RELIGION
PELAGIC MECCA 2023 – Senegal has three fatalities
Senegal recorded three (3) deaths in Mecca. The general delegation to the pilgrimage informs that the first death was recorded at the stage of Medina, this June 25, 2023. Even before confirmation of the lady’s identity, that a second death was announced. He was fatally struck on a highway not far from the Kaba.
The third death was recorded during a visit to the various accommodation sites, reported the Consulate General in Jiddah, Sheikh Bara Falilou Mbacké.
As a reminder, the price of the package for the needs of the pilgrimage to Mecca was fixed this year at 3 million 950 thousand CFA francs.
This award was made public following an interdepartmental council held the same day under the presidency of Prime Minister Amadou Bâ, in the presence of private tour operators and the president of the General Delegation to the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The price of the package «was estimated at 4 million 200 thousand CFA francs, but on the will of the Head of State, he asked us to do what was necessary to reduce this amount to 3 million 950 thousand CFA francs [so that] the pilgrimage is better democratized», explained the patron saint of Senegalese diplomacy.
She recalled that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has granted this year a quota of 12,860 pilgrims to Senegal, of which 11,000 will be transported by private tour operators, with the General Delegation to the pilgrimage in Mecca being called upon to take charge of the rest, that is, 1860 pilgrims.
“With Arafat Day scheduled for 27 June 2023, registrations in Senegal are scheduled to start on 11 April and end on 15 May. It is on the basis of this distribution that the General Delegate went to the holy places of Islam to start negotiations with the Saudi authorities,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese from abroad.
The Arafat stage is the highlight of the pilgrimage. It is a day dedicated to prayers and invocations. It coincides with the second day of the pilgrimage, the next day corresponding to the first day of the feast of Eid al-Adha, commonly known as Tabaski.
These negotiations focused on three aspects, namely transport, the pilgrims’ stay and the cost of the various services that will be allocated. On transport, the Saudi authorities have decided that half of the quota allocated to Senegal will have to be conveyed by a Saudi company. Flynas was designated to carry 50% of the quota, or 6,430 pilgrims. The other 50% will be reserved for other conveyors,” said Aïssata Tall Sall.
These planes to put at the disposal of pilgrims are new and type A330 900. I think they are Airbus aircraft with accepted international standards for air transport,” added the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese from abroad.
She announced that a technical audit mission is planned to be conducted by ANACIM, “to ensure that everything that Flynas has described to us as an aircraft corresponds to what will be presented to us.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also specified that the stay of the Senegalese pilgrims will be 26 days. Last year it was 30 days. But the intention of the President of the Republic is to further compress this period so that pilgrims who wish to spend as little time as possible in Mecca and spend less money,” she continued.
The date of the Tabaski festival in Côte d’Ivoire, also called Aid-El-Kébir, is known. It is set for Friday, June 6, 2025. The information is made official through a communiqué of the High Council of Imams (COSIM) and the Council of Sunni Imams (CODISS). These are the two Muslim religious authorities in the country.
“COSIM and CODISS inform the national community that the station in Arafat will take place on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Therefore, the festival of Tabaski will be celebrated in Côte d’Ivoire, incha’Allah, on Friday, June 6, 2025, corresponding to 10 Zoul-Hijja 1446 of the Hégire,” the statement reads.
Eid-al-Kebir is considered the most important holiday in the Muslim calendar. It is marked by the sacrifice of a ram. This sacrificial gesture recalls the act of faith of the prophet Ibrahim, ready to sacrifice his son in obedience to Allah.
Sources: africa-sur7
Studies commissioned by the organizing committee of the great Magal of Touba indicate that 5,875,536 people responded to the call of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba on Monday, September 4, 2023. The figure is the conclusion of investigations conducted by a team of experts led by Moubarack Lô, economist. In comparison with 2015, the difference is enormous even if, in its time, 4,119,551 pilgrims were counted in the religious city.
Ahmadou Bamba died in 1927 in Diourbel. But his legacy is perpetuated since then by his sons: Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké (1927-1945), El Hadj Falilou Mbacké (1945-1968), Serigne Abdoul Lahat Mbacké (1968-1989), Serigne Abdou Khadr Mbacké (1989-1990), Serigne Saliou Mbacké (1990-2007).
The disappearance in 2007 of Serigne Saliou Mbacké opened the accession of grandsons to the Khalifat: Serigne Mouhamadou Bara Mbacké (2007-2010), Serigne Sidy Moctar Mbacké (2010-2018).
Serigne Mountakha Bassirou Mbacké is the General Caliph of the Mourides since 2018.
The Magal, a Wolof term meaning to pay tribute, celebrate, magnify, is commemorated in memory of this exile which marks the beginning of a sum of hardships borne in conscience by the sheikh, following a pact contracted with his creator.
Each year, tens of thousands of pilgrims take the city of Touba by storm to gather and pray on the occasion of the Magal, which is also a moment of conviviality and hospitality through the ‘Berndae’, these hearty meals served to pilgrims.
Bandits killed seven worshippers praying in two mosques, including the head of a village self-defense group in volatile northern Nigeria, Kaduna State Police announced on September 1, 2023.
Early Friday evening in Ikara district, a dozen members of criminal gangs arrived on motorcycles and opened fire on worshippers from the Saya-Saya community who were praying in a mosque, killing six of them, the state police spokesman said, Mansir Hassan, in a statement issued Saturday.
The attackers then attacked another mosque in a nearby village, where they killed one person and wounded three others, before stealing four motorcycles and disappearing into the bush, he added.
According to Abdulrahman Yusuf, the head of the Say-Saya community, the head of the village self-defence group is among those killed.
“We believe that he was the main target of the attack and that the bandits followed him to the mosque,” added Mr. Yusuf, one of the faithful survivors of the attack.
Kaduna is one of the states in central and northwestern Nigeria regularly bloodied by bandit groups that attack villages, kill and kidnap residents and burn their homes after looting them.
Criminals regularly target mosques and churches where they kidnap worshippers to obtain future ransoms or to avenge their comrades killed or arrested by local self-defence groups who fight them.
The Kaduna authorities are worried about a growing rapprochement between these gangs and jihadist groups that have been fighting the state for nearly 15 years for control of the northeast.
