The Sufi Muslim orders to which the vast majority of Senegalese belong are the most significant institutions of social organization in the country. While studies of Islam and politics have tended to focus on the destabilizing force of religiously based groups, Leonardo Villalon argues that in Senegal the orders have been a central component of a political system that has been among the most stable in Africa. Focusing on a regional administrative center, he combines a detailed account of grassroots politics with an analysis of national and international forces to examine the ways in which the internal dynamics of the orders shape the exercise of power by the Senegalese state. This is a major study that should be read by every student of Islam and politics as well as of Africa.

List of tables; Acknowledgments; A note on spelling; Glossary; Map of Senegal; Introduction: good Africans, good citizens, good Muslims; 1. Islam in the politics of state-society relations; 2. The structure of society: Fatick in the Senegalese context; 3. The state-citizen relationship: struggle over bridges; 4. The marabout-disciple relationship I: foundations of recruiting and following; 5. The marabout-disciple relationship II: the structures of allegiance; 6. The state-marabout relationship: collaboration, conflict and alternatives; 7. Bureaucrats, marabouts and citizen-disciples: how precarious a balance?; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.