SENEGAL, Aug 13 — Senegalese brothers Moustapha Ndour, a Muslim, and Jean-Pierre, who is Christian, cheerfully tease each other for their respective faiths, days after remarks by the prime minister angered the Catholic Church.

"He says that I’ve betrayed him,” the 67-year-old Islam convert said, smiling, side-by-side with his younger sibling outside their home on the island of Fadiouth, south of the capital Dakar.

"You’ve gone on holiday. It’s time to come back to your original faith,” Jean-Pierre shot back, to the amusement of relatives watching on.

Their mixed-faith family is far from unheard of in the largely Muslim West African country, where religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence among faith-based communities have long been held in high value.

But a speech by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko outraged the Christian minority by cautioning schools against refusing students for wearing the Muslim headscarf.

"Some things can no longer be tolerated in this country. France constantly talks to us about their lifestyle and their model, but that is theirs,” Sonko said on July 30.

"In Senegal, we will no longer allow some schools to ban the headscarf.”

Secular constitution

Due to a constitution inherited from former colonial ruler France, Senegal’s status as a "secular, democratic and social republic” is enshrined in law.

Secularism is likewise embraced by its various religious communities, which play an important role in the country’s stability.

Schooling is provided by several types of establishment, including private Catholic schools, Koranic schools as well as state schools with no religious affiliation.

But belonging to one religious group does not necessarily exclude pupils from the schools of another. Some Muslims choose to attend Catholic schools because of their reputation for quality education.

No school officially bans the headscarf.

But in 2019, 22 headscarf-wearing students were banned from a renowned Catholic school in Dakar after it enforced a rule which said boys and girls should have "uncovered heads”.

‘Peaceful coexistence’

Famous for its cemetery where Muslims and Christians lie buried side-by-side, Fadiouth’s around 8,000 inhabitants are proud of their love-thy-neighbour way of life.

In the early afternoon, the bells of the clam-shell island’s church resound across the village’s narrow alleys, dotted with statues of the Virgin Mary, while Muslims set about performing their own prayers.

"We’re linked firstly by blood before religion. It’s no surprise here to find Catholics and Muslims in the same family,” said Paul Diogoye, a leading figure in the neighbourhood and a practising Christian.

Moustapha Ndour, who converted from Christianity after being convinced by Islam’s teachings, agreed. "We are parents, fathers, sisters, even before the arrival of religion or of colonisation,” he said.

"Every time there’s a Christian holiday, the Muslims lend a hand and vice versa,” he added.

"There are no limits in this peaceful coexistence.”

‘Fractious time’

In Fadiouth, the comments by Sonko — who campaigned on the promise of a break with the old system — were widely condemned by its Christians, as well as some Muslims.

"We’ve never had such a fractious time” between the two communities, admitted Jean-Pierre, who said he was frustrated by Sonko’s ominous tone.

He said he believed Sonko was taking aim at the West, not least France, in his remarks. He also argued that the Church should not be dragged into the fight.

The new administration "are anti-establishment. They are radical and believe that everything that the French colonisers did here since whenever has to be changed,” Jean-Pierre said.

"They must not pull the Senegalese people into that way of thinking.”

At the Fadiouth cemetery, signs marked with Koranic scripture sit beside crucifixes.

Christian visitors gathered in front of a flower-covered grave, chanting a prayer in chorus.

Nearby, others walked through the aisles of the Muslim graves.

Dominique, a visitor from France, said the graveyard was "unique and full of hope”.

"It’s an example to the world of religious co-existence and of living together,” she added.

It is that peace and harmony which neighbourhood chief Diogoye wants to preserve at all costs.

Like many of the island’s inhabitants, Catholic and Muslim alike, he calls on the new government not to stir up debate over religion, which he believes could set the country ablaze. — AFP