948.

A census of Goree and Saint Louis recorded an increase of Muslims from 13,730 (83.1% of 16,521) in 1835 to 15,150 (84.4% of 17,960) in 1838. A partial census in 1904 recorded 202,397 Muslims or 40.29% of a total population 502,389 distributed as follows:

• Saloum: 48,785 Muslims out of 82,197 (59.3%)
• East Baol: 23,533 Muslims out of 75,954 (31.0%)
• Wast Baol: 58,084 Muslims out of 78,981 (73.5%)
• Serrer and Lebou: 15,569 Muslims out of 53,636 (29.0%)
• Niani, Wouli, Tambakounda: 11,761 Muslims out of 28,034 (42.0%)

Post-independence census data show that the Muslim population increased to 2.8 million or 89.7% in 1961, then 6.4 million or 93.8% in 1988, to 9.5 million or 95.7% in 2002 and 12.8 million or 96.0% in 2013.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by a quarter of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to exceed thirty million or 97% by 2050 and exceed sixty million or 98.3% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Senegal

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.