Mouride brotherhood in New York City.

Since the 1970s, more than 10,000 Senegalese immigrants have established one of the largest Mouride communities outside West Africa—right here in New York City. The Mouride Brotherhood, a Sufi Islamic order founded by Sheikh Amadou Bamba in the late 19th century, blends deep spiritual devotion with a strict hierarchical structure. Rooted in the holy city of Touba, Mouridism has spread globally through a culture of migration, labor, and mutual aid.

In Harlem, the Brotherhood’s vertical loyalties and communal rituals remain remarkably intact: weekly dahira gatherings echo with zikr (Sufi chanting), magal festivals honor religious figures who shaped the movement, and everyday acts of financial and emotional support continue to bind the community. This project explores how faith, migration, and solidarity intersect in these urban spaces—where immigrants sustain enduring ties to a spiritual home across the Atlantic.