Baháʼí Faith in Senegal

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan. The eighth and twelfth of the tablets mentioned Africa and were written on April 19, 1916 and February 15, 1917, respectively. Publication however was delayed in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. The tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919.[5] ʻAbdu'l-Bahá mentions Baháʼís traveling "…especially from America to Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, and travel through Japan and China. Likewise, from Germany teachers and believers may travel to the continents of America, Africa, Japan and China; in brief, they may travel through all the continents and islands of the globe"[1] and " …the anthem of the oneness of the world of humanity may confer a new life upon all the children of men, and the tabernacle of universal peace be pitched on the apex of America; thus Europe and Africa may become vivified with the breaths of the Holy Spirit, this world may become another world, the body politic may attain to a new exhilaration…."[6]

During the late colonial period of the region the Baháʼí Faith first arrived.[3] Wide scale growth in the religion across Sub-Saharan Africa was observed to begin in 1950s.[7] The first Baháʼís to enter French West Africa came in 1953 and dispersed to several regions - Labib Isfahani was the first Baháʼí to settle in what became Senegal and named a Knight of Baháʼu'lláh. He come from the community of Baháʼís in Egypt.[2] Isfahani's brother Habib came to join him in April 1954. There were over 1000 Baháʼís across North-West Africa[8] which was organized into a regional National Spiritual Assembly including French West Africa in 1956.[9] In 1959 Baháʼí marriage ceremonies were legalized and the first such marriage had Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga in attendance.[10]

Growth in the Senegalese community came partly by pioneers and partly from converts. In early 1962 the family of Rouhani Ardekani stayed for six-months in Senegal and in 1966 returned to settle permanently. The first Baháʼí of Senegalese origin converted in March 1962.[11] In 1963 the communities of French West Africa, then included a small group of Baháʼís in Dakar.[9] With the help of Baháʼís originally from Gambia in Dakar the community formed the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Dakar on 21 April 1966.[3] During much of the 1960s-1970s Hermione Vera Keens-Douglas Edwards composed letters for the communities of the former French West Africa for their Nineteen Day Feasts.[12]

Additional one well known Baháʼí made an impact in Senegal and beyond - Robert Hayden, who had become a Baháʼí in 1943, was named Poet Laurette of Senegal in 1966 after winning the 1965[13] first World Festival of Negro Arts festival Grand Prix de la Poesie with over ten thousand people from thirty-seven nations in attendance on April 7, 1962[14] and went on to further acclaim.

In 1975 the Baháʼí community elected the first National Spiritual Assembly of Senegal and by the beginning of 1978 there were 30 local assemblies.[15] The first regional Baháʼí conference of the Casamance region happened in 1979 with participants from Gambia and Senégal in December 1978, and at the end of that year there were 35 assemblies.[16]

In 2003 the Baháʼís reported the Baháʼí community of Senegal is composed mainly of Senegalese scattered in about 300 locations across the country of whom the vast majority are native Senegalese.[11] Baháʼís reside in 382 localities in Senegal, and there are 34 local Spiritual Assemblies. Social and economic development projects include classes for young teenagers.[29] In 2001 Operation World estimated the Baha'i population at almost 19,000, growing at over 8% per year.[30] The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated the 2005 population of Senegalese Baháʼís at 24,700.[4]