The Last Muslim Empire? The Hajj in French Colonial Africa on the Eve of Decolonization

The creation of the French Union in 1946 marked a decisive step in efforts by French authorities to control the Hajj. By the 1950s, France was the only remaining colonial power that officially organized travel by its Muslim subjects to Mecca. In an international context marked by wars of decolonization, the rise of pan-Arabism and the spread of Wahhabism, colonial administrations in French West and Equatorial Africa also stressed the unique features of so-called Black Islam as they sought to regain flexibility. The pilgrimage policies implemented throughout the 1950s clearly reflect attempts to strike a balance between demands for greater freedom and the need for supervision, as well as between acknowledging distinctiveness and fostering a sense of belonging to the Empire. These ongoing tensions inspired new approaches to managing mobility and articulating imperial propaganda, thereby helping lay the foundations for Hajj policies later implemented by various post-colonial states.