The Grand Magal in Senegal’s holy city of Touba is an annual pilgrimage honouring Sheikh Amadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride order. In 2025, worshippers arrived not only from across Senegal but also from diaspora communities in France, Italy, the United States, and elsewhere.
They were waiting for more than entry to a crowded city. Contemporary reporting recorded hundreds of thousands forming queues several kilometres long to visit the Grand Mosque of Touba and Bamba’s tomb. Although the pilgrims shared a religious purpose, their journeys to Touba and their time in line differed greatly. Prayer, Quran recitation, family visits, and the provision of food to guests unfolded across the city, making waiting part of the collective work that sustained the pilgrimage.
Traffic congestion and a large crowd would not by themselves establish a queue. Here, the destination—the mosque and tomb—and the kilometre-long lines of visitors are explicitly documented as ordered waiting within the pilgrimage.