His Eminence Serigne Babacar Sy Mansour was speaking on the occasion of the audience he granted to the Moroccan delegation taking part in the official ceremony of the great religious gathering of the Tijaniyyah family to celebrate of the Gamou (Eid Al Mawlid Annabawi), held on Wednesday in the town of Tivaouane (98 km north-west of Dakar).

The official ceremony took place in the presence of a large Senegalese ministerial delegation led by the Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome, representing the Head of State, Macky Sall, Tijaniyyah delegations from African and European countries, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Dakar, international and national NGOs, local authorities, and thousands of worshippers from all regions of Senegal and the Diaspora.

The Moroccan delegation at the ceremony included HM the King’s Ambassador to Senegal, Hassan Naciri, Abdeslem Lazaar, member of the Supreme Council of Ulema and Director of the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Mourshidin and Mourshidat, Abdelmajid Mouhib, President of the Local Council of Ulema of El Jadida, Ibrahim El Ouafi, President of the Local Council of Ulema of Inezgane, and Abdellatif El Maimouni, President of the Local Council of Ulema of Sidi Kacem.

On this occasion, the Khalifa General of the Tijaniyyah family asked the Moroccan delegation to convey to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, his fraternal greetings and the condolences and feelings of compassion and solidarity of the Tijāniyyah brotherhood and the Senegalese people, following the violent earthquake that recently struck the central regions of Morocco.

On this occasion, the Moroccan Ambassador conveyed to the Khalifa General of the Tijaniyyah the greetings and good wishes of His Majesty the King, may God assist Him, on this blessed occasion.

He wished the Khalifa General of the Tijaniyyah family a speedy recovery, and expressed his sincere thanks and immense gratitude for the Moroccan delegation’s kind invitation to take part in the celebration of Eid Al Mawlid Annabawi Asharif in the religious city of Tivaouane.

Tivaouane, an important center of the Tijāniyyah brotherhood, is a major venue for the Mawlid Annabawi, which has been celebrated here since 1902 on the initiative of a great Tijāniyyah figure, El Hadji Malick Sy.

The Mawlid (or Gamou in Senegal), an annual tradition of the Tijaniyyah Tariqa, brings together tens of thousands of faithful from all over Senegal, West Africa and the rest of the world. The commemoration is celebrated in the pure tradition of the Tariqa, in the many mosques and mausoleums of the religious city of Tivaouane.