Reconstruction Zawiya Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy: the commune of Dakar-Plateau contributes 100 million FCFA

Zawiya Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy, the municipality of Dakar-Plateau, under the leadership of its mayor Alioune Ndoye, agreed on September 12, 2026 a financial envelope of 100 million CFA francs. According to him, “rebuilding this Zawiya means doing work of memory and future for our commune which intends to remain attentive to the values, traditions and heritage which give a soul to our common desire for common life”.

Mayor Alioune Ndoye, accompanied by religious authorities and customary dignitaries of the Leboue community, made the contribution of the municipal council and its constituents to the reconstruction of the Zawiya Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy of Dakar located at Avenue Lamine Gueye x Amadou Assane Ndoye (formerly Rue Thiers) of the Commune of Dakar-Plateau, administrative, economic and institutional capital of Senegal. The ceremony saw the presence of eminent members of the family of Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy Rta representatives Caliph General of Tidianes, Serigne Babacar Sy Mansour, Imam Ratib of the great mosque of Dakar Alioune Moussa Samb, the Grand Serigne of Dakar Abdoulaye Makhtar Diop, municipal councilors and populations of Dakar-Plateau and members of the committee responsible for the reconstruction of the Zawiya.

In his introductory remarks, Alioune Ndoye expressed to them “the deep emotion, the respect and the immense pride that the Municipality of Dakar-Plateau stands today in this place of memory, faith and transmission, to accompany a work whose scope goes beyond the walls that rise, the stones that join and the hands that build”. According to him, the Zawiya Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy, which belongs to the “deep history” of Dakar-Plateau, is at the same time “a spiritual sanctuary, certainly, a house of knowledge, a school of the soul, a place of fraternity, a benchmark for consciences and a light placed in the very heart of our capital”.

In addition, it is “a home where prayer and teaching, fervor and discipline, tradition and openness, spirituality and attention to others” meet. What’s more, it is “a place where we learn that faith is never an escape from the world, but a responsibility in the world; that knowledge is not a privilege, but an obligation; that religious authority is not measured by the noise it makes, but by the peace it sows in hearts and in society,” he said. Consequently, “rebuilding this Zawiya means restoring a house of God, preserving a major spiritual and historical heritage of the Senegalese Nation, ensuring that, again tomorrow, in the heart of Dakar, generations can come and drink from a source of wisdom, learn the demands of faith, hear the call for peace and find a space for elevation”. Also, the reconstruction envisaged at the initiative of the Caliph General Serigne Babacar Sy Mansour, “which cannot be regarded as a simple architectural project”, reflects “the mission of the entire Maodo family, “heir to a religious, educational and social mission whose depth and fruitfulness Senegal measures, every day more and more”.

This is how “our contribution is not only material support. It is the expression of a duty of memory, of gratitude, of fidelity to a heritage which has lastingly shaped the religious, social and cultural life of our country.” It is also “an investment in the moral and spiritual education of present and future generations in their way of inhabiting the world with faith, with humility, with respect and with responsibility”. In this respect, the old rue Félix-Faure renamed by decision of the Municipal Council in the name of the Caliph immortalizes it because it is “now part of the emotional and civic geography of the commune of Dakar-Plateau”, he recalled. This gesture, more than “an administrative decision, was an act of recognition which reflected the desire of our municipal institution to bring the space of the city into dialogue with the great figures who give meaning to its history, its memory and its future,” he added.

The work of Maodo, “Great scholar, master of knowledge, educator of consciences and spiritual guide, contributed decisively to the rooting of Islam in our country, to the dissemination of religious knowledge, to the moral elevation of women and men, as well as to the consolidation of this Senegalese peace which we must take care of as a precious asset”. Finally, Alioune Ndoye launched a solemn appeal to “all those of good will to mobilize around this work of spiritual, cultural and national interest to complete the project and above all to preserve an essential part of our collective memory in order to guarantee the transmission of a message of peace which our country needs today more than ever”.

Mamadou Lamine DIEYE