TOUBA, 10 AUG

India's Sufi heritage received a significant international platform as Haji Syed Salman Chishty, 26th-generation Gaddi Nashin of Ajmer Sharif and Chairman of the Chishty Foundation, represented India at the 132nd Grand Magal of Touba in Senegal, following an invitation from the country's Board of Religious Affairs.

The Grand Magal, one of Africa's largest spiritual gatherings, brought more than 2.5 million pilgrims to Touba this year. The 2026 edition was held with the theme "The Virtues" and commemorated the 1895 exile of Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke (RA), founder of the Mouride Sufi Order.

Chishty was received as an official guest of the Khadim ur-Rasool (Servant of the Messenger) and met the Caliph General of the Mourides, Shaykh Serigne Mountakha Bassirou Mbacke, along with the Caliph General's Spokesperson and President of the Grand Magal Organising Committee, Shaykh Serigne Bassirou Mbacke Abdou Khadre.

Chishty also met Senegalese leaders, ambassadors, members of the diplomatic corps, Sufi masters, scholars and delegations from West Africa, the Maghreb and the Afro-Arab world.

The visit highlighted longstanding spiritual parallels between Ajmer Sharif and Touba, two major centres of Sufi tradition separated by thousands of kilometres but united by an emphasis on service, learning and peaceful coexistence.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty, whose shrine at Ajmer has for centuries attracted devotees from different faiths, is widely associated with the message of generosity, affection and hospitality. Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba, meanwhile, established the Mouride tradition around spiritual discipline, education, labour and peaceful resistance to colonial persecution.

Haji Syed Salman Chishty said the meeting represented a convergence of two spiritual traditions with a shared message of service.

"Eight hundred years and eight thousand kilometres separate Ajmer Sharif from Touba, yet the message is identical: the highest worship is service to humanity," Chishty said.

He added that the gathering demonstrated how faith communities could promote peace and coexistence in an era increasingly marked by conflict.

"Love Towards All, Malice Towards None is not a slogan. In Ajmer and in Touba, it is a lived constitution," he said.

The Mouride Order has a major social and spiritual influence in Senegal and a substantial diaspora in countries like France, Italy, Spain and the US.

Engagement with Touba therefore provides India an opportunity to deepen ties with religious, cultural and community networks across West Africa.

The visit also comes against the backdrop of India's expanding engagement with the Global South and Africa. India has backed the African Union's membership in the G20 and has sought to strengthen partnerships with African nations through platforms such as the Voice of Global South Summits.

The shared Sufi heritage of Ajmer Sharif and Touba could further provide a foundation for cooperation in areas including scholarly exchanges, manuscript preservation, youth engagement, cultural programmes and pilgrim exchanges.

The visit also underscored the potential role of Sufi institutions in promoting social cohesion and countering extremist narratives.

The meeting at Touba was thus presented not merely as a religious one but as an example of civilizational and people-to-people diplomacy, connecting two Sufi traditions from Asia and Africa through an emphasis on peace, pluralism, service and human dignity.