Touba

The origin of the name is not certain and according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, 'various etymologies have been current for the name', including Arabic tawba ('repentance'). The name is also superficially identical to the name of a tree in Paradise in Islamic tradition, Ṭūbā, and in Sufism, this symbolic tree represents an aspiration for spiritual perfection and closeness to God. But the Encyclopaedia concludes that the name of the place 'most likely stems from a reference to ṭūbā “blessing”'.

The city began life as a simple hamlet of the 'Baol'. Shaikh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, commonly known as "Cheikh Amadou Bamba" (1853-1927), is said to have led to the ascendance of the settlement to prominence when, in a moment of transcendence under a large tree there, he experienced a cosmic vision of light. In Arabic, ṭūbā means "felicity" or "bliss" and evokes the sweet pleasures of eternal life in the hereafter. Aamadu Bàmba founded Touba in 1887. The holy site remained a tiny isolated place in the wilderness until his death and burial at the site of the Great Mosque, 40 years later. Along with the neighboring town of Mbacké (founded by Aamadu Bàmba's great-grandfather in 1796), the Mouride conurbation is Senegal's second largest urban area, after the capital region of Dakar.

Located in central Senegal, Touba forms an urban agglomeration with the contiguous city of Mbacké. Depending on the location of the weather station in Touba, the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies the city's climate either as tropical wet and dry (Aw) or hot semi-arid (BSh).

Amadou Bamba (1853-1927), Muslim Sufi religious leader