Case file · Apparition / miracle
Amadou Bamba prays on the sea
Mourides tell that in 1895, when the French deported Amadou Bamba to Gabon and forbade him to pray on deck, he spread his prayer mat on the ocean and prayed on the water.
1895 CE · 14.40, -17.80 · status: legend
The account
The exile is celebrated each year at the Grand Magal of Touba. Images of Bamba praying on the sea are painted across Senegal. The plotted point off Dakar is approximate.
The sceptical view
The deportation is documented by French archives; the miracle is a hagiographic tradition.