Huge traffic jams several kilometres (miles) long built up on highways leading to the site, where some people had starting camping out two days before the long-awaited ceremonies. Thousands of women in colourful robes, men dressed in festive white along with children packed the streets. Work on the mosque began a decade ago on a swampy six-hectare (14-acre) area of land donated by the government of the 90-percent Muslim nation, and the inauguration has been preceded by an outpouring of national and religious fervour.
The mosque's name of Massalikul Jinaan ("The Paths to Paradise") comes from the title of a poem by Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke, the 19th-century founder of the Brotherhood, who is revered by followers as a saint. With a Carrara marble exterior and boasting five minarets - the tallest 78 metres (255 feet) high - the mosque has a capacity of 15,000 worshippers inside, and another 15,000 on the esplanade.
The lavish interiors include a gold-leaf dome, giant chandeliers and decorations hand drawn by Moroccan workmen. An Islamic institute, residence and museum are scheduled to be added in the future. The builders say the mosque is the biggest in West Africa, although the edifice is dwarfed by mosques in the Arab world. In Morocco, the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca can accommodate 105,000 worshippers and has a minaret spiralling 210 metres.
The cost of more than 30 million euros ($33 million) came from private donations, while the government contributed lighting, sanitation and roadworks worth 10.5 million euros as well as the land - a sign of the Brotherhood's clout.