September 14, 1997 - September 14, 2026 - Mame Abdoul Aziz Sy Dabaakh: 29 years already!

The anniversary of the passing of Mame Cheikh El Hadj Abdoul Aziz Sy "Dabaakh", born in 1904 in Tivaouane, the third Caliph General of the Tijaniyya (1957 - 1997), a great social regulator, a man of peace and an enlightened guide, is commemorated every year on September 14, in fervor and contemplation.

This Monday, September 14, 2026, in Tivaouane and throughout the country, a tribute befitting his stature will be paid to this exceptional Man of God, who dedicated his entire life to the exclusive service of Allah and His Prophet Seyidina Mouhamed (PBUH). Several thousand faithful from all corners of the world will gather at the mausoleum of the holy man who assumed the title of Caliph of the Tijaniyya order on May 13, 1957.

The anniversary will be marked, among other things, by recitations of the Holy Quran and tributes recalling the Sheikh's work for Islam and social cohesion. The Ummah remembers that upon the passing of this apostle of peace, the Sharifian family of Morocco requested that his remains be placed next to those of Sheikh Ahmed Tidiane Cherif (RTA), given that Mame Abdou "is an example to be left to posterity and an inexhaustible and inexhaustible legacy to be preserved."

History teaches us that within four days, on March 25th and 29th, 1957, Tivaouane lost Seydi Aboubacar Sy, the first caliph of Seydi El Hadji Malick Sy, who had succeeded his father in 1922, as well as his younger brother, El Hadji Mansour Sy, then 57 years old. Some believed at the time that the Tijaniyya Sufi order would enter a long period of dormancy. But the Creator, in His infinite greatness, blessed the "Khadara" (Tidjani Community) with a Sufi imbued with peace, sociability, discretion, courtesy, and an encyclopedic knowledge to successfully guide the order of Sheikh Ahmed Tidiane and propagate the Sunna (tradition) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Through his reassuring presence and his attachment to the letter and spirit of the Holy Quran and the Sunna, El Hadji Abdoul Aziz Sy lived up to the many hopes placed in him when he acceded to the Caliphate. Son of the pioneer of Tijaniyya in Senegal, El Hadj Maodo Malick Sy, and Sokhna Safiétou Niang, Mame Abdou Aziz Sy "Dabaakh" (the generous one in Wolof), born in Tivaouane in 1904, the year of the inauguration of the Great Mosque of Tivaouane (a premonitory sign or a happy coincidence of the calendar), and taken from the affection of the whole world on September 14, 1997, the third Caliph General of the Tijaniyya (1957-1997), undoubtedly the most well-known of his lineage, owes his reputation to his generosity and his mission to contribute to unity between brotherhoods and to Muslim-Christian dialogue.

Undoubtedly in everyone's hearts, the Holy Man's particularity is that, in addition to having had the chance to be educated by his father and older brothers, to have his humanities education with Moukhadams and companions of his father of the caliber of Serigne Mouhamadoul Haddy Touré of Fass, he later, as a good "Doomu-Sokhna" (son of a maraboutic family), had to travel to the centers of excellence in the country to perfect his culture, notably at the University of Tivaouane and the Daara of Mbacoumé, in the heart of Cayor.