Muslim Brotherhoods, Islam, and the Environment: Can Their Intersection Result in Changing Ecological Discourses in Senegal?

Abstract

This paper evaluates the capacity for knowledge transmission and the range of influence of Muslim brotherhoods in Senegal. It then evaluates the potential to use the power structures of Muslim brotherhoods and the non-formal education they provide for communities, to influence and change local environmental discourses. The method proposed to create this change is a theoretical narrative founded on the ecological ethics present in both the Quran and the documented sayings and practice of the prophet Muhammad (the sunnah). The method I propose to introduce this narrative is to integrate the ecological ethic present in Islam into the curriculum provided in Quranic schools, daaras, by the religious teachers, marabouts. Marabouts play the dual role as religious figureheads and Islamic teachers who deliver religious education to youth (the majority young boys), called talibe. A large number of the students in the daaras of Dakar are composed of children sent by rural families to get some form of education. Through a theoretical analysis, a literature review, and an interview, it was determined that there is a possibility, although extremely slim, to use the non-formal religious education system created by Muslim brotherhoods to shape the ecological consciousness of future Senegalese society.