Ndem's inhabitants are all followers of the Baay Fall faith, one of the Islamic brotherhoods of Senegal, who believe that hard work, not prayer or fasting, is a form of devotion.

All around this small community, men and women in coloured patchwork robes go about their work.

Their local spiritual leader is Serigne Babacar, who can usually be found sitting on a woven mat surrounded by his disciples.

Keeping their heads bowed as a mark of respect, his followers take force from the spiritual grace he claims to be able to transmit.

"You must understand 'work' in its deepest sense, in its spiritual sense. Work should not be a constraint; it should be a daily act which comes form the heart and is a form of prayer," explains Serigne Babacar.

"We don't devote work to the outside life, to the earthly life, but we devote it to God. That is the mysticism of work."

Instead of screaming and yelling about injustices, the people of this region of Senegal are using all that religious energy for something positive. They have made a great success of themselves.

But with the creation of Maama Samba, a company employing 365 locals and specialising in hand-made cotton clothes that are sold in fashionable boutiques all across the world, people are staying at home.

Its crafts centre, not far from the religious community, is a compound containing 17 workshops where goods are made before being exported to Europe.

The rest of the Islamic world could learn a lesson or two from these folks. That the world owes them nothing, and that it isn't all about the Jooooooooooos. Each person is responsible for his or her own life, and by taking pride in the work they do, and doing it well, that can bring them closer to God. It isn't a suicide bomb killing 30 innocent people that gets one into the kingdom. It's what is in one's own heart. And hands.