Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on long term fieldwork in urban Burkina Faso, to analyze how Muslims negotiate their place in their community by reference to images of 'the future'.  Through an analysis of the everyday religious practice and individual personal narratives of Muslim men and women, both those who are devout and those who do not practice regularly, the paper will show that the future is understood both to be 'of this world,' and in 'Paradise', which in the local language translates as 'tomorrow' (sini).  These two concepts of the future, I argue, are inextricably linked to local concepts of hope and divine blessing, which both influence people's action in the present.