On this morning of July 28, 2014, Muslim faith is everywhere. “Fidel Castro” expressway, which runs from east to west through the peninsula of Conakry, is totally congested.
Muslim faith is everywhere: streets of Conakry are swarmed with people waiting the Muezzin’ call to the Tabaski prayer
I walk with Kanséréba through the alleys of his district in Dixinn, on the north shore of Conakry peninsula. Streets of the Capital are swarming with people waiting the call of the Muezzin. The call is now being heard. Soon will begin the Aid El Fitr prayer to break the fast, more commonly known as “Tabaski” in West Africa. The prayer marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
In this district the mosque is too small to accommodate the numerous worshipers. Patiently people spread out their prayer carpet in the street. Women are lined up on one side of the street. They are dressed in colorful and traditional clothing, sometimes mixed with black hijabs. Some of them are dressed all in black. On the other side, the men are lined up in their most beautiful traditional clothes, especially ones in damask bazin fabric. Some of them wear prayer robes. A bench separates men from women.
Playful children, too small to pray, fail to disrupt the prayers of mothers. A few steps away, sheep are feeding near the railroad tracks on which run huge wagons filled with red bauxite. Despite the rise of sheep prices that has prompted many families to even more tighten their belts, the mood remains festive. Faith has remained at the highest.
The prayer ends. Worshipers are chatting happily before meeting up shortly after for the sacrifice of the sheep and sharing their meal. Children proudly display with their labels the gifts they have just received, guaranteeing they are new.
Despite sporadic religious and ethnic clashes, the country enjoys relative peaceful coexistence of religions
Guinea is a secular State. Faith is omnipresent. The majority of Guinean population is Muslim (85%), 10% is composed of Christians and 5% is animist. However, animism beliefs are still observed in a kind of syncretism among other religious communities.
Intermarriage between religious and ethnic groups in Guinea is common and many Guineans have mixed ancestry. The country enjoys relative peaceful coexistence of religions. However, religious and inter-ethnic clashes regularly erupt against the background of conflict between herders and farmers, notably in the Forest region.
On the Christian side, Catholic faith is reported to constitute 2.5% of religious practices, alongside Protestant and Anglican churches. The breakthrough of evangelical sects is also reported.
Spread of Wahhabi Islam was accompanied by a surge in religious radicalization
Still present in rural areas, traditional and mystical tradition of Islam (Sufism) of the Tijaniyya Brotherhood has sharply decreased over the last ten years. Especially in Conakry, it has been progressively challenged by a more rigorist Islam imported from outside (Iranian Shi’ism and Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia). This phenomenon has resulted in the development of radicalization and proselytism activities in some neighborhood of Conakry, but also outside the capital.
When we met in 2016, Grand Imam of Conakry, Elhadj Mamadou Saliou Camara, viewed as non-appropriate the word “Sufism” to denote the Muslim faith, the Islamic tradition in Guinea. In the same time, he refrained from commenting on the rise of Wahhabi Islam in the country.
Wahhabi Islam provides an appealing windfall in a country where poverty is widespread. In addition, its success relies on its ability to widen the access to the imamate, notably in Fulani communities traditionally organized as a caste syste
Guineans express solidarity with France in the aftermath of Charlie Hebdo attacks
Grand Imam of Conakry, Elhadj Mamadou Saliou Camara, has also regularly and publicly condemned Islamist attacks launched abroad. A majority of Guineans reject Salafi-based violence. In early January 2015, like their President Alpha Condé, many Guineans demonstrated in the streets of Conakry to express their grief in the aftermath of Charlie Hebdo attacks in France.
