Qadi
Ayad (Rehmatullah Alaih) ::
Imam Suhaili (Rehmatullah
Alaih) ::
Imam Jazuli (Rehmatullah Alaih)
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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