Koutoubia Mosque
in Night, Marrakesh
Salams
to all, I agree with your view on questioning why men and women do separate dhikr
circles (if the Tariqa was from Northern Morocco that would explain why, because
that part of the country is a lot more conservative than the
rest where hadras
are often performed together). But it all depends on the Tariqa and the sheikh
in charge and the local area. I was told by my my Chishti teacher that the Moroccan
Darquwiyya Tariqa is in spirit the closest to the Chishtiyya. However, during
the years i lived in Marrakesh and also traveled all over the country I only managed
to come in contact with the Qaderiyya, Shadhiliyya, Nasriyya, Gnawa, and Hamadshiyya.
The latter showing rather exotic manifestations of intoxication, knife stabbing
without lasting wounds and the like. Opinions about that vary, some say there
are certain people for whom such trance-ridden manifestations are correct, others
would consider the spiritual energy being wasted in such a way an improper thing.
The
visit of the tomb of shaykh 'Abd as-Salaam ibn Mashish near
Tetuan is definitely on my list when I'm back in Morocco,
so far I wasn't able to get there. There are numerous important
Sufi Saint tombs all over the country.
In Moulay Idries near Fes, Fes, of course the 7 Sufi Patron
Saints of Marrakesh (with a week's pilgrimage starting on
a Tuesday), not to forget the tomb of a Scottish doctor who
settled about 150-200 years ago in Essaouira and ended up
as the city's Sufi Patron Saint in whose honor the yearly
music festival is being held - his name is Sidi Makdul (originally
his name must have been McDoudle or McDonald but there are
no official records of that, only the people vaguely remember
he was a Scottish doctor and evidently a good one to end up
as a Sufi Saint).
There is another case of a Scott, more or less the same period, who became the
head of the Sultan's army in Tanger, Caid McLain. But Morocco's entire landscape
is covered with Sufi tombs, usually standing out with their white domes. Another
most beautiful shrine is the Zaouia and tomb of Sidi Ben Nasr, the founder of
the Nasriyya Tariqa an offshot of the Shadhiliyya in Tamegroute on the edge of
the Sahara. During the times of the caravan routes it was an important place of
learning and still has a famous library. The couryard of the Zaouia is usually
packed with people seeking healing from mental and physical illnesses. Many years
ago I met the then 95+ year old sheikh in charge, a most remarkable man who told
the western lady I brought along and me the story of Wilhelm Tell in classical
Arabic - I was even allowed to enter the closed room where the Tariqa's founder
is buried and spent an hour there being locked in. It was a most amazing experience
as the place was oozing with baraka. The doors are locked and only opened once
a year otherwise the people seeking treatment would go beserk over the grave.
Another member of the Sufi Saints descendents told me that the Zaouia with the
tomb is also the court of the jinn who are there judged if they were used for
black magic (a common theme in Morocco). Hence jinn exorcisms are also taking
place there. I met a Moroccan lady who had been possessed with 7 jinn after the
was cured there. Ma salama Rahal. An
Email from a Chistiya Group...
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Blessed
Grave of Qadi Ayad (Rehmatullah Alaih) - A great Wali who
passed away nearly 900 years ago. Writings such as Ash Shifa Shareef are commonly
widespread till this day and translated into many different languages, the works
prove that bareIwis are nothing new. It is said that whoever has Ash-Shifa in
their house will recieve lots of Blessings, Barakah and protection.
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Blessed
Grave of Imam Suhaili (Rehmatullah Alaih)
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Blessed
Grave of Imam Jazuli (Rehmatullah Alaih) -
Writer
of Dalail Ul Khairat, an amazing book of Darood Shareef with endless benefits.
Imam
Ahmad al-Sawi relates that one day Jazuli went to perform his ablutions for the
prescribed prayer from a nearby well but could not find any means to draw the
water up. While thus perplexed, he was seen by a young girl who called out from
high above, "You're the one people praise so much, and you can't even figure
out how to get water out of a well?" So she came down and spat into the water,
which welled up until it overflowed and spilled across the ground. Jazuli made
his ablutions, and then turned to her and said, "I adjure you to tell me
how you reached this rank." She said, "By saying the Blessings upon
him whom beasts lovingly followed as he walked through the wilds (Allah bless
him and give him peace)." Jazuli thereupon vowed to compose the book of Blessings
on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) which came to be known as
his Dala'il al-Khayrat or "Waymarks of Benefits."
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Zawiya
Moulay Idris I Zerhoun - Morocco
Zaouia,
also spelled zawiya or zawiyah, is a Maghrebi and West African term for an Islamic
religious school cum monastery, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term "madrassa".
In precolonial times, these were the primary sources for education in the area,
and taught basic literacy to a large proportion of children even in quite remote
mountainous areas - leading to a 40% literacy rate in Algeria in 1830, for instance,
which was actually higher than after the French left. Their curriculum began with
memorization of the Arabic alphabet and the later, shorter suras of the Qur'an;
Zawiya Sidi Ali Bousseerrghine Sefrou - Morocco
if a student was sufficiently interested or apt, it progressed to law (fiqh),
theology, Arabic grammar (usually taught with al-Ajurrumi's famous summary), mathematics
(mainly as it pertained to inheritance law), and sometimes astronomy. These are
still operational throughout the Maghreb, and continue to be a major educational
resource in the Sahel of West Africa, from Mauritania to Nigeria.
Minaret of Koutoubia
Mosque, Marrakesh
Islam
in Morocco : Islam was brought to North Africa by early Arab warriors conquering
territories (Oqba Ben Nafi in 680 and Moussa Ben Nosair in 703-711) and by traders
voyaging back and forth along ancient trans-Saharan caravan routes. The first
African pilgrImages to Makkah were from Cairo during the era of the Fatamid dynasties
(909-1171). These early Muslims, traveling in camel caravans across the Sinai
Peninsula to the Hijaz region of Arabia (where Makkah is located), established
a route that was used continuously until the 20th century. By the 13th century,
pilgrim routes across North Africa from as far west as Morocco linked with the
Cairo caravan to Makkah. Three caravans were regularly started from the Moroccan
towns of Fez, Marrakech and Sijilmasa. They often combined on the route and proceeded
under a united leadership eastward across the North African deserts. Composed
of pilgrims, merchants and guards, the great caravans often had a thousand or
more camels. Covering perhaps twenty miles a day and visiting the fabled Islamic
mosques of Tlemcen (Algeria) and Kairouan (Tunisia), they took many months to
reach Egypt. Beginning in the 19th century, a sea route through the southern Mediterranean
to Alexandria became the most favored route for Moroccan pilgrims journeying to
Makkah.
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Morocco
Complex
of Sidi Bul Abbas, of one Marrakech's celebrated seven saints, Marrakech
Zawiya
and Mosque of Moulay Idris II, Fes
