laye laye layen

In Senegal Muslims can join one of the four brotherhoods and almost everyone is a member of a brotherhood. Each brotherhood has a particular idea about Islam. They have a Marabout who is seen as a leader. I will not delve into too much detail about the brotherhoods yet. What I will say is that the most visible on in Dakar is the Mourids brotherhood. Their holy land is Touba, Senegal. All around town buildings, buses, stores, etc bear the name Touba or Mourid pledging their alliance to their brotherhood. The smallest brotherhood is the Layen (pronounced like lion). Yoff is made up almost exclusively of Layens. My host family in here is Layen.
The Layens believe that Muhammed had his second coming about 100 years ago. He also had a son who was the reincarnate of Jesus (a interesting mix of Christianity and Islam). There are pictures of these men painted everywhere. It is easy to decipher who is the Jesus reincarnate because he is always painted with a cross on his head. At first I thought the man was very sweaty because he is painted as if there is a glare across the bridge of his nose and brow. I found out that the glare is actually a cross. now I am able to pick him out of the crowd the easiest. The Layens believe the end of the world is coming any day now. Overall, Layens enforce stricter codes when it comes to dressing and religious practices.
The founder of the Layen brotherhood wanted to eliminate all caste distinctions. One used to be able to tell what caste people were in based on their last name. Certain last names note a certain job or role that the family can have. It’s a very coded system. There is still a little of the caste system leftover, meaning, if someone wants to get married their family does research on the suitor to determine whether he or she come from a compatible caste. In any case, the founder of the Layen brotherhood had everyone take the last name Laye so that everyone could be treated equally. It sort of worked because Laye is incorporated into everyone’s name but the “coded” last names are still present. For example, my name is technically Soufi Laye Samb. When two Layens meet each other on the street there is a very particular way for them to greet each other repeating the word Laye. The Layens also have a particular way of praying that incorporates song into their daily prayers. It is beautiful and very unique. That is the history of Islam in Senegal lesson of the day.