Religion

What role did religion play in the mentalities and attitudes of the workers?
Ramatoulaye's brother, Mabigue, said. "It is not our part in life to resist the will of heaven. I know that life is often hard, but that should not cause us to turn our backs on God. He has assigned a rank, a place, and a certain role to every man, and it is blasphemous to think of changing His design" (p45).
Is this the mentality of all the Senegalese at the time? Does wanting to change His design make people more or less religious?
In my opinion, my impression on the people in Ousmane's book is that although not all of them may be as religious as Mabigue, the great majority of his characters are religious and I don't think that wanting to change their current situation affects their faith.
Even earlier on the novel we can see in their greetings how they are always mentioning God.