Abstract Senegal’s Shi‘i Muslim leaders have been establishing religious centers as ngo s, which bring material and spiritual development to neighborhoods and villages. Obtaining ngo status grants legitimacy and convinces a growing network of followers of the wider benefits of adhering to a minority branch of Islam. This article uses a framework of “development brokerage,” “religious engineering,” and “translation” to examine one Shi‘i ngo’s presentation of self. A promotional video illustrates the Shi‘i development project for Western and Muslim donors and the Senegalese state by appropriating the global discourse of international development. This example is contrasted with a religious ceremony for converts grounded in the universal rhetoric of Islamic salvation and the exclusivity of belonging to a local West African community of Shi‘a. Through employing multiple linguistic registers strategically adapted for distinct audiences, ngo leaders assert authority and cultivate a self-sustaining society of moral and ethical Shi‘a able to contribute to the Senegalese nation.